College Football Predictions, Picks: Stuckey’s Week 2 Bets for Michigan vs Oklahoma, Kentucky vs Alabama, More

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As I do every week, I will share my favorite betting spots for Saturday’s college football card.

It’s Week 2, which is still tricky since we haven’t seen many teams play real competition and the sample size remains small across the board for rosters that now have such heavy turnover.

With that said, I still fired away on several overreactions in the market, in my eyes.

My primary goal here is to discuss a few key angles, notable matchups, regression signals and injury situations for each game, hopefully helping you make more informed wagers.

I write most of these up after betting them, and I log them in the Action App immediately, so make sure you’re following along there for plays early in the week that may move. For reference, I’ll note what I’d still play each wager to.

Looking ahead to this weekend, I have highlighted my 13 favorite Week 2 spots.

• 2022-25: 223-178-3 (55.6%)
• 2026: 0-0
• Overall: 223-178-3 (55.6%)

Let’s dive into my college football predictions and NCAAF picks for Week 2.

College Football Predictions, Picks

Game	Time (ET)	Pick
	12 p.m.	Michigan +6.5
	12 p.m.	Purdue +4.5
	3:30 p.m.	Kentucky +10.5
	3:30 p.m.	Arizona +7.5
	3:30 p.m.	Syracuse -2.5
	3:45 p.m.	North Texas +6.5
	6 p.m.	Boise State -7.5
	7 p.m.	Georgia State +9.5
	7 p.m.	Georgia Tech +13
	7:30 p.m.	Oregon State +27.5
	7:45 p.m.	Charlotte +47.5
	10 p.m.	Air Force +6
	10:30 p.m.	Fresno State -18.5

Michigan’s offense looked absolutely dreadful last week in the clock-gate game vs. Western Michigan.

Bryce Underwood, in particular, had a disastrous outing in which he looked like he had regressed from a disappointing freshman season. He still had issues with his footwork and struggled to read the Broncos’ defense.

Excluding the Hail Mary, he finished 11-of-22 for 123 yards with no big-time throws and a whopping five turnover-worthy plays.

That’s a pitiful stat line at home vs. a MAC team that lost plenty of production (along with its coordinator) on the defensive side of the ball.

And now he has to go up against Brent Venables and a nasty Oklahoma defense that already game-planned for him last season.

So, we’re betting Oklahoma, right?

You must be new here. I’m simply buying low on the Wolverines after a week-to-week adjustment of over a touchdown in a game where points should come at a premium with a total that has dropped to 43.5.

In fairness, the Wolverines did have a post-game win expectancy north of 95%. A -3 turnover margin didn’t help matters, with two giveaways leading directly to WMU scores.

The quarterback play reeked, and the offensive line didn’t get a great push, but the defense still dominated and held the Broncos to only 89 passing yards on 21 attempts, in addition to under three yards per rush.

Plus, the Sooners come into this game dealing with offensive line injuries.

I don’t think starting left tackle Michael Fasusi will suit up, and we’ll see on the status of starting center Jake Maikkula and Ryan Fodje (who may be forced to move to left tackle) after both missed the opener due to injury, which forced a true freshman into snapping duties.

I believe they are trending in the right direction, but there’s still injury uncertainty there against a very stout Michigan defense.

I’ll be curious to see how much 12 personnel (two tight ends) runs this week after we saw the Sooners go with that grouping on a whopping 50-of-59 offensive snaps against UTEP. For context, they used 12 personnel on only 78 total snaps all of last season.

Michigan should match up well against those formations, and facing Western Michigan’s offense will serve as valuable prep against heavier sets.

Underwood could just literally throw this game away against an Oklahoma defense that loads the box to take away the run at all costs, but I expect Michigan to come out with its hair on fire following last week’s embarrassing performance in which it may have been caught peeking ahead a bit to this week.

I also expect some brand-new looks from the offense, and who knows how short the leash is on Underwood, so there’s a chance we see Tommy Carr.

Regardless, I just can’t get to this number even after downgrading Michigan a bunch after last week. It’s not like Oklahoma wildly exceeded expectations against a bad UTEP team last week that missed three field goals.

If this line sat at +3.5 or even +4, I’d pass, but I jumped in at 6.5, assuming the market wouldn’t ever (hopefully) get to 7.

I could end up with egg on my face, as sometimes you need to be more aggressive in these early-season adjustments in today’s college football landscape.

With that said, I took the 6.5 in a likely rock fight where the quarterback on the other side could also easily cough up the ball a few times.

