Defense was all the rage in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season. It helped Ohio State crush a lot of the Arch Manning and Texas hype in a big 14-7 win that should help the Buckeyes to the new No. 1 ranking. We also saw LSU come back to upset No. 4 Clemson on the road on Saturday night. Let’s see how those SEC teams bounce back after Alabama lost as a 14-point favorite against Florida State too.
It’s just a single game, but Week 1 already has us reconsidering the season-long prospects for the likes of Arch Manning and coach Bill Belichick’s season with North Carolina. Fortunately, every Week 2 NCAAF game and the latest NCAAF Week 2 odds are available at the industry’s top sportsbooks, but here are our 3 favorite expert picks for top matchups this week, including the battle of Iowa and a rare Michigan vs. Oklahoma game.
Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Iowa State Cyclones (-3)
This is a good in-state rivalry that Iowa usually wins, but the Cyclones got the best of them in a 20-19 win last year on their way to an 11-3 finish and a win in the Pop Tarts Bowl over Miami. The Cyclones are 2-0 this year already with a solid Week 0 win against Kansas State (24-21), and they took care of South Dakota in a 55-7 rout last week. Quarterback Rocco Becht is off to a nice start with 5 touchdowns and no picks.
Becht threw for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns while leading a late comeback win over Iowa’s defense last year. The Hawkeyes took care of non-FBS school Albany last week in a 34-7 win, but this is a much bigger test for Kirk Ferentz’ group. Iowa is trying to get by with transfer quarterback Mark Gronowski, who only completed 8-of-15 passes for 44 yards last week. But he is a 2-time FCS champ with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.
Iowa State has been the better team than Iowa since 2024, but rivalry games like this can always be really tight as last year showed. It was also a 20-13 finish in 2023 between these teams. That’s why we’re going to skip past the spread and take the under 41.5 points as our favorite pick.
Expert Pick: Under 41.5 Points (-115) at BetOnline
Michigan Wolverines vs. Oklahoma Sooners (-5.5)
It’s a quality matchup on ABC this Saturday evening between the Big Ten and SEC as No. 14 Michigan takes on No. 18 Oklahoma. The Sooners beat Illinois State 35-3 but will host a much tougher opponent at Norman this time. These schools haven’t met since the 1976 Orange Bowl. Oklahoma is looking for an improved offense this year behind new quarterback John Mateer, who played well at Washington State last year (29 touchdowns, 9.0 yards per pass attempt).
The Wolverines got a promising debut out of freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood (21-of-31 for 251 yards, touchdown) in a 34-17 win over New Mexico. Coach Sherrone Moore was a respectable 3-4 against ranked opponents last year, including that 13-10 win over No. 2 Ohio State and a 19-13 win in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama.
But road games are always a tough atmosphere for inexperienced quarterbacks, so it’s not hard to see why the Sooners are a 5.5-point home favorite. However, let’s lean on the narrative that the SEC is getting exposed a bit in the transfer/NIL era, and we’re going to trust Michigan’s defense to step up and keep the game close enough to cover the spread, if not win outright on the road.
Expert Pick: Michigan +5.5 (-110) at BetOnline
UL Monroe Warhawks vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (-37.5)
Replacing Nick Saban was always going to be hard for coach Kalen DeBoer. But he’s making it extra difficult after already matching Saban in losses to unranked teams (4) at Alabama. The Crimson Tide gave up 24 straight points in a 31-17 loss to Florida State in Week 1 despite being a 2-touchdown favorite. New starting quarterback Ty Simpson did not impress, averaging 5.9 yards per pass.
But the good news is DeBoer has yet to lose consecutive games in the same season. He’s also a 37.5-point home favorite against UL Monroe from the Sun Belt, who won their opener 29-0 against marginal competition. However, that’s why we like the under 50.5 points in this one as DeBoer needs a big win to keep the critics silent who are already coming for his job. The defense will take care of things this week, keeping the total low.
Expert Pick: Under 50.5 Points (-110) at BetOnline
Bet on College Football Odds in Week 2
Week 2 is always a fun time to bet on college football as you try to make sense of what happened to certain teams in Week 1 who disappointed, and if you can believe in the teams who surprised.
We talked about some games with ranked opponents, but there are competitive Week 2 games that should be fun to watch that you can bet on, like:
The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
