Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have made it to the college football season.

Seven months ago, we watched Georgia take down Alabama to win the National Championship, and I am using this time to brag about being so damn right about the 2021-2022 Georgia Bulldogs one last time. I took their championship future the first day I could (+800) and was never concerned about it.

To be fair, the main reason was that I thought Georgia finally had a great quarterback in JT Daniels, but that championship ticket has long been cashed.

Anyway, I am ready to move on from my most profitable college football season and head into Week 0 of the 2022-2023 season. The matchups are not that great, but just knowing that we are watching meaningful football is enough to get me pumped up to place some bets, permanently sit down on my couch, and watch some ball.

I wish everyone good luck with their picks for Week 0 and the rest of the season. We would love for you to tail our best bets, we just ask that you do so responsibly.

*Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

Nebraska vs. Northwestern (noon EST)

The season kicks off in Ireland with just a glorious matchup. As a Big Ten man myself, I have immense respect for every team in the lord's conference, no matter how good or bad said teams may be.

Every loss for Nebraska last season was by eight points or less, and they had a great chance to beat the big three of the conference in Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State. They led the Spartans for most of the game before an epic collapse in the final minutes, let Michigan come back in the fourth quarter, and had Ohio State's offense looking clueless in a one-score loss.

This season, however, Nebraska retooled with Texas quarterback transfer Casey Thompson and TCU edge transfer, and one of the top players in the portal, Ochaun Mathis. They also brought in Mark Whipple to run the offense, and with the talent, they have in the running back and wide receiver rooms, Nebraska has a real chance to contend for the Big Ten West.

With all of that being said, however, there are a lot of new parts on both sides of this team, and although Northwestern's defense, which gave up 56 points and 664 total yards to these Cornhuskers last season, has another year under their belt, they lost star-power on each level of this defense to the transfer portal.

I expect Nebraska to struggle out of the gate, especially against a conference team in a different country, so we will take a look at the total.

Northwestern does not have a lot going for them on offense, so do not expect them to score many points, or have any explosive plays. The under is currently on the public's side of 50, so take it while you can. I do not envision a shootout, and I do not think that Nebraska is going to be in mid-season form for this out-of-country matchup.

Pick: Under 50.5 (-105)

Wyoming vs. Illinois (4:00 PM EST)

They are not a good team yet, but I have my eye on Illinois. They were teetering on the brink of complete irrelevance in the final years of the Lovie Smith era, but they are starting to stabilize after only one season of Bret Bielema in charge.

A 5-7 season is certainly not great, but they were competitive in many games, finished with a plus point differential in conference play, and recruited their state well this offseason. Also, Bielema is ditching his traditional power rushing scheme and is going with a little more tempo this season. Illinois hired UTSA offensive coordinator Barry Lunney, who led the Roadrunner to a top 10 scoring offense last season.

The Illini are bringing in Syracuse transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito to run the offense, which will be a massive improvement over last season's 121st-ranked passing attack. It may look a little weird at first, but they have the playmaker that they desperately needed last season.

On the other side, Wyoming had a solid team at the end of last season, but they got absolutely gutted from the transfer portal, losing impact players on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys are also massively undersized on the defensive line, which should help an Illinois offensive line that lost two starters to the NFL.

Illinois is bringing back seven starters on offense, and six starters on defense, while Wyoming lost the majority of their talent. I am not in love with the number, but I have to take the Illini and the points here, I think Wyoming might be one of the worst teams in the country.

Pick: Illinois -13.5 (-110)

Vanderbilt vs. Hawai'i (10:30 PM EST)

There is nothing better than the late-night Hawai'i game. My favorite thing to do during college football Saturdays while I was in college was going to the Ohio State game at noon, heading home to watch the 3:30 SEC game, going out and watching the late slate, and then heading home at staying up to watch Hawai'i at an ungodly hour.

I do not even care if it is a good football game, I just love watching that midnight football.

Anyway, The Rainbow Warriors (all-time name) had a wild offseason after players spoke out about the toxic culture under Todd Graham. They went out and hired former Rainbow Warrior quarterback legend, Timmy Chang. He will be tasked with taking over a team that went through a complete overhaul.

He also will be tasked with running a team with almost no experience. He has never been a head coach or offensive coordinator at this level, and he has to replace practically every position on this team. Unless Hawai'i has some surprises somewhere on the depth chart, I am not really sure what to think of this team.

What I do know about this game is that Vanderbilt has an energetic coach entering year two in Clark Lea, who has started to make the right moves to make Vanderbilt not look completely ridiculous playing in the SEC. Still, Vanderbilt was ranked towards the bottom in most offensive, and defensive categories last season, and the good players they had on their team smartly transferred out.

Basically, I have no idea who is playing in this game.

However, Hawai'i is 11-1 ATS in their last 12 openers, and since 2018, they are 8-3-1 as a home dog. The number keeps rising, so I will take the Rainbow Warriors on the spread.

I just do not trust a really bad team, that got worse, to cover as a 9.5-point favorite. To be honest, I do not trust Vanderbilt to do much of anything. 

Pick: Hawai'i +9.5 (-110)

Photo Credit: Embed from Getty Images