For what it’s worth, the last three home ‘dogs that failed to cover the previous week by more than 21 points as 21-plus point favorites (with a huge game on deck) all covered with ease:

• After losing to UAB as a -24 favorite, Memphis (+3.5) beat USF
• After beating Purdue by one in OT as a -24 favorite, Illinois (+6) beat Michigan
• After losing to New Mexico State as a -28 favorite, Auburn (+13.5) lost on a Hail Mary to Alabama

Pick: Michigan +6.5 (Play to +6)

This is potentially a tricky spot for the Demon Deacons, who have Miami on deck on a short week next Friday. They could get caught peeking ahead a bit and overlook a Purdue team that has lost 20 straight games to Power 4 opponents.

More importantly, I just couldn’t get this number to over a field goal.

Coming into the season, I had this projected as Wake Forest -2. Did anything really change last week to make me want to move this through the key number of 3? Not really.

Wake Forest handled its business in a game it should have covered against Akron, but the Zips were forced to start a freshman quarterback following eligibility issues surrounding projected starter Reese Poffenbarger.

Meanwhile, Purdue was a bit sluggish out of the gate against an FCS opponent. That wasn’t too surprising with another roster that dealt with heavy turnover in the offseason.

Plus, the Boilermakers looked a lot crisper as that game progressed. It’s difficult to take much from an opener against Indiana State, but a few of the transfer additions that I liked coming into the season flashed, including:

• RB Fame Ijeboi (Minnesota)
• WR Asaad Waseem (FAU)
• Nickel Mister Clark (FIU; love him)
• CB Don Saunders (Utah)

The safety position does remain a major concern, though.

Lastly, Purdue should get its left tackle back this week in Joey Tanona — the only returning starter along the offensive line. His presence is even more critical with a true freshman left guard and Langston Hardy coming off the edge on the other side.

Meanwhile, Wake Forest’s best receiver, Carlos Hernandez, got a bit banged up last week. While I expect him to suit up, it’s worth mentioning.

Pick: Purdue +4.5 (Play to +3.5)

I’ve had this spot circled since the summer, with the Will Stein era officially kicking off.

No, I’m not counting last week’s rout of Youngstown State, but I at least came away impressed with the ‘Cats in that victory over a top-10 FCS program, especially since they sat several starters who have a good shot of returning on Saturday:

• RT Malachi Wood (should play)
• CB Hasaan Sykes (should play)
• CB Terhyon Nichols (not on injury report)

Plus, linebacker Alex Afari Jr., who came back to Lexington following a brief stop with the Green Bay Packers, should get a more normal workload in the second level where his presence could really provide a boost.

New quarterback Kenny Minchey looked fine, but the game plan was very vanilla, with most of the damage coming after the catch on short passes. He misfired on a few of the rare deep balls he attempted, but it was overall a positive debut.

More importantly, Kentucky didn’t have to show much, and I expect Stein to unleash his bag for such an important game for the program. I assume he worked all summer on this specific game plan against a staff he’s very familiar with on the other side from his time at Oregon.

As a result, he should have a prime opportunity to catch Alabama off guard early in this game with plenty of new packages and wrinkles.

It also helps to have a very stout offensive line that this staff clearly prioritized when building the roster. It’s the strongest position unit on the team, which is always a nice place to start.

Alabama did look great in its home opener against East Carolina, but that came at home against a very down Pirates squad that not only lost a ton from last year’s roster (in addition to both coordinators), but also had some key injuries.

It’s an ECU team that the market hated this summer and is betting against once again this week at home vs. App State, so I’d tap the brakes a bit on the Bama love.

This is still a first-year starter making his first road start against an SEC opponent with a much-maligned offensive line that will actually get a real test this week and will likely have to do so without its best player up front in Michael Carroll (doubtful).

You can also juice up the home-field in Lexington this weekend in what should be one of its best crowds in quite some time. I just wanted 10 or above in this spot and got it, so I’m in. Go ‘Cats.

Pick: Kentucky +10.5 (Play to +10)

There’s not much you can take from last week for either team, with both handling their business against FCS foes, although BYU had a much easier opponent in Utah Tech.

Although, BYU did lose a starting safety to injury, which could matter a bit against the very experienced Noah Fifita.

Coming into the season, the biggest question surrounding this Arizona team was in the secondary following the loss of five players to the NFL.

It remains to be seen if they can avoid too steep a drop-off with the portal acquisitions they brought in, but they should be OK in this particular matchup, as BYU’s biggest primary weakness lies at wide receiver following the graduation of Chase Roberts and dismissal of Parker Kingston.

