The college football season kicks off with Cal and Hawaii facing off in Australia on Friday, August 26, while the rest of FBS starts the following week. While that's still nearly three months away, Vegas is already getting into midseason form.
We already have been graced with win totals for all 128 teams and point spreads for select games throughout the season, but now William Hill has released spreads for 40 games on the first week of the season, beginning with Indiana-FIU on Thursday, Sept. 1 and concluding with Ole Miss-Florida State in Orlando on Monday, Sept. 5 (there is no line currently available for Cal-Hawaii).
Games that pop out are those between notable teams and those with massive lines. Oddsmakers are clearly high on the reigning champs as they have Alabama as a 9.5-point favorite over USC on a neutral site. The team Alabama beat in the title game last year, Clemson, is an 8-point road favorite over Alabama's biggest rival Auburn, a team coming off a disappointing 7-6 season in 2015.
Notre Dame is only 4-point favorites at Texas to start the season, despite dominating the Longhorns last year in South Bend, Indiana. Oklahoma is one of the oddsmakers' favorite teams this year with the Sooners 10-point favorites over Houston even though the game is at NRG Stadium in Houston.
The largest point spread is in the Hawaii-Michigan game, as the Wolverines are 41-point favorites over a road-weary Hawaii team that will have only eight days between playing in Australia and making the trip to Ann Arbor. Louisville (-37 against Charlotte) and Florida (-36 against UMass) are the other two biggest favorites of the first week.
Here are all 40 lines available for the first week:
| Away | Home | Spread |
| Indiana | FIU | Indiana -4.5 |
| Charlotte | Louisville | Louisville -37 |
| Tulane | Wake Forest | Wake Forest-17 |
| Rice | Western Kentucky | WKU -16 |
| South Carolina | Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt -2.5 |
| Oregon State | Minnesota | Minnesota -9 |
| Ball State | Georgia State | GSU -1.5 |
| Army | Temple | Temple -18.5 |
| Colorado State | Colorado | Colorado -8 |
| Kansas State | Stanford | Stanford -15 |
| Georgia Tech | Boston College | Georgia Tech -3 |
| Hawaii | Michigan | Michigan -41 |
| Miami (OH) | Iowa | Iowa -28.5 |
| Western Michigan | Northwestern | Northwestern -6 |
| Bowling Green | Ohio State | Ohio State -27 |
| Kent State | Penn State | Penn State -18.5 |
| Missouri | West Virginia | WVU -12.5 |
| New Mexico State | UTEP | UTEP -3.5 |
| SMU | North Texas | SMU -12.5 |
| South Alabama | Mississippi State | MSU -34 |
| Texas State | Ohio | Ohio -19 |
| Southern Miss | Kentucky | Kentucky -7 |
| Louisiana Tech | Arkansas | Arkansas -21 |
| Toledo | Arkansas State | Ark. State. -2.5 |
| Massachusetts | Florida | Florida -36 |
| Clemson | Auburn | Clemson -8 |
| UCLA | Texas A&M | Texas A&M -1 |
| San Jose State | Tulsa | Tulsa -6 |
| Appalachian State | Tennessee | Tennessee -23 |
| Rutgers | Washington | Washington -22 |
| LSU | Wisconsin | LSU -10 |
| North Carolina | Georgia | Georgia -3.5 |
| Oklahoma | Houston | Oklahoma -10 |
| Fresno State | Nebraska | Nebraska -29 |
| USC | Alabama | Alabama -9.5 |
| Boise State | Louisiana-Lafayette | Boise State -20 |
| BYU | Arizona | Arizona -1.5 |
| Northern Illinois | Wyoming | NIU -10 |
| Notre Dame | Texas | Notre Dame -4 |
| Ole Miss | Florida State | Florida State -6 |
