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

In the previous Clemson and Georgia football match-up in a season opener, only one touchdown included. Will that scenario take place in the 2024 opening as well?

Three games that include Big 10 teams are among the four probable low scoring match-ups in the first week of the College football season. See the queues at the BetUS Sportsbook.

Below are four games that could be dominated early by the defense department.

One can hardly get a better start of the college football season with two highly skilled quarterbacks going up and down over the rivals’ defenses. But whilst this is the case, it has also been seen in numerous occasions that even the most efficient offences sometimes start out slow during the initial parts of the season. Which could produce some low-numbering games in Week 1.

Here are some games that could be potential candidates for the defensive side to reign supreme after the college football odds of Week 1 lists 13 games with totals below 50.

There were some dogs that battled to the whistle in Week 1 of the 2023 season with Utah dominating Florida 24-11, Ohio State outdoing Indiana 23-3, and Iowa overcoming the Utah State 24-14.

Curiously, it will be interesting to identify which of such games would also become defensive battles. Reviewing the line of the Sportsbook we have gathered four strong picks on our list of likely to be low-scoring games in the first week of the college football.

NCAA Football Odds: 4 Games Where It May Be Challenging to Rack up the Points

1. Clemson vs Georgia (on the Bengal Tigers’ ground, Atlanta), 31 August, 12 PM EST ( Telecast: ABC)

Here, we are taking a bold guess that more points will be scored than were when Clemson and Georgia faced off earlier in the season in 2021.

In a bowl game that the college football lines tabbed with a total of 51½, Georgia prevailed in a 10-3 victory in which the Bulldogs’ two defenses fared well against a host of NFL future talents.

Similarly, Clemson repeated a similar performance in the last season’s opener when, overall, the Tigers struggled to post only seven points, but still lost to Duke while amassing 422 yards of offense.

Of course, neither Clemson nor Georgia will have as good a defense as the 2021 unit but that also appears to have the potential to be quite the defensive battle that could easily go under the 46-point mark.

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

Nine games a year ago, NU scored 24 or less; however, they emerged victorious in four of those games hence Wildcats do not mind low scoring games.

Half of Miami’s two games against the Power-5 conference teams in 2023 proved successful with RedHawks scoring only three points against the other Miami team, while had defeated Cincinnati two weeks later, 31-24.

Rusher Rashad Amos, in particular, left the team for Ole Miss, and Gage Larvadain, the top receiver, to South Carolina, so Miami’s offense might look somewhat raw at the beginning of the season.

The total is at 42 at the current time and it will not be a shock to find this game limping over that number. Thus, nine of the 15 non-conference games played after the start of the current season registered below the total.

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

One could hardly overemphasize the fact that Michigan State had serious problems on the offensive side of the ball last year.

Spartans even scored points below what the offensively anemic Iowa Hawkeyes managed in Big Ten play last season, as Michigan State scored 108 points in nine conference games.

And there were five games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams when Michigan State was held to single digits, or under 10 points.

In 2023, Florida Atlantic was 11th in total offenses in American Athletic Conference and 9th in scoring offenses. 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 is scheduled to take on West Virginia on the 31st of August at noon Eastern Time – FOX.

This is a somewhat shady college football prediction with Penn State returning quarterback Drew Allar. Nevertheless, nobody does a better job of grounding the passing numbers for the strong-armed Allar than Penn State head coach James Franklin.

When the teams clashed in the reverse fixture last campaign, the game seemed as if it would be played under the 48. 5-point total until the Nittany Lions scored another meaningless touchdown with six seconds on the clock, given that the game was well out of reach at this point. Thus, the total of this year’s matchup is 51. 5.

West Virginia concluded the Big 12 conference in total defense, which means the Mountaineers possess the players on the defense to create challenging matchups for Penn State during the season opener.