College Football Odds: Top-Ranked Ohio State Among Week 1 Betting Favorites

The Ohio State Buckeyes, TCU Horned Frogs and Alabama Crimson Tide are the top three teams in the AP Top 25 heading into the season, but they're also just relatively modest favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark for their Week 1 matchups as the college football campaign gets underway.

And Ohio State, a unanimous first in the poll, will be last out of the gate this week as it takes on Virginia Tech on the road Monday night. The Buckeyes rolled through the College Football Playoff last season en route to a national championship, and the sportsbooks have them listed as 11-point favorites against the Hokies for Monday's matchup.

However, the last team to beat Ohio State was Virginia Tech, with the Buckeyes falling to the Hokies by a score of 35-21 at home last September as a 10-point favorite. Since that defeat Ohio State is 13-0 straight up and 9-4 against the spread, with the over paying off for totals bettors at the sportsbooks in 15 of its last 18 games.

While Ohio State has to wait until next Monday night to hit the gridiron, the TCU Horned Frogs are in action Thursday night as they play on the road at TCF Bank Stadium against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Second behind Ohio State in the AP Top 25, the Horned Frogs are 14.5-point road favorites against the Gophers while paying off on the betting lines in 14 of their last 16 games, according to the OddsShark College Football Database.

And the Alabama Crimson Tide, third in the poll, then play a traditional Saturday game this week, although they'll be at a neutral location as they take on the Wisconsin Badgers at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Crimson Tide vs. Badgers betting matchup has Alabama set as a 10-point favorite at the sportsbooks, although bettors are likely wary of the Tide since they've gone just 4-11-1 ATS in their last 16 games.

No. 4 Baylor and No. 5 Michigan State are in action Friday night, with the Spartans 18.5-point road favorites at Western Michigan and the Bears huge 35-point road favorites at SMU. Baylor actually opened as just a 20-point favorite against the Mustangs, but that line has steadily grown. The Bears are 5-0 both SU and ATS in their last five games against the Mustangs, who are 0-20 SU and 4-15-1 ATS in their last 20 games against Big 12 teams.

Elsewhere Friday, Boise State is a 12-point home favorite on the early odds against Washington, while Saturday has Stanford as a 12-point road favorite against Northwestern, Georgia as a 35-point home favorite against Louisiana-Monroe, UCLA as a 17-point home favorite against Virginia, Florida State as a 30-point home favorite against Texas State and Auburn as a 10.5-point favorite against Louisville at the Georgia Dome.

And Notre Dame, starting the season at No. 11 in the AP Top 25, is listed as an early 9.5-point home favorite for its game on Saturday against Texas. The Fighting Irish are 1-5 ATS in their last six games with the over having gone 7-0-1 in their last eight contests for totals bettors.