Opening College Football Week 1 Odds, Spreads and Early Predictions

• Week 1 of the 2022 college football season kicks off on Thursday, September 1st
• The top matchups of the week are Georgia vs Oregon and Ohio State vs Notre Dame
• Read below for the full opening college football Week 1 odds, lines and spreads

After a healthy appetizer with “Week 0”, the 2022 college football season kicks into high gear with a full slate of games in Week 1. The action starts early, with 16 games on tap for Thursday, September 1st.

Week 1 is loaded with marquee non-conference matchups, including Georgia vs Oregon and Ohio State vs Notre Dame. The Bulldogs are listed as 17-point favorites over the Ducks in Atlanta, while the Buckeyes are 17.5-point home favorites over the Irish.

Elsewhere around college football, Utah is small road favorites at Florida, while Arkansas is a touchdown home favorite over Cincinnati.

Let’s take a look at the Week 1 opening college football odds.

College Football Week 1 Opening Odds

Odds as of August 28th at DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook. Ohio fans can now take advantage of FanDuel Ohio, with early pre-reg ahead of legal Ohio sports betting apps going live in January 2023.

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Bulldogs Going Duck Hunting

Georgia begins its quest to defend its national title with a Week 1 matchup against Oregon in Atlanta. The Bulldogs are being listed as 17-point favorites over the Ducks at Mercedez-Benz Stadium. This is the first matchup between the two programs since 1977 when UGA beat Oregon 27-16 in Athens.

The Bulldogs are once again a top contender in the National Championship odds, but Kirby Smart’s team lost a record-breaking 15 players to the NFL Draft during the offseason. Among the key losses were Travon Walker and DL Jordan Davis, who played huge roles on the team’s historically dominant 2021 defense.

The Year of the Dawgs continues…

Georgia sets a new NFL Draft Record with 15 total players selected in this year's draft. #GoDawgs #NFLDraft #UGA pic.twitter.com/8FRNDMWJAc

— Saturday Down South (@SatDownSouth) April 30, 2022

Oregon, meanwhile, is beginning a new era under head coach Dan Lanning — Georgia’s former defensive coordinator. The Ducks reached into the transfer portal to get former Auburn QB Bo Nix, who played under Oregon’s new offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham as a freshman with the Tigers.

Oregon shouldn’t be slept on in this matchup after shocking Ohio State in a similar spot last season. The Ducks have a lethal 1-2 linebacking punch in Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe, who should help the Ducks contend for the Pac-12 Title.

The public is all over the defending National champs in Week 1, making this spread a few points higher than it should be. Oregon has a coach that knows this UGA defense, plus a talented defense of its own, to make this game closer than the spread indicates.

Pick: Oregon +17 (-110)

Buckeyes Feeling Irish Lucky

Ohio State will look to prove they are worthy of all the preseason hype when they open their season against Notre Dame in Week 1 on Saturday. The Buckeyes are listed as 17-point favorites over the Fighting Irish at Ohio Stadium on September 3rd.

Ryan Day’s team is coming off a disappointing 11-2 campaign in which they failed to capture the Big 10 title for the first time in five seasons. Ohio State returns three of the nation’s best offensive players in CJ Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and TreVeyon Henderson, who are all listed high in the Heisman odds.

https://twitter.com/Buckeyeslife247/status/1553019936578076673?s=20&t=q8isFcCWx3lvJU4fmMNXXA

One of the reasons Ohio State is such a popular bet in the National Championship odds is the addition of the Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who was brought in to revamp the defense. The Buckeyes have two players on the Thorpe Award watchlist — safety Ronnie Hickman and cornerback Denzel Burke.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, is undergoing a bit of a transformation with Marcus Freeman replacing Brian Kelley at the head coaching position. The Fighting Irish are only returning 59% of their production from 2021, but they do get back four starters from their dominant offensive line.

The early college football look-ahead lines in July listed Ohio State as only a two-touchdown favorite in this game. This line has become a bit too inflated due to OSU being such a heavy public favorite. The Irish have a dominant running game, led by breakout RB Chris Tyree, that can keep this game within two scores.

Pick: Notre Dame +17.5 (-110)

Utes, Bearcats Undervalued

Two teams that are being undervalued in the Week 1 college football odds are the Utah Utes and the Cincinnati Bearcats. Kyle Whittingham’s team is only being listed as two-point favorites against Florida despite winning the Pac-12 last season and almost defeating Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Utah is returning 66% of its production from the 2021 team that won nine of its final 10 regular-season games last season. Standout quarterback Cameron Rising is back to lead the offense and should have a big night against a Gators’ defense that gave up close to 30 points per game last season.

Cincinnati, meanwhile, is a touchdown underdog to Arkansas despite making the CFP last season. The Bearkats are being discounted due to some key offseason losses such as QB Desmond Ridder, but UC returns its front-five on defense, and Luke Fickell is sure to have his team prepared.