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College football Week 1 betting insights and key matchups
Hear from bookmakers where the betting action is headed for this weekends college football games
The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Washington Huskies 34-13 as 4.5-point favorites in the College Football National Championship game all the way back on Jan. 8. Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is now in the NFL, the Georgia Bulldogs are again the preseason No. 1 team in the country, and Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC, among many, many other teams that have made conference moves.
In other words, it’s a new college football season with plenty of changes, and Week 1 has terrific games on tap.
CBS Sports spoke with two bookmakers – Thomas Gable, the sportsbook director at The Borgata in Atlantic City and Seamus Magee, a trader at BetMGM sports – to get updates on the betting action, including where the public and respected money has come in on several games.
One of the most intriguing games of the weekend kicks off on Thursday night as Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes (-9.5) host the North Dakota State Bison. In his second season, expectations are high, as Heisman hopefuls QB Sheduer Sanders and WR/CB Travis Hunter return.
Here’s where the action has come in so far on some of the weekend’s most important games:
Odds listed from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Thursday games
North Dakota Bison at Colorado Buffaloes (-9.5, 60.5)
Gable: “Colorado is one of the more heavily bet games at some shops, but not here. We’ve taken some Colorado money, but no big decision to speak of at this point. Total has gone from 58.5 to 60.5, but out of the games on Thursday, we have a bigger decision in the Minnesota game. I’m sure we’ll get more interest on game day, like we did last year – we’ll see if that continues into this year.”
Magee: “This opened way back [this summer] at -7.5, took a lot more money at 8.5 and -9.5, now up to -10. Taking a lot more balanced action at -10. Tons of Colorado moneyline bets coming in, they’re in everyone’s parlays. We’re really just hoping that North Dakota State can cover +9.5 and down. Total got bet up from 58.5 to 60.5, not a real big need for us. In terms of the total, we’ll know what we’ll need by game time, but the way it’s going I’d imagine we’re going to need the Bison +9.5. For now, it’s the most-bet game of the week. We haven’t taken anything sharp enough to move us off of 10.”
Friday games
Temple Owls at No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners (-42, 58)
Gable: “We took early sharp action on Sooners -39.5, now at 42.5. The total has pretty much stayed in the 59, 59.5 range.”
Florida Atlantic Owls at Michigan State Spartans (-14, 45)
Gable: “The FAU-Michigan State game has moved quite a bit. We had some more respected money on 13, 13.5, really anything less than 14 they were laying it. Once we moved to 14, that money stopped.”
Saturday games
No. 1 Georgia (-13.5, 48.5) vs. No. 14 Clemson
Gable: “We have more money on Clemson, bet count favors Georgia. That’s pretty much stayed right around -13.5, hasn’t hit 14 here.”
Magee: “This opened Georgia -14, pretty balanced all summer. Took a sharp bet off 14 to move us to -13.5, and now pretty lopsided action on Georgia -13.5. I think it’s going to be even more Georgia money coming in on game day.”
West Virginia Mountaineers at No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions (-8, 51.5)
Magee: “Sharps have bet this down to Penn State -8.5. Could see a pros versus Joes game here. Seeing the public take Penn State any numbers under 10, but dead even on the 8.5 in terms of handle. We’ve taken enough money on West Virginia ML that Penn State winning would be preferential.
Gable: “We’re kind of Penn State country here, so we attract a lot of Nittany Lions money. We opened at -10, early Penn State money, up to -11.5, got some sharp money on West Virginia and now we’ve down to 8.5.”
No. 19 Miami (FL) Hurricanes (-2.5, 54) at Florida Gators
Magee: “We opened Miami -3.5 at Florida and it’s down to a juiced -2.5. A lot of Miami money coming in, we’re pretty lopsided towards the Hurricanes. Interesting because we’ve taken a lot of money on Florida’s win total Over 4.5; it’s one of the most-bet win totals we’ve had. It’s a lot of Miami money on the spread. We took a bet on Florida +3 to move down to +2.5.”
No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies (-3, 46)
Magee: “This Notre Dame-Texas A&M game is going to have a huge handle. A lot of Notre Dame ML coming in and bets on the flat 3. We opened A&M -1.5 and got bet up to -3. Sharp action on Texas A&M. I think we’ll be pretty happy if Texas A&M can cover, and winning the game is becoming important as well [with all the Notre Dame ML wagers].”
James Madison Dukes (-8.5, 48) at Charlotte 49ers
Gable: “Early money came in on Charlotte, grabbing +10 and got us all the way down to 6.5. We started to see buyback on JMU, and this game has moved back to 9.5. Combination of bets and news coming out on player availability on Charlotte.”