College Football Hate Bets for Week 1: LSU Puts the Paws on Clemson

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Hate did not prevail in Week 0. Instead, we had our hearts ripped out by a late scoop-and-score in the Hawai'i vs. Stanford game, while USC failed to show up against San Jose State. 

But that’s okay. This is the week hate reigns supreme.

For Week 1, we’re fading two head coaches who are both old news and should probably be headed to LinkedIn soon to start looking for new jobs.

We’re fading the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles.

The real college football season is finally here! Let the hate-watching commence as we provide our college football picks.

College football hate bets for Week 1

Matchup	Pick	Probability
Clemson @ LSU	LSU -9.5	53%
SMU @ Florida State	SMU Monyeline	59%

Percentages courtesy of Kalshi.

Clemson vs LSU pick: LSU -9.5

Kalshi probability: 53%

There might not be a coach in sports that I genuinely hate more than Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.

Is “bring your own guts” a great phrase? Yes, if it were coined by literally anyone else.

I digress…

Let’s get into the game of the week, the Clemson vs. No. 11 LSU matchup. This line originally opened at -11 in favor of the Baton Rouge Tigers and has since moved down to -9.5 at some books. I like the Lane Kiffin-led Tigers in this matchup for a few reasons.

For starters, I think a lot of people have a nostalgia issue with Swinney. They love to mention the past, when he had guys like Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. It has been SIX YEARS! This is not your older brother’s Clemson team. Their biggest issue over the last six years has been the quarterback position.

This season, Christopher Vizzina is leading the way, and it has already been noted that he does not have a long leash. On top of that, the ESPN College Football Preview labeled him “a gamble.” How does anyone feel good about trusting Clemson here?

Despite your personal thoughts and opinions on Lane Kiffin, he got himself the No. 3 player in the portal to lead his offense this season, and I think we can all agree that leaning on Sam Leavitt feels like the better option over Vizzina.

Let the Cajun Kitties feast!

Anything under -9.5 is playable.

SMU vs Florida State pick: SMU Moneyline 

Kalshi probability: 59%

After Florida State’s pitiful performance against a below-average Group of Five school, I am not the happiest with Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell. His tailpipe has to be red hot, as his seat has become one of the hottest in college football before Week 1 has even commenced.

Mike Norvell, welcome to the hate list. Congrats, buddy.

The Florida State Seminoles allowed a Diego Pavia-less New Mexico State team to rack up more than 300 total yards of offense, throw for more than 270 yards and convert 10 of 17 third downs. Florida State was more efficient on third down, going 8-for-14, but the overall performance was far from encouraging.

Some will argue this was a look-ahead game. Some may say this Florida State team will bounce back. They looked far too unprepared against a team they were supposed to demolish by 30-plus points for me to buy into that ideology.

SMU has tape on those early flaws, and the Mustangs should be able to exploit those weaknesses with their talented roster and sneak out of Tallahassee with the road win and cover.

I took the moneyline over laying -2.5 or -3 because, being this early in the season, crazy things can happen. It is college football. Anything can happen.

Plus, at the time I took the Mustangs to come out on top, -2.5 was in the -125 range. What is an extra 25 cents for no points?

Pay the juice.

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