It’s an underwhelming group (even with true freshman Legend Glasker flashing in his debut last week) that I don’t believe can fully exploit the potentially vulnerable Arizona back end.

In order to slow down this BYU offense in 2026, you need a stout front seven that can defend the run and cover tight ends. Arizona has that, especially with linebacker Max Harris expected back this week after getting an exemption to return.

For what it’s worth, running back Ismail Mahdi should also play due to that same TRO, providing a nice spark in the backfield.

If two coin-flips had gone Arizona’s way last season, it would have played in the Big 12 Championship instead of BYU. But the Cougars pulled off a miraculous double-overtime win in Tucson that I’m sure the Wildcats have had circled ever since.

Eventually, the BYU horseshoe run in recent seasons will end in terms of close game wins, fourth-down variance and turnover luck. And maybe it’s this week against the revenge-minded Wildcats.

Bottom line: I was happy to take over a touchdown in a game where points may come at a premium (and it appears the market agrees with the total continuing to get bet down) in a favorable matchup for the Arizona defense.

Pick: Arizona +7.5 (Play to +7)

This isn’t my favorite bet in the world, and I may end up coming back on Cal pregame or live (should be a back-and-forth affair) based on the availability report, but I had this circled as a target at under a field goal given the spot in addition to some injury concerns for the Bears.

Not only did the offensive line get a bit banged up last week, but quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele also seemed hampered in the second half of a very physical affair against UCLA.

There could be some after-effects this week in a tricky cross-country travel spot that a brand-new staff will have to navigate.

The new Cal defense also didn’t show many signs of life, which was my biggest concern coming into the season. I also didn’t fancy the offensive play-calling.

So, while I love JKS and his new weapons on the outside, there wasn’t much else to get excited about.

Plus, the strength of this Syracuse defense (which should benefit from a very good coordinator hire in Vince Kehres) lies at cornerback with Chris Peal and Demetres Samuel Jr., which is critical in this particular matchup.

Additionally, we know how important Steve Angeli is at quarterback for Syracuse after seeing what that offense became following his injury last year.

With Angeli, the Orange went 3-1 while averaging 24.5 points per game. Without him, they went 0-8 and failed to reach 20 points in any of those contests (average of just 11.4).

While it’s hard to take much from an FCS win in Week 1, Angeli should benefit from getting live reps following his injury. From what I saw last week, Syracuse should have no issues moving the ball on this porous stop unit.

Pick: Syracuse -2.5

This is a tough spot for the Rebels, who will play their third game already after a war with Memphis followed by a trip out to Hawaii in a game that ended super late on Saturday night.

I wasn’t overly impressed with UNLV in either game, and it really benefited from some key Hawaii injuries last week.

The offensive line remains an absolute mess, and it’s been all downhill since starting center Austin Boyd (the only returning starter up front who will miss a few more weeks) went down with an injury in the second half vs. Memphis.

Now, the Rebels have to head out on the road for a second straight game to face the Mean Green in excessive Texas heat.

Don’t let the final score fool you last week. North Texas actually outgained Indiana in Bloomington last Saturday.

The Mean Green held up much better than I had anticipated in the trenches, holding the IU backs to just 91 yards on 29 carries (3.14).

It looks like they did a tremendous job in their portal evaluations in rebuilding a team from almost scratch after the mass exodus to Oklahoma State.

The offensive line also kept Tayven Jackson very clean (lots of short passes helped, no doubt, but only one sack allowed on 28 dropbacks) against a ferocious Hoosier front.

While the O-line still doesn’t profile as a plus unit, it performed better than I had expected, especially in Week 1 on the road against the toughest test they’ll face all year by far.

I also expect to see even more wrinkles on offense than we saw last week, which had some Texas flavor following head coach Neal Brown’s one-year stop in Austin.

The special teams have major issues, and the cornerback room is very thin, as starter Chase Canada will miss some time after suffering an injury last week. He’s the third corner to go down since camp, so that position group is getting dicey.

But I’ll pay to make Jackson Arnold beat me through the air.

Pick: North Texas +6.5 (Play to +3.5)

Memphis is off to a hot start at 2-0, but I haven’t been as impressed as others seem to be.

The Tigers beat a UNLV team I’m down on in large part due to a key offensive line injury and the Rebels failing on three fourth-down attempts.

Mistakes by both teams allowed Memphis to play with the lead, where its tremendous pass rush could tee off on subpar G6 offensive lines.

The rest of the defense is very vulnerable on the back end, and this will prove a much more difficult test against a Boise team that just went toe-to-toe with one of the national champion favorites on the road.

