Ranked Matchups Highlight Weekend Preview & Picks

The long wait for sports bettors that love to wager on football is finally over with the start of a new college football season, and Bovada has you covered with a full set of betting odds for all the games this weekend.

Thursday night’s action starts things off with a bang with an opening day showdown in the SEC; No. 21 Texas A&M travels to Williams-Brice Stadium to tangle with the No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks. It will be the first meeting between these two conference foes since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012, and they face the daunting task of ending South Carolina’s 18-game straight-up winning streak at home as 11-point road underdogs on the Bovada betting line. The total for this game has been set at 61. We would have to go with the Gamecocks both SU and against the spread in this one.

Saturday’s schedule features two head-to-head matchups between Top 25 teams, starting with No. 16 Clemson on the road against No. 12 Georgia as a 7.5-point underdog in this ACC-SEC clash. These two started last season against one another and the Tigers pulled off a huge 38-35 upset over the Bulldogs as 2-point home underdogs. Georgia is 24-4 SU when favored at home and it is 12-4 ATS in its last 16 games against a team from the ACC. Bank on the revenge factor playing a huge role in this game as the Bulldogs avenge last year’s loss in a big way.

The other matchup of ranked teams takes us to NRG Stadium in Houston for this year’s Texas Kickoff Classic between the Big Ten’s No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 13 LSU Tigers out of the SEC. The Badgers come into the new season at 12/5 odds on the Bovada college football futures board to win the Big Ten this season, while the Tigers have been listed as 6/1 third-favorites to come out on top in the SEC. The Tigers are favored in this matchup, but the play is on the Badgers to cover with the 5-point spread.

Defending national champion Florida State will open its title defense as an 18-point favorite against Oklahoma State in a neutral-site game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Seminoles are the consensus No.1 team in the nation and they are 4/1 favorites to win this year’s college football championship on the Bovada futures odds.