College football Week 2 odds: Opening odds for most notable matchups
Two nonconference games pitting Top 25 teams highlight the Week 2 college football slate, led by the No. 5 Michigan State Spartans hosting the No. 7 Oregon Ducks on Saturday as 3.5-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com in a rematch from last year.
The Ducks erased a 24–18 halftime deficit in that game at Autzen Stadium by scoring the last four touchdowns in a 46–27 victory and covered the spread as 14-point chalk.
But Oregon will be without 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota this time around, as he engineered the comeback with two third-quarter touchdown passes en route to finishing with 318 passing yards. Michigan State is 13-1 straight-up in its last 14 home games, while the Ducks have won 12 of their past 13 on the road in September.
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The other matchup featuring two Top 25 teams this week will take place in Knoxville on Saturday when the No. 19 Oklahoma Sooners visit the No. 25 Tennessee Volunteers, which is a pick’em game according to oddsmakers.
While the Sooners are a perfect 6-0 SU and against the spread in their last six games during the month of September, they are just 2-7 versus the number in their past nine games against SEC opponents.
There are also a pair of key conference games in the SEC that include Top 25 teams, with the No. 9 Georgia Bulldogs visiting the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Mississippi State Bulldogs hosting the No. 14 LSU Tigers.
Georgia is a 19.5-point road favorite and has won 17 of its previous 19 meetings with Vanderbilt according to the OddsShark College Football Database, while Mississippi State ended a 14-game losing streak against LSU with a 34–29 upset win as a seven-point road underdog last year. The Tigers are four-point road chalk this year.
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Another intriguing Week 2 matchup involves the No. 23 Boise State Broncos and the BYU Cougars, who are coming off a miraculous 33–28 road victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers last week.
The Cougars lost Heisman Trophy candidate Taysom Hill for the season with a foot injury and will be replacing him with freshman Tanner Mangum, so the Broncos are three-point road favorites.
However, BYU has won eight of its last nine home games in September and saw Mangum beat Nebraska in relief of Hill with the game-winning touchdown pass on a Hail Mary as time expired.
