College Football September 28 Bye Week Schedule

September Bye Weeks And College Football Situations You Can Bet On

I previously outlined the early September bye week schedule, along with the full September bye week schedule in my article at osga.com.

In college football, this can be a real benefit to the rested and prepared team, especially later in the season as teams deal with more fatigue, injuries and pressure to perform in a conference title run or bowl game bid.

Teams with a bye this week on Sept. 28, and opponents on deck the following week.

Top 25 teams Georgia (3), LSU (4) and Oregon (13) have a bye this week.

28-Sep	LSU	SEC	at Vanderbilt	Utah State	Did not play LY
28-Sep	Georgia	SEC	Notre Dame	at Tennessee	Beat Tennessee 38-12 LY
28-Sep	Missouri	SEC	South Carolina	Troy	Did not play LY
28-Sep	Tennessee	SEC	at Florida	Georgia	Lost to #2 Georgia 38-12 LY
28-Sep	Illinois	Big Ten	Nebraska	at Minnesota	Lost to MN 55-31 LY
28-Sep	Louisville	ACC	at Florida State	Boston College	Lost to BC 38-20 LY
28-Sep	Miami	ACC	Central Michigan	Virginia Tech	Beat VT 38-14 LY, 7-1 in ACC home openers
28-Sep	Texas	Big 12	Oklahoma State	at West Virginia	Lost to West Virginia 42-41 LY
28-Sep	West Virginia	Big 12	at Kansas	Texas	Beat #15 Texas 42-41 LY
28-Sep	Colorado	Pac 12	at Arizona State	Arizona	Lost to AZ 42-34 LY
28-Sep	Oregon	Pac 12	at Stanford	California	Beat Cal 42-24 LY
28-Sep	Tulane	AAC	Houston	at Army	Did not play LY
28-Sep	Tulsa	AAC	Wyoming	at SMU	Beat SMU 27-24 LY
28-Sep	Boise State	MW	Air Force	at UNLV	Did not play LY
28-Sep	San Diego State	MW	Utah State	at Colorado State	Did not play LY
28-Sep	Florida International	Conf USA	at Lousiana Tech	Massachusetts	Beat UMASS 63-24 LY
28-Sep	UTSA	Conf USA	at North Texas	at UTEP	Beat UTEP 30-21 LY
28-Sep	Ohio	MAC	Louisiana	at Buffalo	Beat BUF 52-17 LY
28-Sep	Kent State	MAC	Bowling Green	at Wisconsin	First meeting
28-Sep	Bowling Green	MAC	at Kent State	at Notre Dame	Did not play last year
28-Sep	Eastern Michigan	MAC	Central Conn State	at Central Michigan	Beat CMU 17-7 LY
28-Sep	Ball State	MAC	at NC State	at Northern Illinois	Lost to NIU 24-16 LY
28-Sep	Georgia State	Sun Belt	at Texas State	Arkansas State	Lost 51-35 to Ark State LY

In addition, these teams in bold play on Saturday, Sept. 28 following a bye last week:

No. Illinois (+6) at Vanderbilt

UAB at Western Kentucky (+3)

UL Lafayette at Georgia Southern (+3.5)

MTSU (+24) at Iowa

UNLV (+9.5) at Wyoming

Cincinnati (-3.5) at Marshall

SMU at South Florida (+8)

Navy (+10.5) at Memphis – Thurs

Georgia Tech (+9.5) at Temple

Kansas State (+4.5) at Oklahoma State

Stanford at Oregon State (+4.5)

UCLA at Arizona (-7.5)

These games feature both teams playing off a bye

Minnesota (-1) at Purdue

Penn State (-6.5) at Maryland – Friday

Duke at Virginia Tech (-3) – Friday

Texas Tech at Oklahoma (-27)

These coaches and teams are ones to watch, as the coaches ATS record off a regular season bye is noteworthy.

Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech (6-1 ATS) – VT off a bye vs Duke Sept 27
Matt Wells, Texas Tech (6-1 ATS) – TT off a bye at Oklahoma Sept 28

A little more on Matt Wells and his intensity taking over Texas Tech this year after success at Utah State.

Other bad situational spots include teams playing back-to-back road games against home teams off a bye. This is a positive and profitable profile for the rested and ready home team.

If you follow my weekly Top 25 report in Forbes, know that BetLabs reports that Ranked teams at home following a bye have covered the spread nearly 59% of the time since 2005 (sample size nearly 200 games).

Also, Top 25 teams that lost their previous game before the bye, have covered the spread nearly 66% of the time in their next game.

I’ve outlined the early Oct. 5 bye week teams below as you look ahead to October college football. Teams in bold are currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

SEC

Alabama, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky

ACC

Clemson, Syracuse, Florida State, NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia

Big Ten

Indiana,

Pac 12

Utah, USC, Arizona, Washington

AAC

Houston

Mountain West

Wyoming, Hawaii, Nevada

Conference USA

Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, Southern Miss, North Texas, Louisiana Tech

MAC

Miami (OH), Akron

Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, Texas State

Independent

BYU

Plenty of situations and profiles to consider as you evaluate these teams off a bye, and we’ll review more as the season moves along. But recognize scheduling situations and take note of teams off a bye, and those playing at home that may also have additional motivation that includes significant redemption (Arizona Sept. 28).

These are additional pieces to add to your handicapping arsenal, but know that you still must evaluate the match-ups, motivation, injuries, statistical profiles and betting lines. The linemaker makes adjustments to early season results, power ratings and to the bye week situation, and especially to rested and ready teams playing with redemption.