More importantly, quarterback Maddux Madsen played the best game of his career. He had previously really struggled against top-tier competition, so last week’s performance has me bullish on his outlook for his fourth season as a starter.

New Memphis quarterback Marcus Stokes has looked OK, but he’s mainly just hit the easy button for explosives in Kevin Decker’s scheme against shaky defenses.

The offensive line still has holes that Boise’s front can exploit, forcing Stokes into some critical mistakes.

I project this at 10 from a pure numbers perspective and think Boise should get a slight bump for the spot with Memphis coming off back-to-back games in Vegas and then at home in the heat vs. Arkansas State before traveling back out west.

That’s a tricky start to the season.

Ultimately, I expect Boise to play from ahead, where it can lean on the Memphis front with its potent backfield in order to neutralize the pass rush and set up shots downfield off play-action where Madsen has always excelled.

Pick: Boise State -7.5 (Play to -8)

I’ve been waiting for my first real opportunity to fade Syracuse transfer quarterback Rickie Collins, and this is my chance following a blowout victory over a bad FCS team in West Georgia, which recently transitioned from D-II.

You can’t really take much from either team’s opener, with Georgia State also annihilating a poor FCS program in NC A&T by a score of 59-10.

Both teams still have many roster concerns, especially on the offensive side of the ball after offseason roster turnover.

However, I do believe Georgia State has the much better quarterback in Cameran Brown, who for some reason had to split time under center last season despite finishing with a 13:1 touchdown-interception ratio, while the other two QBs on the roster finished with a combined nine touchdowns to 10 interceptions.

The Panthers also significantly upgraded their offensive staff, so I expect a much more serious operation after last year’s debacle.

I project this spread under a touchdown, so I had no issues locking in +9.5, looking to get in early in the season on a Georgia State team that I have slightly better than market (with the opposite holding true for the Owls).

Give me the Panthers to keep this close with a real shot at pulling off the outright upset against their close neighbors right up the road in a bit of a rivalry.

Pick: Georgia State +9.5 (Play to +8)

I absolutely hated this Georgia Tech team coming into the season. Not only did I fade the Yellow Jackets Week 1, but I also loved their win total under.

I just thought the market wasn’t properly accounting for the offseason losses, primarily offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and quarterback Haynes King.

Yet, even after downgrading the Yellow Jackets following their Week 1 loss to Colorado, I’m still at just +10 after adjusting for a very good situational spot.

Not only is this a primo buy-low opportunity on Tech (which thrives in the underdog role under Brent Key), but it also has a few extra days of rest/prep after opening up the season on a Thursday.

That’s important for a roster that had to deal with so much turnover and brought in a new starting quarterback from the portal in Alberto Mendoza, who now at least has a start under his belt.

I’d expect the Ramblin’ Wreck to run him more in this spot to open up the run game for Malachi Hosley and Justice Haynes, who simply could not get going against the Buffs.

Brett Davis-Imagn Images. Pictured: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key leads the team on the field.

While the trench play was worrisome for Tech and Julian Lewis left some points on the board with some bad quarterback play, it was still a coin-flip game if you look at post-game win expectancy, which also doesn’t include a defensive touchdown that got erroneously taken off the board for the Yellow Jackets.

It’s reasonable to expect a better effort in the second game with many new pieces and brand new coordinators.

Tennessee basically played to expectations in the opener against an FCS school, but I’m not sure how much we can take from a home game against a severely overmatched opponent in Furman.

This will still mark the first career road start (and first against real competition) for freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon. While super talented, he’s still extremely inexperienced.

Ultimately, I just believe this is too much of an overreaction based on the results last week.

Plus, I’d expect Georgia Tech to grind this game to a halt, which it tends to do as an underdog in order to limit the number of possessions, which makes the points a bit more intriguing.

Pick: Georgia Tech +13 (Play to +11.5)

For starters, this is a tough spot for Tech, having to travel to the West Coast for a nonconference game with Houston on deck (on a short week) in one of its most important games of the entire regular season.

I doubt it’ll be too concerned with running it up here and likely will just want to get out of dodge with a healthy Will Hammond, who I don’t think is even 100% ready to fully utilize his legs, which hampers this offense a bit.

As of right now, the Red Raiders’ passing attack is pretty underwhelming with an abundance of short passes and potential major issues in the red zone once again.

Additionally, the defense appears to have taken a major step back up front following the losses of three defensive linemen to the NFL, which, in turn, should expose the secondary a bit more after basically not having to get tested at all last season.

