College Football Week 7 Opening Odds: Michigan, Alabama, Notre Dame Favorites

The Michigan Wolverines are five spots back of the Michigan State Spartans in the latest AP Top 25 poll, but the Wolverines are listed as touchdown betting favorites at home at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark on the opening college football odds for Week 7.

No. 12 Michigan is 5-1 straight up and 4-2 against the spread on the season after blasting Northwestern 38-0 over the weekend and easily covering the 10.5-point spread at the sportsbooks. The Wolverines' lone blemish came way back in Week 1, when they fell 24-17 on the road at Utah as a five-point underdog. Utah is up to No. 4 in the rankings.

No. 7 Michigan State, meanwhile, is 6-0 SU but 0-6 ATS on the season after it beat Rutgers 31-24 over the weekend but failed to cover the 12.5-point spread on the road. The Spartans, though, are 7-0 ATS in their last seven games against the Wolverines dating back to 2008, losing just once SU in that span (in 2012). When the two schools met last season, Michigan State rolled to an easy 35-11 home victory and covered the big 16.5-point spread.

The Michigan State at Michigan betting matchup is just one of the marquee contests on a Week 7 slate that also offers up No. 18 UCLA at No. 15 Stanford, No. 17 Iowa at No. 20 Northwestern, No. 8 Florida at No. 6 LSU and No. 10 Alabama at No. 9 Texas A&M.

The oddsmakers opened the Aggies as three-point home underdogs against the Crimson Tide for Week 7, with Alabama demolishing Texas A&M by a score of 59-0 at home last season as an 11.5-point favorite. The Crimson Tide are 9-1 SU in their last 10 conference games, according to the Odds Shark college football database, while the Aggies are a money-losing 5-12 ATS in their last 17 conference matchups.

Stanford opened as a five-point home favorite against UCLA, Iowa opened as a 2.5-point road favorite against Northwestern and LSU opened as a 6.5-point home favorite against Florida.

Elsewhere, No. 14 Notre Dame opened as a three-point home favorite against USC for Week 7, with Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian having taken a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. The Trojans topped the Fighting Irish 49-14 last season and easily covered the 5.5-point spread at home.

No. 3 TCU opened as an 18-point road favorite against Iowa State, and No. 2 Baylor opened as an 18-point home favorite against West Virginia. The Bears, coming off a 66-7 rout of Kansas, lost 41-27 on the road against the Mountaineers last season as an eight-point favorite but beat them 73-42 as a 30-point home favorite when they met in 2013.