{"id":364313,"date":"2025-08-22T15:29:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T19:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=364313"},"modified":"2025-08-22T15:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T19:29:28","slug":"college-football-week-0-parlay-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/college-football-week-0-parlay-picks\/","title":{"rendered":"College football Week 0 parlay picks: Bet on Western Kentucky to win, Donelson to run wild for Fresno State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Saturday, a fresh college football season begins with a five-pack of Week 0 matchups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Kansas State and Iowa State kick things off at noon ET in Ireland, but there&#8217;s plenty of action to follow. I&#8217;m targeting rising sophomore running back Bryson Donelson (Fresno State) in what could be a breakout game against the Kansas Jayhawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My +320 college football parlay picks feature a prediction on the Sam Houston State Bearkats vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">College football picks: Week 0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Parlay: <\/b><strong>Donelson over 68.5 rush yards | Western Kentucky ML | Hawaii over 25.5 points (+320)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Donelson over 68.5 rushing yards (-118):<\/strong> Donelson deserves more work in the Fresno State Bulldogs&#8217; backfield this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last season as a true freshman, Donelson rushed for 6.0 yards per carry (462 yards on 77 rushes). He split time with Elijah Gilliam, who averaged 3.9 YPC (466 yards on 121 carries).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both tailbacks have returned, but Donelson has shown enough that he should be the feature back. And against a suspect Kansas run defence, that&#8217;s all you can ask for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kansas&#8217; defence ranked 124th in EPA per play last season, according to Game On Paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, though Fresno State has been a pass-heavy team in the past, I could see a different approach coming this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Starting quarterback E.J. Warner, who transferred in from Rice, led the American Conference in interceptions each of the past three seasons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fresno State&#8217;s new offensive coordinator, Josh Davis, schemed an offence at the University of South Dakota (FCS) last year that yielded two 1,000-yard rushers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/american_football\/competitions\/11489\/matches\">Full NCAAF betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NCAAF parlay picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Western Kentucky moneyline <\/strong>(-400):<\/strong> This has by far the shortest odds of the three legs, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hilltoppers won on the road against the Bearkats last year, 31-14. Now, they&#8217;ll vie for a third win in as many seasons since Sam Houston State joined Conference USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SHSU is completely starting over on defence. Literally. Not a single starter is back, and even counting the players transferring in, there are only four Bearkat defenders on the roster who had 110+ FBS snaps last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WKU has a lot of retooling to do on offence. But at least its new QB (Maverick McIvor) and offensive coordinator (Rick Bowie) are both coming from the same FCS school, Abilene Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hilltoppers went 5-1 at home last year (4-2 ATS) and should get off to a good start as 10-point favourites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Hawaii over 25.5 points <\/strong>(-118):<\/strong> Andrew Luck is back with Stanford Cardinal as the general manager, and he brought in longtime NFL coach \u2014 and Super Bowl champion \u2014 Frank Reich to coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a couple of notable names on the sidelines can&#8217;t put lipstick on the pig that is Stanford football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The on-field name that matters most in this game is Micah Alejado, the sophomore quarterback for the Hawaii Warriors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alejado, born in Honolulu, threw for 125 touchdowns and just four interceptions during his high school career at heralded Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 2022, he was named national junior of the year by MaxPreps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>During his lone start for the Warriors as a true freshman last year, Alejado completed 37 of 57 passes for 469 yards, five TDs and zero INTs. Electric stuff, even if it was against the hapless New Mexico Lobos.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Stanford allowed 33.7 PPG last season, and nine of its 12 opponents cleared this total. I&#8217;m buying into the Alejado experience at home in Week 0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>College football picks made at 3:19 p.m. on 08\/22\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, a fresh college football season begins with a five-pack of Week 0 matchups. The pregame narrative: Kansas State and Iowa State kick things off at noon ET in Ireland, but there&#8217;s plenty of action to follow. I&#8217;m targeting rising sophomore running back Bryson Donelson (Fresno State) in what could be a breakout game [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":364295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,77],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-364313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-college-football","tag-college-football-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>College football picks: Week 0 parlay predictions | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our 2025 college football Week 0 parlay picks. 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