Meanwhile, I was really impressed with Oregon State play-calling under new offensive coordinator Mitch Dahlen and especially quarterback Braden Atkinson.

The Mercer transfer threw for nearly 400 yards in his FBS debut on the road at Houston in an easy cover.

Give me the Beavs to keep this within four touchdowns at home with revenge on their minds following a 31-point blowout loss against a much tougher Tech team in Lubbock last season.

Pick: Oregon State +27.5 (Play to +25)

Get ready to hold your nose here, backing a Charlotte team that just lost its home opener as a massive favorite vs. The Citadel.

While I believe Tim Albin is a decent head coach, the roster is just void of talent. I’d expect a focused effort from the 49ers here after such an embarrassing result, but they will undoubtedly be completely overmatched from a talent standpoint.

This is simply a play on a number I show value in, plus a fade of Ole Miss in a brutal situational spot.

Following its thrilling win over Louisville in a true 60-minute all-out effort, it has to host lowly Charlotte on a short week before hosting LSU in one of the most highly anticipated games of the year.

So, what does that mean? Well, for starters, I doubt the Rebs want to run Trinidad Chambliss much in this one. Additionally, they will probably sit some guys who dealt with injuries last week, including stud running back Kewan Lacy and some offensive linemen.

It’s also worth mentioning that I downgraded Ole Miss following last week’s victory (and non-cover).

Chambliss looked awesome, but the defense had major communication issues, and that could’ve easily ended in a loss if not for some enormous Louisville special teams blunders that directly led to 14 Ole Miss points.

The Rebels will most likely build a big lead and eventually take the air out of the ball. They’ll also at some point get their third-stringers on the field.

While the gap between the haves and have-nots in today’s new college football landscape continues to widen, the gap between the deep bench of the premier teams and the lower-level ones continues to shrink, as there just aren’t as many high-quality players who want to stick around on the third-string when they can go get paid somewhere else to play.

Lastly, I doubt Ole Miss wants to show anything to Lane Kiffin, so I’d expect it to be extra vanilla, prioritizing health. And I doubt they spent much time prepping for Charlotte, instead opting to focus on next week’s plan of attack vs. the Tigers.

Pick: Charlotte +47.5 (Play to +45)

I couldn’t believe this line when it came out, as I actually project Air Force as a slight favorite. I did not expect North Dakota State to open at the same price it closed at in its home opener.

Yes, North Dakota State has looked impressive through two games in its first season at the FBS level, but both of its victories came at home, with the first coming in a super smash spot vs. Jacksonville State and the other coming against a very poor FCS team.

Air Force will present a much more strenuous test on the road in altitude with a unique offense. This is new territory for the Bison in their first year in the league.

Meanwhile, I’m super high on this Air Force team this season, and the Falcons should come into this game much fresher after just playing one game at home against an overmatched FCS opponent.

Points should come at a premium with two-run heavy teams that won’t play with much tempo. Expect an absolute slugfest in which the Flyboys come out on top.

Pick: Air Force +6 (Play to +3 — look for live or best + moneyline in market if line doesn’t come back up)

This is as ugly as it gets. Needing Fresno State to win by 20-plus with Jayden Mandal, who couldn’t have played worse at quarterback in the opener against USC.

In that game, he finished 7-of-15 for 77 yards with zero touchdowns to one interception, and he took not one but two safeties! Incredible.

This will at least be an exponentially easier task against Sacramento State — one of the three worst FBS teams in the country.

The Hornets looked miserable in the opener against Eastern Michigan before tacking on some yards and points late when Carson Conklin got hot against an Eagles defense that started to play very soft on the back end with a big lead.

Last week, they destroyed Mississippi Valley State, which you just can’t take anything from.

And while I’m not a huge fan of Conklin (who was at Fresno State last year), I do still have about a field-goal downgrade from him to backup Jackson Sharman, who will get the start this week due to Conklin’s injury.

Sharman came from FCS Idaho State where he didn’t even start, so I’m not expecting much offensive output against a Fresno State defense that should be out for blood following the blowout loss to a far superior Trojans team last Friday (which also gives them an extra day of rest/prep).

I project this over three touchdowns with the backup in for Sacramento State, so I happily laid -18.5 with Fresno.

I also split the wager with the under, as it’s not like I expect the Fresno State offense to suddenly light the world on fire and its pace should remain slow. Hopefully, we get something like 30-6.

This is a perfect bounce-back/get-right spot for the Bulldogs in their home opener.

Pick: Fresno State -18.5 (Play to -19.5)

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