After an opening week of college football that featured a handful of nail-biters and several major upsets, the odds are that this weekend’s contests should shape up to be far less dramatic.
Week 1 gave its fans plenty of bombshells, including losses by No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 LSU, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 16 UCLA, with all but the Sooners and the Rebels at the hands of unranked opponents. However, according to the updated odds on SportsBookReview.com, featuring the lines from 10 of the nation’s top sportsbooks, don’t expect similar intrigue this time around.
Twenty-three of top 25 teams will be playing, but none against each other, generally resulting in very wide margins of odds in their respective matchups. One exception is 15th-ranked TCU, who opened giving just four points to Arkansas. That line has since creeped up to 7 and 7.5, depending on the outlet.
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No. 17 Tennessee also had a relatively small opening line (-9) after squeaking past FCS opponent Appalachian State. They are now favored by as much as 11.5.
Meanwhile, the largest differential belongs to No. 2 Clemson and No. 5 Michigan, with lines as high as 36.5 over Troy and UCF, respectively. Top-ranked Alabama has had the biggest bump of the week, starting at -24 over Western Kentucky and now peaking at -30.
Other notables on Saturday include No. 25 University of Miami, making its first return to the polls since 2013, with the Hurricanes giving 25 points to regional foe Florida Atlantic.
No. 6 Houston continues its momentum from last season, after last week’s impressive victory over Oklahoma. This time, they go up against in-state rival Lamar in what should be a far less thrilling affair. The Cougars are now 14-1 since the start of 2015, including 5-0 against ranked opponents.
Games kick off tonight, including a matchup between No. 13 Louisville against Syracuse, with a line that opened with the Cardinals giving 12 points, which Bovada now has at -15.5.
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