In case you live under a rock, the opening games for the 2016-17 college football season are absolutely colossal. Just to give you a few of the marquee matchups — LSU-Wisconsin from Lambeau Field, Alabama-USC from AT&T Stadium, Clemson at Auburn, Georgia-UNC in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff, and Florida State-Ole Miss from Orlando, Fla. Best Saturday ever? Best Saturday ever.
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As if we weren't excited already enough, a betting site called 5Dimes just released some lines for the opening slate of games, and the numbers are a little interesting. The reigning National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide opens as a 13-point favorite over USC. The Trojans' success under Clay Helton who is the new head man after the Steve Sarkisian fiasco has a lot of people putting them in the College Football Playoff conversation. LSU is listed as an 8.5 favorite over Wisconsin, and Georgia is just a 4.5-point favorite over the UNC Tar Heels.
One interesting odd is Notre Dame-Texas — after the Longhorns got crushed, expectedly, 38-3 last season the Fighting Irish enters as a mere 6-point favorite. ND did lose a ton of talent, yes but Texas is still...Texas at this point. Clemson holding just a 9.5-point edge over Auburn is a little surprising, just given that one would expect this number to be much higher. Florida State, who ESPN just ranked No. 1 in their FPI following spring football, opens as 8.5-point favorites over the Ole Miss Rebels.
Openers via 5Dimes: Bama -13 USC; LSU -8.5 Wis; Clem -9.5 Aub; UGA -4.5 UNC; OU -7.5 UH; WVU -7 Mizzou; A&M -3 UCLA; ND -6 TX; FSU -8.5 Miss
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 6, 2016
Other notable odds from McMurphy include BYU holding a 1.5-point edge over Arizona, Will Muschamp's new South Carolina team being favored by just three points over Vanderbilt (sorry, Will) and Georgia Tech opening as a 2.5-point favorite over Boston College. I don't know about you all, but these odds can only mean one thing — we're getting so dang close to football season I can almost taste it.
Is it September yet?
