College football kicks off this week with the usual assortment of huge point spreads and expected one-sided games.
Huge College Football Point Spreads: Beware Week 1 Road Underdogs
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One team gets a six-touchdown head start in its game Saturday (yes, 42 points) and bettors need to decide whether the favorites can eat that much chalk in Week 1.
But which of those big underdogs has been a consistent threat to bite favorites and put cash in the wallets of college football bettors? And which ones have proven to be noisy but toothless lapdogs that roll over and quit?
Not surprisingly, the two biggest underdogs are small-conference opponents to the top 2 ranked teams in the country. North Texas is getting more than six TDs at LSU (+43) and the Mean Green have been mean to bettors with a 17-20 ATS mark as a road underdog since 2006.
And Hawaii travels to USC for Week 1, getting 40 points from the oddsmakers against the consensus No. 1 preseason pick. The Trojans have covered a lot of home spreads over the year, but they have also failed a lot, as their 18-16 ATS mark since 2006 would prove.
Bowling Green is 18-9 ATS in 27 games as a road underdog since 2006. And they get a lot of points to play with at Florida. The Falcons are 29-point underdogs and come with a reputation as one of the best road warrior bets.
It’s the same situation in Georgia, where visiting Buffalo gets 38.5 points from oddsmakers such as Top Bet. The Bulls are 20-16 ATS as a road dog since 2006 and you have to wonder if the Bulldogs have the stomach for wild Week 1 rout.
Eastern Michigan is +3.5 at Ball State, which stat watchers have flagged for special handicapping attention. EMU is tied for first in ATS road wins as an underdog over the past six years with 21, but beware the full stat here. They are often a road dog and a pedestrian 21-20 ATS.
Other big Week 1 underdogs
Buffalo +38 at Georgia
Texas State +36.5 at Houston
Arkansas State +35.5 at Oregon
Wyoming +29.5 at Texas
San Jose State +25.5 at Stanford
Bowling Green +29 at Florida
Marshall +24.5 at West Virginia
Miami (Ohio) +22.5 at Ohio State
Southern Miss +20 at Nebraska
See the latest NCAA football odds here at SBNation, a service of Odds Shark.
