NFL odds, NCAAF picks and MLB predictions for September 8

Good morning, Pickswise Nation! NFL Week 1 kicked off with a great game between the Lions and Chiefs last night, and today we have MLB, college football and tennis action to enjoy, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

Lions upend the defending champs
The first game of the NFL season was a wild one, as the new-look Detroit Lions knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium by a score of 21-20. Our NFL props expert Prop Holiday went 2-0 with his NFL prop picks, cashing both of his plays with ease. The Lions will host the Seahawks next, while Kansas City — which was missing tight end Travis Kelce and paid the price for drops by receivers — heads to Jacksonville. FanDuel Sportsbook eased the Chiefs’ Super Bowl odds from +600 to +700 after the home loss, while DraftKings Sportsbook moved the Lions from +2200 to +1700.

US Open women’s final is set
It appeared as if we were going to get an All-American showdown in the US Open women’s final, but it was not to be as Aryna Sabalenka won consecutive tiebreaks against Madison Keys to advance to Saturday’s final. Sabalenka will face Coco Gauff, who fought off Karolina Muchova in straight sets to advance to her second major final. Sabalenka is a slight favorite with FanDuel to win the final. She is listed with -114 odds, with Gauff at -105.

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Today’s Slate

Full slate of MLB action
Friday’s MLB card features a myriad of compelling matchups, including Diamondbacks vs Cubs, Mariners vs Rays and Orioles vs Red Sox. Cardinals vs Reds and Padres vs Astros are being shown on Apple TV+. Check out all of today’s MLB picks.

There’s college football and tennis too
College Football Week 2 give us a nice appetizer tonight and we have NCAAF predictions for Illinois vs Kansas at 7:30 pm ET on ESPN. There’s also US Open tennis and our expert Ricky Dimon has tennis picks for the US Open men’s semifinals.

Best Bet of the Day

NCAAF: Kansas Jayhawks -3.5 over Illinois Fighting Illini (-110)
7:30 pm ET, ESPN

Lance Leipold has done one of the best turnaround jobs in the country at Kansas over the course of the last 2+ seasons. Kansas Football has been an awful program for years but Jayhawk fans have something to be proud these days, as this team should make a bowl Game for the second consecutive season. Leipold and his team have molded the Jayhawks into an elite offense with tons of different motion concepts and misdirection to confuse opposing defenses. They also have the added benefit of having two excellent quarterbacks on their roster, with both Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean seeing great success in their appearances as a starter, or in relief of the other QB. Daniels’ elite dual-threat abilities make him one of the better quarterbacks in the nation, and he’ll be back under center for the Jayhawks tonight in front of what should be a sold-out David Booth Memorial Stadium crowd. Check out our full Kansas vs Illinois predictions.

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Must-read

We are all set for a massive NFL Week 1 and you can check out all of our NFL picks for Sunday’s action. Remember, all our NFL futures content is accessible via the NFL Betting Guide and our futures picks for all 32 teams, and you can also check out our NFL Power Rankings and Prop Holliday’s Week 1 prop picks.

Week 2 of the college football season is here, and our CFB expert Caleb Wilfinger is back with his best bets column, which finished over 60% last season. Ricky Dimon has the US Open best bets for Friday’s men’s semifinal matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium, while MMA fans can read our UFC 293 best bets and 4-fight parlay, and the weekend MLS soccer picks are also available.

Look out for more great betting content as it comes in throughout the day on our Analysis tab.

Stat of the Day

Thursday marked the first time that Patrick Mahomes has lost in Week 1 in his career as the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

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