It’s time for Week 0 of the 2026 college football season.
This story will include picks for Week 0 that can be found on a variety of DFS sites as well as college football prediction markets.
College football Week 0 predictions
Let’s get started with 4 predictions for Saturday’s slate:
Beau Pribula higher than 205.5 pass yards
Beau Pribula arrives at Virginia after serving as the primary starter for Mizzou last season. In 2025, he averaged about 194 passing yards per game and 7.2 yards per attempt. Pribula is not a downfield passing threat by any means, but he can make short throws and is able to make plays with his legs.
He’s facing an NC State defense that was outside of the top 50 in EPA-per-play last season and endured significant turnover this offseason under second-year coordinator DJ Eliot. Virginia’s Vegas team total is roughly 30, implying that Virginia should have a strong day offensively. I think we’ll see Pribula clear this projection.
Pick: Beau Pribula higher than 205.5 passing yards (via Underdog)
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Jayden Maiava more than 284.5 pass yards
Jayden Maiava absolutely torched teams in nonconference play last season. He threw for 295 yards in a 77-point outing against Missouri State and 412 yards in a 59-point showing against Georgia Southern. Lincoln Riley has not been afraid to run up the score in these spots and perhaps leave Maiava in for a drive or 2 beyond when the outcome has been fully decided.
The betting markets have USC as nearly a 40-point favorite against San Jose State in Week 0, indicating that another massive blowout is the baseline expectation for this game. The Spartans ranked outside of the top 100 in defensive EPA-per-play last season and Bojay Filimoeatu is entering his first season as the full-time DC. His first test will be against one of the sport’s best offensive minds in Lincoln Riley and an elite quarterback in Maiava.
Pick: Maiava higher than 284.5 passing yards (via PrizePicks)
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Jackson Arnold higher than 20.5 rush yards
The former Oklahoma and Auburn quarterback has long been the favorite to win UNLV’s starting quarterback job, but lately there’s been some doubt about whether or not he will beat out former Michigan QB Alex Orji for the job. Much of that doubt stems from public comments made by Dan Mullen regarding his QB room.
I’m not buying the idea that Orji will split equal reps with Arnold. Arnold has never been a great passer, but he has a much better track record in that regard than Orji does while also being an excellent runner. Arnold averaged over 31 yards per game with the Tigers last season and was over 40 rushing yards per contest with OU in 2024. UNLV will be facing a brand new Memphis defense that’s filled with transfers and a new DC in Lance Guidry. I like Arnold’s chances to rip off a couple of big runs.
Pick: Jackson Arnold higher than 20.5 rushing yards (via Underdog)
North Carolina-TCU over 47.5
In the interest of transparency, I’ll acknowledge that I called out the under in this game a few weeks ago. However, the line at that point was 49.5. Historically, about 5% of all college football games end with combined scores of 48 or 49, so there is a little bit of room to middle this bet now that the line has shifted so far downward.
The over is now also being given out at plus-money on Kalshi — priced at 49 cents per contract as of this writing. I still believe in what I wrote about the under a few weeks ago, but I think the value is there to try hitting over 47.5. Neither of these defenses seem to be in good shape and Carolina’s Bobby Petrino is still an elite offensive coordinator (Arkansas was top 10 in yards per play last season).
Pick: UNC-TCU total over 47.5 (49% on Kalshi)
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
