It’s important to know that college football non-conference schedules are generally set years in advance. Thus, a school could schedule an opponent this year for a game in 2023 expecting said foe to be a good team like it would be in 2018. Doesn’t always happen that way.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

In the College Football Playoff era, teams have taken different approaches to their Week 1 foes. Alabama has been playing a marquee opponent at a neutral site, and that continues this Saturday as the top-ranked Tide are 25-point favorites in Orlando against Louisville (a former marquee opponent perhaps). That spread would look quite different if the Cardinals still had former Heisman-winning QB Lamar Jackson, but he’s now with the Baltimore Ravens. The Tide are 9-1 ATS in their past 10 Week 1 games.

The week kicks off with the defending national champion Central Florida Knights, ranked No. 21, visiting American Athletic Conference foe Connecticut on Thursday night with UCF at -23. UCF wasn’t the true national champion last year, of course, but claimed a mythical one as the nation’s only unbeaten team. The Huskies have covered their past five AAC games.