College Football Week 9 Opening Odds: Florida, Notre Dame, USC Favorites

The Florida Gators will be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season and only their second non-cover of the campaign Saturday when they take on the Georgia Bulldogs at EverBank Field in Jacksonville as opening 2.5-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The Gators fell 35-28 on the road at LSU in their last game on October 17, losing as six-point underdogs that day to fall to 6-1 straight up and 5-2 against the spread on the season. That has the Gators at No. 11 in the AP Top 25 poll heading into their matchup against the Bulldogs, who are 5-2 SU but just 2-5 ATS on the season.

Overall, the Gators are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games, according to the Odds Shark College Football Database. They thumped the Bulldogs 38-20 in their meeting last season while winning outright as 12-point underdogs at the sportsbooks. The Bulldogs are coming off a 9-6 win over Missouri in which they failed to cover the 15.5-point spread at the sportsbooks.

With several top teams on bye around college football this week, the schedule is light on marquee matchups. The only game between ranked teams for this week has No. 9 Notre Dame on the road against No. 21 Temple, with the Fighting Irish opening as 10.5-point favorites. Notre Dame is coming off a 41-31 victory over USC two weeks ago.

The Trojans opened as four-point road favorites against California for the week ahead, with USC 11-0 SU in its last 11 games against the Bears but 1-6 ATS in its last seven games on the road in the month of October.

Other Pac-12 matchups for the weekend have Utah as a 21.5-point home favorite against Oregon State, UCLA as a 18.5-point home favorite against Colorado and Stanford as a 12.5-point road favorite against Washington State on the opening lines.

Clemson opened as a 9.5-point road favorite against N.C. State for its Saturday matchup, with the Tigers 10-1 SU in their last 11 games against the Wolfpack but N.C. State 8-2 both SU and ATS in its last 10 games. Michigan opened as a 10-point road favorite against Minnesota, while Wisconsin opened as a 19-point home favorite against Rutgers.

Two ranked teams are in action Thursday night this week, with No. 23 Pittsburgh hosting North Carolina and No. 5 TCU getting a visit from West Virginia. The Panthers opened as 2.5-point home underdogs against the Tar Heels, while the Horned Frogs opened as 14.5-point home favorites against the Mountaineers.

And the No. 17 Florida State Seminoles, coming off a 22-16 upset loss at Georgia Tech as five-point favorites on the weekend, opened as 19.5-point home favorites for their game Saturday against Syracuse. The Seminoles are now 6-1 SU and 3-4 ATS on the season, and they are 20-0 SU in their last 20 games at home.