NCAA Football Bets: Clemson-Georgia Tops Week 1 Low-Scoring Picks

Let’s look at some games that could see the defensive having the upper hand as the college football odds list 13 games in Week 1 currently having totals under 50.

There were some pretty low-scoring games in Week 1 of the 2023 season with Utah topping Florida 24-11, Ohio State defeating Indiana 23-3, Iowa coming away with a 24-14 victory versus Utah State, and Duke pulling off one of the surprises of Week 1 with the 28-7 vanquishing of ACC power Clemson.

It will be interesting to see which of the early games will also turn into defensive slugfests. Looking at the Sportsbook odds, we came up with four solid options to be among the low-scoring games in the first week of the college football season.

NCAA Football Odds: 4 Games Where Points May Be Hard to Come By

1. Clemson vs Georgia (at Atlanta), Aug. 31, noon ET (ABC)

We are going out on a limb that there will be more points scored than was the case when Clemson and Georgia met in the 2021 season opener.

With two defenses dominated by a host of future NFL standouts, Georgia came away with a 10-3 win in a game that the college football lines assigned a total of 51½.

It was more of the same for Clemson in last year’s opener with the Tigers somehow managing just seven points in a loss to Duke despite having 422 yards of total offense.

Neither Clemson nor Georgia figure to have defenses as dominating as the 2021 unit but this also feels like it could turn into quite the defensive slugfest that could land under the 46-point total.

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— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) July 23, 2024

2. Miami (Ohio) at Northwestern, Aug. 31, 3:30 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)

Northwestern scored 24 points or less nine times a season ago and won four of those contests so the Wildcats are just fine playing low-scoring games.

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— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) July 23, 2024

There were mixed results in Miami’s two games against teams from the Power-5 conferences in 2023 with the RedHawks managing just three points against the other Miami program before upsetting Cincinnati 31-24 two weeks later.

With leading rusher Rashad Amos now at Ole Miss and the top receiver Gage Larvadain transferring to South Carolina, Miami’s offense could be a bit of a work in progress early in the season.

The total is at 42 at the current time and it won’t be a surprise to see this game struggling to top that mark. Since the start of the 2021 season, nine of Miami’s 15 non-conference games have landed under the total.

3. Florida Atlantic vs Michigan State, Aug. 30, 7 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)

It would be quite an understatement to suggest that Michigan State had its issues on offense a season ago.

The Spartans even averaged fewer points than the offensively challenged Iowa Hawkeyes in Big Ten play last season with Michigan State putting up 108 points in nine conference games.

There were five games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams when Michigan State was held under 10 points.

Florida Atlantic was 11th in the American Athletic Conference in total offense and ninth in scoring offense in 2023. The Owls averaged 15.5 points in two games against Power-5 conference teams in 2023 so it is hard to see FAU piling up the points against the Spartans as this game looks like a solid bet to go under 48 points.

4. Penn State vs West Virginia, Aug. 31, noon ET (FOX)

This is a bit of a risky college football pick with Penn State returning quarterback Drew Allar. However, nobody does a better job of holding down the passing numbers for the strong-armed Allar than Penn State head coach James Franklin.

When the teams met a season ago, the game looked like it was headed under the 48.5-point total until the Nittany Lions scored an insurance touchdown with 6 seconds left even though the game’s outcome was no longer in question. This year’s matchup has a total of 51.5.

West Virginia finished fifth in the Big 12 in total defense with the Mountaineers having the players back on defense to make life difficult for Penn State in the season opener.

Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets.

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