School is back in session.
First period is this Saturday at noon eastern.
College football Week Zero will kick off with a 74-year-old six-time Super Bowl champion head coach trying not to get run out of Dublin, Ireland before the kids back on campus in the eastern time zone have had their lunch.
North Carolina is an 8.5-point underdog versus TCU in the first of eight FBS games scheduled this weekend.
Year 1 in Chapel Hill was a fire drill that started with the Tar Heels losing 48-14 to these same Horned Frogs in Bill Belichick’s debut as head coach.
North Carolina stumbled to a 4-8 record.
Expectations aren’t any higher this season with FanDuel setting the Tar Heels regular season win total at 4.5.
However, that hasn’t kept FanDuel bettors from rolling the dice on North Carolina to pull off a Week Zero upset at +290 odds.
Per the FanDuel traders, 75.2 per cent of the moneyline bets are on the Tar Heels to stun the Horned Frogs.
The first bell rings Saturday at 12 PM eastern on TSN2.
Then at 3:30 PM ET, Virginia hosts NC State as a 4.5-point favourite at FanDuel on TSN2.
Summer ends when the NCAA football season begins.
Everything changes after this weekend.
As 32 NFL teams prepare to make their final roster cuts by Sunday at 6 PM eastern, their scouts will shift their focus to the future as the next generation of NFL players attempt to make their mark at the NCAA level.
The 2027 NFL Draft class is expected to feature three quarterbacks and a star wide receiver that are among FanDuel’s most popular bets to win the Heisman Trophy.
Ohio State is ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll and the favourite to win the College Football Playoff National Championship at FanDuel, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith are among the Heisman favourites once again.
However, there’s another quarterback that has emerged as the Heisman Trophy favourite entering Week Zero.
Let’s take a quick look at FanDuel’s most popular bets to win the Heisman Trophy in this Morning Coffee column for Friday August 28th, 2026.
CJ Carr The Heisman Favourite As NCAA Football Season Kicks Off
Several NFL teams will enter the regular season without a quarterback they can live with for the next decade.
That’s the job posting every NCAA quarterback has seen.
Somebody will start for the Cleveland Browns in Week 1.
That doesn’t mean their QB carousel will come to a stop before the 2027 NFL Draft.
The Browns, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins are the top choices to finish with the NFL’s worst regular season record at FanDuel.
We can add the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Pittsburgh Steelers to the list of teams that could be in the market for a franchise QB next spring.
As it stands this morning, there’s an obvious favourite to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Texas QB Arch Manning is +155 to be the No. 1 pick.
Nobody else is shorter than +400 to go first overall.
Manning is also the second choice to win the Heisman Trophy for the second year in a row at FanDuel.
A year ago, Manning struggled through his first three games before showing steady improvement as the season progressed.
The expectation is the QB we saw during the second half of the season will show up and build on a strong finish.
Manning completed 63 per cent of his pass attempts and threw 20 touchdown passes and just four interceptions to register an 83 Total QBR over his final 10 games.
Those numbers are the biggest reason why Ohio State and Notre Dame are the only teams with shorter odds to win the College Football Playoff National Championship than Texas at FanDuel.
Sticking with OSU, QB Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith are among the top six choices to win the Heisman Trophy at FanDuel.
Sayin finished fourth in Heisman voting in 2025 thanks in part to a loaded skill position group that featured Smith and Carnell Tate.
Tate was selected fourth overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2026 NFL Draft, but Smith is back at OSU, and the Buckeyes added another top wide receiver prospect to replace Tate in Chris Henry Jr.
Sayin is +1300 as the fifth choice to win the Heisman.
Smith is +1500 as the sixth choice to win the Heisman and the top non-QB on the board at FanDuel.
He’s also +1300 to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Smith is coming off back-to-back 1000-yard seasons as a freshman and sophomore and finished sixth in Heisman voting a year ago.
While DeVonta Smith (2020) is the lone full-time receiver to win the Heisman this century, FanDuel bettors have made Smith the fifth-most popular pick to win it.
Sayin is the second-most popular Heisman bet at +1300.
Then there’s Oregon QB Dante Moore – the fourth choice to win the Heisman at +1100 and the fourth-most popular bet at FanDuel.
Moore could have been a top five pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he opted to return to the Ducks.
Oregon is +750 to win the FBS championship – the same number as Manning’s Longhorns.
While Manning is the favourite to go first overall in the 2027 NFL Draft at FanDuel, Moore is +400 as the second choice in that market.
Whether or not he can improve his draft stock with a Ducks program that has sky-high expectations will be a storyline to monitor this season.
Then there’s the Heisman Trophy favourite.
Quarterback C.J. Carr is the first preseason Heisman Trophy favourite for Notre Dame in the last 20 seasons.
The 21-year-old will look to become the first Heisman winner for the Fighting Irish since Tim Brown in 1987.
The last Notre Dame QB to win it was John Huarte all the way back in 1967.
After an 0-2 start last year, Carr went on to deliver one of the best QB performances in college football.
He joined 2026 first overall pick Fernando Mendoza and Diego Pavia as the only three FBS quarterbacks that registered an 80 Total QBR, 20 TD passes, and at least 9.3 yards per attempt last season.
Notre Dame has the shortest odds to go undefeated of any FBS team at +160 at FanDuel.
The Fighting Irish are +650 as the second choice to win the College Football Playoff National Championship behind only Ohio State.
If he puts up similar or better numbers, and Notre Dame takes advantage of a favourable schedule and is in contention for an undefeated regular season in November, it’s hard to imagine Carr isn’t at or near the top of the list of Heisman Trophy candidates.
The schedule is in his favour and the market knows it.
Carr is the most popular bet to win the Heisman Trophy at FanDuel entering Week Zero.
Only Manning has shorter odds to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
The summer ends when the NCAA football season starts.
For the NFL teams that are still searching for a franchise QB, this season will be played with a deep class of top prospects in mind.
Carr, Sayin, Manning, and Moore are the most popular bets to win the Heisman Trophy, with Smith right behind them as the top non-QB option on the board.
Manning, Carr, and Moore are the top three choices to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Let the countdown officially begin this weekend.
School is back in session.
Have a great day, everyone!
