College football kicks off the 2025 season with a ranked Week 0 matchup in Dublin, Ireland, between the 22nd-ranked Iowa State Cyclones and the 17th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats.
These were two strong offenses last season that are returning several key players, so we can find some solid options here for touchdown scorers.
Here are my top NCAAF touchdown scorer picks for Iowa State vs Kansas State on Saturday, August 23.
Iowa State vs Kansas State anytime touchdown picks for Week 0
Rocco Becht (
Jayce Brown (Prop bet #1: Rocco Becht anytime TD (+220 at FanDuel)
Redshirt junior quarterback Rocco Becht returns as the starter for the Iowa State Cyclones for a third season. Becht really showed improvements in his scrambling ability last season from his freshman season. He went from 63 yards rushing in 2023 to 318 yards last year.
The biggest jump was going from only three touchdowns on the ground to eight. One of those eight last season was against these Wildcats. He had eight carries for 35 yards and a touchdown in that 29-21 victory.
Last season, the Kansas State Wildcats allowed 15 rushing touchdowns. Only 21 other teams in the nation allowed more rushing touchdowns than that last year. Four of those 21 teams played more games than Kansas State due to either playing in conference championships or the playoffs.
The Wildcats will be running a very similar defense to last season, so we can use these stats as a legitimate concern about their rushing defense.
Becht lost two massive targets to the NFL from last season in Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins. Without those two, Becht will likely rely on the run game a bit more.
If he continues to improve his running ability, he will have a great shot to find the endzone with his feet against the Wildcats.
Prop bet #2: Jayce Brown anytime TD (+140 at FanDuel)
Junior wide receiver Jayce Brown was the leading receiver last season for the Wildcats and has a great rapport with returning starting quarterback Avery Johnson. They both came to Kansas State in the same class together and have improved each season.
Brown had 437 yards and three touchdowns receiving in his freshman season — mostly from Will Howard — and then jumped up to 823 yards and five touchdowns last year. I would not be surprised at all to see even another jump from Brown this season.
While the Cyclones had the best passing defense in the country last season in terms of yards allowed, they did allow 18 passing touchdowns. They also lost their top two tacklers from last season, who were also defensive backs and played a huge role in their top-ranked pass defense.
In the matchup with the Cyclones last season, Brown had two of his five touchdowns on the season. While he did not score a touchdown against them in his freshman season, he did have five catches for 69 yards.
He loves playing against this team, and I like his chances of finding the endzone again on Saturday in Dublin.
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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