The 2024 NCAA college football season begins Saturday with a trio of games, including one in which the FCS' Montana State Bobcats visit the New Mexico Lobos of the FBS. Montana State went 8-4 overall and 6-2 during Big Sky Conference play last year, with its final contest being a 35-34 overtime loss to North Dakota State in the second round of the FCS playoffs. New Mexico ended 2023 with a 4-8 overall record and a 2-6 mark against Mountain West Conference rivals. The Bobcats and Lobos are meeting for the third time in history and first since the 1947 Harbor Bowl, in which they played to a 13-13 tie.

Kickoff at University Stadium in Albuquerque, NM is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. The Bobcats are 12.5-point favorites in the latest Montana State vs. New Mexico odds, while the over/under for total points scored is 53.5. Before you make any New Mexico vs. Montana State picks or college football predictions, you NEED to hear what football expert Emory Hunt Jr. has to say.

Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007, and a former running back for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. He knows the game from a player's perspective.

In addition, Hunt was 93-78-5 (+777) on his college football picks last year. Anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Hunt has analyzed Montana State vs. New Mexico from every angle and just locked in his picks and predictions.

Hunt knows that Montana State had one of the top offenses in the FCS last season, ranking second in points per game (39.9) and third in yards per game (473.1). Tommy Mellott, who shared time at quarterback with the now-departed Sean Chambers in 2023, completed 63% of his pass attempts for 1,068 yards with 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions while also running for 690 yards and five scores. The Bobcats' ground attack, which averaged 293 yards and produced 41 TDs last year, also includes Julius Davis (722 yards, six TDs) and Scottre Humphrey (433, eight).

The expert also has taken into account that New Mexico scored an average of 27.3 points last season after producing 13.1 in 2022, the second-largest increase in the FBS over that span. Devon Dampier takes over as the Lobos' starting quarterback this year following a 2023 freshman campaign during which he threw for 525 yards with six touchdowns and ran for 328 yards and four scores. Top rusher Jacory Croskey-Merritt transferred to Arizona, leaving Andrew Henry (350 yards, three TDs) as the team's No. 1 option out of the backfield.

Now, Hunt has locked in a confident against-the-spread pick for Montana State vs. New Mexico. We can tell you he's leaning Under on the total, but he knows a crucial X-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK. You ABSOLUTELY need to see what it is before locking in any picks of your own.

Who wins Montana State vs. New Mexico on Saturday? And what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread a must-back? ... Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the New Mexico vs. Montana State spread to jump on, all from the football expert who was 93-78-5 (+777) on his college football picks in 2023!