Opening College Football Week 5 Odds, Spreads and Early Predictions

• Week 5 of the college football season begins Thursday night with Miami hosting Virginia
• The top matchup of the week has #7 Cincinnati visiting #9 Notre Dame
• The full list of opening Week 5 odds and lines can be found below

No Group of Five program has ever made the College Football Playoff.

#7 Cincinnati will get a chance to make its case Saturday when it visits #9 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 4-0, the Bearcats are 3-0 and  Cincinnati has been installed as a two-point favorite on the opening line.

Other games involving ranked teams Saturday include #1 Alabama hosting #12 Ole Miss and #2 Georgia playing at home against #8 Arkansas in a pair of SEC games.

In the Big 12, #19 Oklahoma State hosts #21 Baylor.

Here is a look at the Week 5 opening lines in college football:

College Football Week 5 Opening Odds

Odds as of September 26th at DraftKings.

Big Game in South Bend

Cincinnati was off over the weekend, which gave it an extra week to prepare for Notre Dame. The Bearcats have beaten Miami, Ohio (49-14), Murray State (42-7) and Indiana (38-24).

Notre Dame beat then-#18 Wisconsin 41-13 on Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Chris Tyree returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and Drew Pyne threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter in relief of injured Jack Coan.

Chris Tyree to the HOUSE pic.twitter.com/1P80PORzyk

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 25, 2021

Coan, a Wisconsin transfer, left with a left leg injury in the third quarter with the game tied at 10-10. Notre Dame intercepted Graham Mertz four times, returning two for touchdowns in the final 2:30 to blow the game open.

It’s a big task for a Group of Five team to win in South Bend but look for Cincinnati to cover the two-point spread against a Notre Dame with potential QB issues.

Hogs Try for Another Upset

After entering the season unranked, Arkansas will look to take down its second top-10 team in a row when it visits Georgia on Saturday at Sanford Stadium in Athens as an 18-point underdog.

Arkansas (4-0) knocked off then-#7 Texas A&M 20-10 on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. KJ Jefferson threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns to help the Razorbacks start 4-0 for the first time since 2003.

Jefferson threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks for a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter then connected with AJ Green on a 48-yard score in the second quarter.

KJ JEFFERSON WITH THE DIME@razorbackFB is off and running 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gUWIIcTxom

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 25, 2021

Trelon Smith added 82 yards rushing as the Razorbacks piled up 443 total yards

Georgia routed overmatched Vanderbilt 62-0 on Saturday on the road as JT Daniels threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns while playing only the first quarter as the Bulldogs posted its biggest win in a series that started in 1893.

The game was effectively over when Georgia (4-0) led 35-0 after the first quarter. The Bulldogs started three of four drives in Vanderbilt territory. They recovered a fumble on a kickoff to set up one touchdown then Christopher Smith intercepted a pass to set up a second TD less than 30 seconds later.

Ball in the air, it's ours 😤 @cpsmithdb#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/fj2KJ9HS4z

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) September 26, 2021

Georgia nearly had more points than Vandy managed yards, outgaining the Commodores 524-77.

Arkansas has been one of college football’s best stories. However, Georgia is much better than Texas A&M and will cover the big spot in this matchup.

Michigan State Undervalued?

Michigan State has opened as 8.5-point home favorite over Western Kentucky. That line seems a little light for a ranked Big Ten team hosting a Conference USA foe.

The Spartans did not look sharp Saturday night as they edged visiting Nebraska 23-20 in overtime. However, that doesn’t change the fact Michigan State is 4-0.

Chester Kimbrough is never putting that football down for the rest of the night. Sparty is 4-0 … just like everyone expected this season pic.twitter.com/qXRnZClUt8

— George Balekji (@GeorgeBalekji) September 26, 2021

Western Kentucky is 1-2, though it hung tough with Indiana at home on Saturday night before falling 33-31. Yet the Hilltoppers being just 8.5-point underdogs in East Lansing doesn’t feel right and I expect the line to go up during the week.