College Football Season Starts, NFL Preseason Ends
Sports bettors all across the nation have been waiting patiently for the start of another college football season, and the long drought is finally over starting this Thursday night. And the sportsbooks have you covered with a full set of betting odds for all of this week’s college football games as well as betting lines for this Thursday’s final round of NFL preseason matchups.
The biggest matchup on Thursday’s college football schedule takes us to the SEC for a clash between the No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies and the No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks. Bovada has opened the Gamecocks as 10.5-point home favorites. This will be the first meeting between the two since the Aggies first joined the SEC in 2012.
Another good college football matchup on Thursday sends the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on the road to CenturyLink Field in Seattle to face the Pac-12’s Washington State Cougars. This will be Rutgers' first season in the Big Ten after a one-year stint in the AAC. It has been listed as an 8-point underdog in this non-conference season opener.
Another Week 1 battle between ranked teams on the AP Top 25 has No. 16 Clemson on the road against No. 12 Georgia this upcoming Saturday afternoon. The ACC’s Tigers have been listed by Bovada as 10/1 second-favorites to win the conference this season behind prohibitive favorite Florida State (1/3 betting odds). The Bulldogs will open the new season as 6/1 third-favorites to win the SEC this season behind Auburn (9/2) and favorite Alabama (6/5). Bovada has listed Georgia as a 7.5-point home favorite for Saturday’s showdown after it lost to Clemson 38-35 in last year’s season opener as a 1.5-point favorite on the road.
Turning to a few of the NFL games on this Thursday’s slate, in a battle of the unbeaten this preseason the Baltimore Ravens (3-0 straight-up and against the spread) will tangle with the New Orleans Saints, who have also won all three games both SU and ATS. The NFL betting odds for this inter-conference matchup have the Saints listed as 3-point favorites at home.
The Dallas Cowboys are still looking for their first preseason win this season after losing their first three games SU (1-2 ATS) by a combined 32 points. They will play host to the Denver Broncos in Thursday’s finale as 1-point underdogs. The Broncos are 2-1 both SU and ATS in the preseason and they are 6-2 ATS in their last eight preseason matchups against Dallas.