Following a five-game appetizer with Week 0 last Saturday, the 2025 college football season kicks into high gear as Week 1 of the FBS schedule takes place over a span of five days. The slate begins Thursday with 17 games and concludes Monday with a matchup between TCU and North Carolina.
The marquee contest takes place Saturday, when No. 1 Texas visits third-ranked Ohio State at noon ET. Surprisingly, the Buckeyes are 2.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook, while the over/under is set at 47.5.
With nearly 80 games from which to choose, there is a plethora of possibilities for parlays in Week 1. SportsLine has revealed its top three-leg parlays, with one involving favorites and another consisting of underdogs.
SportsLine’s top three-leg favorites parlay would bring a return of +115, while the parlay involving three underdogs offers a +1069 return.
Money-line favorites parlay for Week 1
Syracuse vs. Tennessee pick
The 24th-ranked Volunteers are a perfect 3-0 against the Orange, with their most recent victory being a 33-9 triumph in 2001. Both teams have done well in season openers of late, with Tennessee winning its last five and Syracuse emerging victorious in four straight and 10 of its last 11. Each of the last four triumphs during the Volunteers’ current streak have been by at least 32 points.
Tennessee has won each of its last four matchups against ACC teams. While ranked 14th in the country, the Volunteers rolled past then-No. 24 NC State 51-10 as 8.5-point favorites last season in their last meeting with an ACC opponent.
SportsLine expert Micah Roberts likes Tennessee to defeat Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta by double digits, as he grabbed the Volunteers -12.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Roberts, who is +285 on his last nine against-the-spread picks involving Tennessee, believes there’s a wide gap between the ACC and SEC in terms of talent and level of play, and he feels Syracuse resides in the bottom half of the ACC.
Alabama vs. Florida State pick
It’s basically a given that the eighth-ranked Crimson Tide will defeat the Seminoles, as they own the second-longest active FBS streak with 23 consecutive victories in season openers. Alabama also has been dominant in non-conference games over the last 17 years, going 63-1 since the start of the 2008 season, with the lone loss coming in 2023 against Texas.
Florida State is coming off its worst campaign since going 1-10 in 1974, winning only two of its 12 contests. The Seminoles were the fourth-worst team in FBS last year with an average of 15.4 points and amassed 270.3 yards per game, which was better than only two other teams.
The SportsLine Projection Model sees the Crimson Tide winning in a whopping 84% of its simulations, while college football expert Thomas Casale feels they will cover the spread as 13.5-point favorites. Casale, who opened this campaign by winning both of his best bets in Week 0 to build on a 15-6 roll in his SportsLine best bets column that dates back to last season, believes Alabama has a big edge in the trenches on both sides of the ball and that its offensive line will wear down Florida State’s defensive front.
LSU vs. Clemson pick
This matchup figures to create the most anxiety in the parlay, as No. 4 Clemson is only a 3.5-point favorite against ninth-ranked LSU. However, LSU has had difficulty getting off to a strong start of late, losing each of its last five season openers for the longest active losing streak among power conference teams.
These programs have never met during the regular season but have squared off on four previous occasions. The most recent matchup took place in 2019, when LSU defeated Clemson 42-25 in the CFP National Championship.
LSU has gone 2-6 against AP-ranked opponents over the last two seasons, and a pair of SportsLine experts like Clemson to emerge victorious on Saturday. Matt Severance, who is +146 on his last three money-line picks involving LSU, doesn’t like the fact that the team has yet to win a season opener under head coach Brian Kelly (0-3). Meanwhile, Eric Cohen, who is +1441 on his last 136 college football picks, feels Clemson, his favorite to win the national championship, will prevail in a high-scoring affair.
Money-line underdog parlay for Week 1
Texas vs. Ohio State pick
This is a rematch of last year’s CFP semifinal in which the Buckeyes defeated the Longhorns 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl en route to the national championship. Both teams lost a large amount of players to the NFL this year, but more team leaders are gone from Ohio State’s roster.
The Longhorns, whose 11-game road winning streak is the longest active such run in the nation, is the first top-ranked team in the past 40 years to enter its season opener as an underdog. One reason could be that No. 3 Ohio State hasn’t lost a season opener since falling to Miami in 1999, winning 25 in a row for the longest active streak in the country.
The SportsLine Projection Model is leaning slightly toward Texas winning the second-ever season opener involving a pair of top-three teams, while two experts feel the Longhorns will, at worst, cover the spread. Casale expects a tight game but gives Texas the edge with preseason Heisman Trophy favorite Arch Manning at quarterback along with the team’s strong defense and special teams. Roberts, who is +680 on his last 11 ATS picks involving Ohio State, also likes Texas to win outright as he has no confidence in Buckeyes signal-caller Julian Sayin, who will be making his first collegiate start.
Temple vs. UMass pick
The Owls won each of their previous three meetings with the Minutemen, most recently cruising to a 28-0 victory at home in 2022. However, this matchup takes place on the road, where Temple hasn’t won since defeating Akron 45-24 on Sept. 11, 2021.
Temple owns the longest active road losing streak in FBS as it has dropped 20 consecutive contests away from home. As a result, the SportsLine Projection Model is leaning slightly toward UMass, as it sees the Minutemen winning their season opener in 52% of its simulations.
Utah vs. UCLA pick
The Utes have had the upper hand in the all-time series of late, winning six of their last seven meetings with the Bruins. Utah has been strong offensively during that span, scoring an average of 40 points per game.
However, the Utes came away empty-handed in their last matchup with UCLA on the road as they suffered a 42-32 loss in 2022. The Bruins scored only 18.4 points per game last season and were especially punchless at home, where their 16-point average was tied for the second-lowest in FBS.
UCLA reached the 20-point mark at the Rose Bowl twice in 2024 and won on both occasions. The SportsLine Projection Model thinks the Bruins have a chance to come out on top Saturday, as it sees them winning 50% of the time. Meanwhile, expert Mackenzie Brooks likes UCLA to cover the spread, believing Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava has a higher ceiling than Utah counterpart Devin Dampier, who spent the previous two seasons at New Mexico.
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