The Crimson Tide are followed in the top five by Ohio State, Florida, Texas and Boise State. Gamblers who bet on college football will get their chance to wager on Alabama in the first week of the season when the Crimson Tide host San Jose State.
College football betting odds begin with games on Thursday, September 2nd. Second-ranked Ohio State will be in action that day as they host Marshall. The Buckeyes are 29 point favorites in that contest. Florida begins their season on Saturday, September 4th when they host Miami of Ohio. The Gators are laying 34 points in that game. Texas also plays on Saturday and they are laying 28 points at Rice. Boise State has to wait until Monday the 6th when they face Virginia Tech in what could be the best game of Week 1 for gamblers who bet on college football. The Hokies are ranked 6th to start the season. They are followed by TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa.
The second ten in the USA Today coaches’ poll begins with Oregon. They are followed by Wisconsin, Miami of Florida, Penn State and Pittsburgh. LSU is ranked 16th and they are followed by Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Arkansas and Florida State. The top 25 is rounded out with Georgia, Oregon State and Auburn with Utah and West Virginia tied for number 24.
Alabama received 55 of the 59 first place votes in the poll with Ohio State receiving the other four. Alabama and Ohio State were well clear of Florida in terms of points in the poll. Alabama got 1469 points; Ohio State got 1392 while Florida was a distant third with 1245. Texas was a close fourth with 1240 with Boise State getting 1215. The Broncos will meet Virginia Tech in Week 1 so one of those two teams will be in national title contention while the other will be out. TCU, Oklahoma and Nebraska were the only other teams to get more than 1,000 points in the poll.
Just outside of the top 25 to start the season is Cincinnati. Houston, BYU and Arizona are also within striking range of the top 25.