The Alabama Crimson Tide are 12-0 straight up and 7-5 against the spread over their last 12 games, including last year’s successful run through the college football playoff to a national title. The Crimson Tide will try to extend their winning streak this Saturday night at AT&T Stadium against the USC Trojans.
USC vs. Alabama 2016 odds: Tide open title defense as double-digit betting favorites
The Alabama Crimson Tide begin their championship defense at a neutral location as big favorites vs. the USC Trojans on Saturday night.
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Alabama is an 11.5-point favorite in its season opener at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. This is the first time since 2011 that the USC Trojans have been a double-digit underdog.
The Crimson Tide find themselves in the familiar role of preseason No. 1 in the rankings after winning their fourth national championship in the last seven seasons under Nick Saban. Saban also finds himself in the familiar position of not having an announced starting quarterback heading into the first week of the season as Cooper Bateman and Blake Barnett have been named co-starters heading into Saturday’s game.
Alabama has plenty of personnel turnover on both sides of the ball, but that hasn’t slowed the Crimson Tide down in recent years with plenty of top level players ready to step in to starting rolls.
Since the start of the 2014 season, the Crimson Tide are 17-0 SU and 7-10 ATS in 17 games as a double-digit favorite per the OddsShark College Football Database.
Betting Line / Total: Alabama -11.5 / 53.5 Points
Trend: The total has gone OVER in Alabama’s last five Week 1 games.
Trend: USC is 1-5 ATS in its last six games.
The Steve Sarkisian era didn’t last long at USC as the head coach who was hired at the start of the 2014 season was dismissed just five games into his second season with the team. Clay Helton took over as the team’s interim coach and went 5-4 SU and 3-6 ATS in the Trojans’ last nine games, which turned out to be enough to land him the job full time.
With Cody Kessler moved on to the NFL, junior quarterback Max Browne takes over the starting role this season. USC is 0-4 SU and ATS in its last four games as a betting underdog.
Saturday’s total is set at 53.5. The UNDER is 4-2-1 over USC’s last seven games.
For Helton and Browne, the start of a new era couldn’t come against a tougher opponent or coach than Alabama and Saban. But on the other hand, all of the pressure in this game will be on Alabama, which could make USC dangerous as a big underdog.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. USC Trojans
When: Saturday, September 3, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
