Week 1: Alabama vs Utah State 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Utah State Aggies do battle Saturday in week 1 college football action from Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The Utah State Aggies will look to build on their 31-20 win over UConn to start the year. Logan Bonner threw for 281 yards and 3 TDs on 20 of 29 passing while Calvin Tyler Jr. rushed for 161 yards on 33 carries and Robert Briggs had 85 yards and a score on 10 carries. Bryan Cobbs led the Aggies in receiving with 7 catches for 78 yards and a TD while Kyle van Leeuwen and Justin McGriff each had 3 catches with a touchdown while combining for 107 receiving yards. MJ Tafisi led the defense with 10 total tackles while Ajani Carter added 7 total tackles, all of them solo for the team-high in that department. Gurvan Hall Jr. had a whopping 6 sacks for the team-high and Hunter Reynolds and Ike Larsen each had an interception.

The Alabama Crimson Tide will try to finish the job this time around, finishing the year at 13-2 including a 7-1 mark in SEC conference play. The Tide won the SEC championship game, taking down Georgia 41-24 and upended Cincinnati 27-6 in the CFP semifinals at the Cotton Bowl, but Georgia would get their revenge in the national championship game, with the Tide getting bested by the Bulldogs, 33-18. Bryce Young is back after winning the Heisman in 2021, throwing for 47 TDs with just 7 interceptions and just kept on trucking and putting up numbers despite injuries decimating his options at receiver. Jahmyr Gibbs transfers in from Georgia Tech as a home run threat in the Alabama backfield and Trey Sanders and Jase McClellan will be in the mix as well. The receiver corps has some star-studded names on it from recent years, but former Georgia Bulldog Jermaine Burton hopes to be the next name on that list for the Tide while Tyler Harrell comes in from Louisville and will hope to get more reps coming his way with Young spreading the love. Cameron Latu is also back at tight end as a rare breed TE who can also be a deep threat after recording 8 TDs and 410 receiving yards last season. On defense, Will Anderson will be back after logging a monstrous 17.5 sacks and 34.5 TFLs last season while Dallas Turner and last year’s top tackler, Henry To’o To’o are also back to make up one of, if not the best linebacking group in the country. Byron Young and DJ Dale are two of the headliners on the defensive line. Jordan Battle leads the Bama secondary, putting up 87 tackles last season as well as 3 INTs while Khyree Jackson and Kool-Aid McKinstry will be ready for their time to shine. Eli Ricks, a former LSU transfer and Malachi Moore will hope to stay healthy as well this season after both dealt with injury issues last year, and if they do, watch out.

Utah State is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 non-conference games. Alabama is 14-5 ATS in their last 19 home games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games against the Mountain West while the over is 14-3 in their last 17 games in September.

I get the case to be made for an underdog getting a boatload of points, especially when a team consistently retools like Alabama. The problem is that no matter how much Bama retools, they’re always good and always show up for the season opener, especially when it’s at home. One thing you can count on with Nick Saban teams is that they’ll be ready and raring to go and I just don’t think Utah State’s going to be ready for it. The final score doesn’t tell the whole story from the UConn game for the Aggies as Utah State looked for a good chunk of that one that they actually could lose the game outright despite laying four touchdowns for whatever reason. I think Alabama wins this one in a rout so give me the Tide laying the points.