College Football Schedule, Week 0: Watchability Ratings for August 25, 2018

We get it. You’re an avid college football fan, and you like spreading bets across a variety of games. But then you plop down on your couch with a beer at noon to start your all-day binge, and you have remote anxiety. Should you watch Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech or Washington vs. Auburn? Or will the best game be between lower-level teams like Eastern Illinois vs. Arkansas?

Thankfully, here at The Action Network we have a solution to your conundrum. We have a wealth of Vegas data on our site, as well as proprietary metrics to measure how good teams are, and thus we can put some data behind which games should capture your attention. Remote anxiety, be gone.

Using four factors, we’ll rank each game on a watchability scale each week:

1. The spread: A closer spread is better. Who cares about that 40-point blowout?
2. The total: Maybe you’re a maniac and like watching 3-0 SEC slugfests, but let’s assume that high-scoring games are preferred.
3. How good the teams are: Using our proprietary metric, we’ll give more weight to, ya know, the good teams.
4. Public betting data: We have a ton of data on which teams the public is backing, so we’ll factor that in, too.

And there you have it. The Action Network weekly Watchability Ratings.

The first Saturday admittedly isn’t incredibly exciting, with only four games on tap, but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers, and football is football. Without further ado, here are the rankings for Saturday’s first four:

1. Hawaii at Colorado State (-14.5) | O/U: 58

7:30 p.m. ET | CBSSN

This game features at least a couple players worth watching, including CSU QB K.J. Carta-Samuels, who has reportedly looked excellent in the preseason, and Hawaii slot receiver John Ursua, who was one of the nation’s most productive receivers last season before a mid-season injury. In his first game of 2017, he put up a ridiculous 12-272-1 line.

2. Wyoming (-4) at New Mexico State | O/U: 45

10 p.m. ET | ESPN2

This total isn’t very high, but the game does feature two decent teams with a low spread of just four points. Wyoming will attempt to recover after losing current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, although our college football experts think the Cowboys will be just fine.

3. Prairie View A&M at Rice (-20.5) | O/U: 61

7 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Rice was pathetic last season, going just 1-11, but the Owls will start their season against an FCS school in Prairie View. The talent will be minimal in this game, but it does boast an over/under of 61 and it’s on ESPN+, which is the home of our show, “I’ll Take That Bet.” So, why not?

4. Duquesne at UMass (-27.5) | O/U: 67.5

5:30 p.m. ET | No National TV

This game isn’t on national television, and UMass is almost a four-touchdown favorite over an FCS school in Duquesne. Do your thing and try to find a stream if you can, but you might be by yourself on this one.