Sweatin’ through Saturday: All-day college football parlay for Week 0

At long last, college football will return to our lives -- well, at least sort of. Week 0 of the 2024 season kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 24 with a four-game slate. We begin in Dublin, Ireland once again as the Florida State Seminoles take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The amuse-bouche will then conclude in the dead of night with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors hosting the Delaware State Hornets. So what better way to celebrate our annual appetizer for the year than with a college football parlay?

Look, I would never pose as a serious or career bettor. But there's just something electric on Saturdays when it comes to sweating out bets, specifically if it's a parlay with the goal being that we're trying to turn a lot into a little. This is purely recreational and meant to make Saturdays more fun for college football fans. Who doesn't love Sweatin' through Saturday together?!

We'll keep our record throughout the season and have one unit (or a small wager) on each just to make things easy in that capacity. But let's get the 2024 campaign started with a 5-leg Week 0 college football parlay that most definitely utilizes alternate lines, player props and quite literally anything we can find to get the best bets we like for the week.

Sweatin' through Saturday record for the 2024 season: 0-0-0 (0.0 Units)

All odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. All bets are 1 unit unless otherwise noted. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

First Leg: Florida State-Georgia Tech 1st Half Under 30.5 (-164)

If you're first inclination is that Florida State had a prolific offense a year ago while Georgia Tech had one of the country's worst defenses, you're not wrong. But with FSU's personnel losses and D.J. Uiagalelei taking over for Jordan Travis along with former Duke defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci taking over the Yellow Jackets defense, I expect both parties to venture more toward the mean.

Specifically in the case of the Seminoles, though, I would be stunned if they didn't put the training wheels on DJU out of the gate this season. That will likely mean allowing a stout FSU offensive line to road-grade for Roydell Williams and Lawrance Toafili to carry the load. Georgia Tech may not have many answers but I don't expect their Haynes King-led offense to be able to muster much either while the clock is churning. So give me this alt-line first-half total and change for this first half, especially on a Dublin field we've seen be sloppy and in weather that will surely not be kind for scoring.

Second Leg: Montana State 1st Half -4.5 vs. New Mexico (-155)

Yes, an FCS team is now a 13.5-point favorite over New Mexico. But let's be real: Montana State might actually be closer to a low-tier FBS team than the Lobos right now. Having said that, I would feel more comfortable if the full-game spread was still less than double digits, which is where it opened. So instead, we're going back to the first half and taking the Bobcats to cover an alt spread for the first two quarters.

Bronco Mendenhall has quite a lot of work ahead with with the Lobos and the dynamic rushing attack of Montana State with Tommy Mellott at quarterback will amplify that. New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier is a dude to watch but he has little help around him, which I suspect we'll see early and often throughout this contest.

Third Leg: SMU -23.5 vs. Nevada (-156)

I've already been outed as a doubter of the SMU Mustangs in their venture to the ACC -- but I'm certainly not going to doubt them against the Wolfpack. Nevada was one of the worst rushing defenses in college football a year ago and, while you might think of Rhett Lashlee's SMU as a pass-heavy attack, they have no fear of giving the rock to their backs time and again behind a solid offensive line.

Nevada figures to be among the worst teams in the country again and I simply imagine SMU having their way in this game, especially with a much-improved defense that we saw a year ago. So I'll take the alt spread to get it under a key number in 24 but there is plenty of confidence in the Ponies to ride through this game like it's nothing.

Fourth Leg: Jaylan Knighton 70+ Rushing Yards - SMU vs. Nevada (+105)

Speaking of that SMU rushing attack, Jaylan Knighton now gets a full-bore opportunity to be "the guy" in the Mustangs backfield after averaging 5.6 yards per carry last year and topping 700 yards on just 128 attempts. Again, I suspect Nevada will have a difficult time stopping the SMU run game, and Lashlee is definitely an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of guy with his offense. Knighton should see a big workload and I wouldn't be shocked if he ended the day with 100+.

But we'll play it a bit more conservatively but still at plus-money for just 70+ yards on the ground.

Fifth Leg: Hawaii -40 vs. Delaware State (-110)

Do I think that Hawaii is going to be some unstoppable juggernaut in the Mountain West this season? Not even a little bit. This has everything in the world to do with Delaware State. The Hornets went 1-10 last season with the one victory coming against Division-III Virginia-Lynchburg (a D-3 team that only won one game themselves!).

Now you throw in the fact that Delaware State had a nightmarish travel issue getting to Hawaii and it just seems like everything is saying the run-and-shoot bread and butter of the Rainbow Warriors has a chance to dance all over the Hornets late into the night on the mainland.

Week 0 College Football Parlay Odds (+1244)

Put this all together, even with the alt totals and spreads, and we're still talking a college football parlay north of 12/1 odds. Happy sweatin', everyone, and thank the football gods that these types of Saturdays are returning to our lives.