College football odds, picks, predictions for Week 2, 2022: Proven model backing Pittsburgh, Iowa State

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Two of the biggest brands going head-to-head highlight the Week 2 college football schedule as Texas hosts No. 1 Alabama. The future SEC rivals were former BCS foes back in 2010 when Bama won in the Rose Bowl to cap off a perfect 14-0 season. These are two of the winningest programs in NCAA history as Alabama’s 928 wins rank second all-time while Texas’ 879 rank fourth. The Crimson Tide are 20-point favorites in the latest Week 2 college football odds, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Bama isn’t the only SEC team venturing outside the conference as Tennessee will visit Pittsburgh for the first time ever. That SEC-ACC clash has the Volunteers as 7-point favorites. Can the SEC maintain bragging rights over everyone else, or should you back the home teams with your Week 2 college football bets? Before locking in any Week 2 college football picks for those games or others, be sure to see the latest college football predictions from SportsLine’s advanced computer model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past six-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,500 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It enters Week 2 of the 2022 college football season on a 48-37 run on all top-rated college football spread and money-line picks that dates back to 2021. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.

Now, it has turned its attention to the latest Week 2 college football odds from Caesars and locked in picks for every FBS matchup. Head here to see every pick.

Top college football predictions for Week 2

One of the college picks the model is high on in Week 2: Pittsburgh covers as a 7-point home underdog against Tennessee in a 3:30 p.m. ET matchup on Saturday. Both teams will have equal rest after their victories last Thursday, and Pitt will be looking to move to 4-0 all-time versus the Vols. These teams squared off last year in Knoxville, Tenn., and the Panthers overcame a 10-point deficit to both win and cover the spread.

Former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis didn’t disappoint in his Pittsburgh debut with 308 yards and a touchdown against a West Virginia team that had the Big 12’s third-best pass defense a year ago. Meanwhile, pass defense isn’t Tennessee’s strong suit as it allowed the second-most yards through the air in the SEC last season and then lost its best DB in Alontae Taylor to the draft. The model projects another 300-yard game from Slovis, but with two touchdowns this time and that will be enough to allow Pitt to stay in this one. Pittsburgh (+7) covers well over 50% of the time, while the Under (65.5) hits in almost 60% of simulations.

Another prediction: Iowa State (+3.5) stays within the spread on the road versus Iowa at 4 p.m. ET in the 2022 Cy-Hawk game. The Hawkeyes had one of the ugliest Week 1 wins when they scraped by FCS school South Dakota State with a 7-3 victory. Iowa gained just 166 total yards, had two turnovers and needed two second-half safeties to get a four-point win.

On the other hand, Iowa State performed as expected against another FCS school in Southeast Missouri State with a 42-10 win. QB Hunter Dekkers had nearly 300 yards and four passing TDs while the ground attack — led by Jirehl Brock’s 104 yards — had 176 yards on the day.

That kind of balance will allow the Cyclones to stay in the game, especially against an offense that struggled so much with lesser competition. The Cyclones are projected to rush for nearly 200 yards on offense and limit Iowa to barely 100 yards on the ground with their defense. SportsLine’s model says that Iowa State covers in well over 50% of simulations. See which other teams the model likes here.

How to make college football picks for Week 2

The model has also made the call on who wins and covers in every other FBS matchup in Week 2, and it’s calling for multiple outright upsets. You can only get every pick for every game at SportsLine.

So what college football picks can you make with confidence? And which favorites will go down hard? Check out the latest college football odds below, then visit SportsLine to see which teams win and cover the spread, all from a proven computer model that has returned almost $3,500 in profit over the past six-plus seasons, and find out.