College Football Top ATS Bets for Week 2: Hawkeyes to Bounce Back from Sloppy Performance

College football’s Week 1 action concludes with a Labor Day night game between Clemson and Georgia Tech, but we're already looking ahead to Week 2. Read on for our best ATS bets for Week 2 of the college football schedule.

It's common for bettors to overreact following Week 1, and to set aside preconceived notions about a team based on a 60-minute performance. But what did we see that will be a theme for 2022? And was it just a one-time showing?    

Here are our top ATS bets for Week 2 in college football (odds via Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, and FanDuel Sportsbook; Pick confidence is based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

Top ATS Bets for Week 2

  Check out the latest comprehensive and most trusted Sportsbook Reviews by SBR.  

Iowa -3 (-110) ★★★

Perhaps no team in the country felt worse about itself after a win than Iowa, as it mustered just three points on offense (seven total with the help of two safeties) against FCS power South Dakota State. However, the Hawkeyes still avoided an outright upset, which has become increasingly common around the college football landscape. FBS teams lost 12 games in 2021 to FCS opponents, which equaled the number of such defeats from 2018 to 2020.

For the Hawkeyes to beat their in-state rivals, they'll need more than the 166 yards of total offense the team produced against the Jackrabbits. However, Iowa still won 10 games in 2021 despite its offense ranking 99th in scoring and 121st in total yards. The school is very familiar with winning defensive battles.

Iowa’s defense looked every bit like the unit in Week 1 that was projected to be the fourth-best in the country by FPI, holding South Dakota State to a meager 120 yards. So don't jump off Iowa’s bandwagon just yet, as the Hawkeyes were likely looking ahead to a Week 2 clash that will be their most emotion-filled game of the season.

Caesars is the place to make this wager if you're an Iowa backer. It's the lone sportsbook offering a line without the hook, while all others are at -3.5.

Kansas State -7.5 (-110) ★★★★

Many picked Kansas State as a sleeper team out of the Big 12, largely due to the jolt Nebraska transfer quarterback Adrian Martinez was to provide offensively. Martinez finished his Cornhuskers career with a 63.5 completion percentage, 8,491 passing yards, and 45 passing touchdowns. Additionally, the Wildcats return 84% of their offensive experience. That includes talented running back Deuce Vaughn, who ran for 1,404 yards and notched 22 total touchdowns in 2021. 

However, the most important element of the Wildcats' dominant Week 1 win was how its defense played. The team shut out South Dakota while limiting the opposition to 270 total yards. The squad returned 47% of its defensive experience from 2021, so its early success on that side is promising. 

Make this bet at FanDuel before it catches up with the other sportsbooks, which are posting numbers as high as -8.5.

Vanderbilt +7 (-110) ★★★★

Vanderbilt is off to a 2-0 start, already matching its 2021 win total. The Commodores followed up a dominant 53-point road win at Hawaii with a not-so-convincing 11-point victory over FCS Elon. But chalk that lackluster performance up to fatigue following travel back from Honolulu, and expect Vanderbilt to be competitive against a ranked Wake Forest squad.

The Commodores will face Wake Forest, and the Demon Deacons' ceiling was lowered considerably when quarterback Sam Hartman was ruled out with a non-football-related condition. He was responsible for an uptempo offensive attack that led to 35-plus points 12 times in 2021, with Wake Forest averaging 41 points per contest. Red-shirt freshman Mitch Griffis completed 72.4% of his pass attempts for 288 yards during his first collegiate start against VMI. But expect a much more difficult test from Vanderbilt’s defense as head coach Clark Lea continues to put his imprint on that unit.

Grab this number at DraftKings while you can get at least a touchdown in case the spread reverts back to its opening number of +6.5, where it currently stands at BetMGM.

Where to Bet on College Football Top ATS Bets for Week 2

Here are our top-rated sportsbooks:

FanDuel Sportsbook
Caesars Sportsbook
DraftKings Sportsbook
PointsBet
BetMGM

SEE ALSO: All picks, odds, and sports betting news. Be sure to check out SportsbookReview.com’s community forums and betting tools.

College football top ATS bets from 9/5/2022 at 8:45 a.m. ET.