College football betting trends — Week 1

Saturday

Penn State at Wisconsin (-5): It was a tale of two seasons for the Nittany Lions last year, when they started 0-5 straight up and against the spread before winning and covering their final four games. Penn State has covered eight of its last 11 road games and seven of the last 11 as an underdog. The Badgers are on a 1-4 spread skid at home and 12-15 ATS in their last 27 games overall. Edge: Penn State.

Indiana at Iowa (-3½): The Hoosiers covered all seven regular-season games in 2020 before losing their bowl game to Mississippi. Indiana coach Tom Allen is on a 17-7 spread run overall and an 8-2 cover streak as an underdog. Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz is riding a 17-9-1 ATS run at Iowa City. Iowa has covered four of its last five openers. Edge: Slight to Indiana.

Miami-Ohio at Cincinnati (-22½): The oldest nonconference rivalry resumes. The Bearcats are 10-4 ATS during their 14-game winning streak. Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell is 15-9 ATS the last two seasons but only 10-8 as a favorite. The Redhawks are on a 1-11 spread slide against nonconference opponents. Edge: Cincinnati.

Alabama (-19½) vs. Miami, at Atlanta: Before the COVID season of 2020, Alabama had covered 12 of 13 openers, many of those in neutral-site games like this one. The Crimson Tide are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 nonconference games. Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz has covered only five of his last 14 for Miami. Edge: Alabama.

San Jose State at Southern California (-14): The Spartans are riding a 15-5-1 ATS streak for coach Brent Brennan. They have covered eight straight as underdogs and three straight vs. Power Five foes. The Trojans are on an 8-14 spread slide as favorites. Edge: San Jose State.

Georgia vs. Clemson (-3), at Charlotte, North Carolina: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is not especially great in openers, going 3-4 ATS in the last seven. But he’s 15-4 ATS in “featured” games (Atlantic Coast Conference title, playoff or bowl) since 2012, and this showdown seems to fit that definition. Swinney is 32-19-1 ATS as a favorite since 2017. Georgia went 2-4 ATS away from home last year and is 0-2 ATS the last two seasons as an underdog. Edge: Clemson.

Louisiana State (-3) at UCLA: Before UCLA’s 44-10 win and cover over Hawaii in Week Zero, Chip Kelly teams were 18-44 straight up and 25-37 ATS since 2015 in the NFL (Eagles and 49ers) and college (UCLA). The Bruins also were 0-6 SU vs. nonconference foes under Kelly. LSU covered four of its last five games last season after a bumpy start. Edge: Slight to LSU.

Brigham Young (-12½) at Arizona: Jedd Fisch makes his coaching debut for Arizona. BYU covered eight of 11 last season with Zach Wilson at quarterback. But the Cougars were 4-9 ATS in 2019. The Wildcats faded last season for coach Kevin Sumlin, going 0-5 SU in an abbreviated Pac-12 slate and 0-4 ATS in their final four games. Arizona is mired in a 2-10 spread skid. Edge: BYU.

UNR at California (-3): The Wolf Pack are on a 5-1 cover streak as underdogs and 9-5 ATS run overall. UNR is 4-2 ATS in its last six nonconference games. Before going 2-2 ATS last season, Cal went 1-5 ATS at home in 2019 and is on a 2-6 spread skid as a favorite. Edge: UNR.

Sunday

Notre Dame (-7½) at Florida State: The Fighting Irish are 8-3 ATS on the road the past two seasons and have won the last two meetings against the Seminoles while going 1-1 ATS. Florida State is mired in a 3-9 spread slump and has failed to cover its last four openers. Edge: Notre Dame.

Las Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall is editor of The Gold Sheet (Goldsheet.com). He provides the Review-Journal with college football tech notes and trends. Follow @BruceAMarshall on Twitter.