For a few lucky fans, college football starts on Saturday. Yes, there are only five FBS games on Week 0, as it has come to be known, but there’s even a face-off of a pair of top 25 teams in the Iowa State/Kansas State battle. Five games for college football fans who have missed action since January is a veritable buffet of choices.
To help figure it all out, it’s as good of a time as any to mention the free College Football Playoff Predictor, which actually delivered the picks for this week’s projections. It’s a free tool which can be used to predict specific games, or a full conference season, or even the entire race to the College Football Playoff.
Week 0 Game Predictions and Information
Kansas State/Iowa State
CFPP prediction: Kansas State 28, Iowa State 12
Point Spread: Kansas State -3
Broadcast: ESPN
What to Know
This is the marquee game of Week 0 and it features not only a pair of ranked teams, but a couple of top quarterbacks. Kansas State has multi-faceted Avery Johnson, who passed for 2,712 yards and 25 scores last year while rushing for 605 yards and seven more scores.
Iowa State has Rocco Becht, who passed for 3,505 yards and 25 touchdowns last season and rushed for 318 yards and eight more touchdowns.
The game is played in Dublin, Ireland, and should give an excellent preview of two of the top contenders in the relatively up for grabs Big 12 race.
Idaho State/UNLV
CFPP Prediction: Idaho State 35, UNLV 20
Point Spread: UNLV -26.5
Broadcast: No national broadcast
What to Know
The CFPP went for a big upset here. Idaho State is an FCS team while UNLV won 11 games last year, but saw coach Barry Odom leave for Purdue. In his place is offensive guru Dan Mullen. Likely QB contenders for UNLV include Anthony Colandrea from Virginia and Alex Orji from Michigan.
Fresno State/Kansas
CFPP Prediction: Kansas 31, Fresno State 12
Point Spread: Kansas -13
Broadcast: FOX
What to Know
Kansas fell off in 2024 after a great 2023 season, but will look to rebound this year under coach Lance Liepold. Dual-threat QB Jalon Daniels is an amazing talent, but has struggled with consistency and health.
Fresno State has a new coach with North Dakota State’s Matt Entz, who was a superstar at the FCS level. Well-travelled EJ Warner should be the QB. The son of Kurt Warner played at Tulsa and Rice in the last two seasons.
Sam Houston/Western Kentucky
CFPP Prediction: WKU 39, SHSU 21
Point Spread: WKU -10
Broadcast: CBS Sports Network
What to Know
Coach Tyson Helton and WKU tend to have one of the best passing attacks in the nation. That said, WKU has seen their passing yardage dip in the last four seasons, from 434 yards per game to 352 to 296 to 265 last year.
This is a Conference USA matchup and WKU has won the previous two games between the teams in CUSA battles. Sam Houston has a new coach in Phil Longo, most recently the Wisconsin offensive coordinator.
Stanford/Hawaii
CFPP Prediction: Stanford 35, Hawaii 18
Point Spread: Hawaii -2.5
Broadcast: CBS/Paramount +
What to Know
It’s another upset call from the CFPP, although this one is a much milder upset. Stanford is expected to finish near the bottom of the ACC under interim head coach Frank Reich.
On the other hand, Timmy Chang and Hawaii are expected to be a middle of the pack team in the Mountain West Conference. Stanford has won all four prior matchups of the teams, all of which have been played in Hawaii.
Read More:
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