Alabama shoots for the repeat of a national title, while Louisville moves on without its best player when the teams open their 2018 campaigns Saturday night on a neutral field in Orlando (8 ET, ABC). How are we playing this contest with our free college football betting picks?
College Football Betting Odds
Week 1 college football betting lines opened the Crimson Tide at -25.5 over the Cardinals, with a total of 54. The early betting action then dipped the spread to 24.5 and bumped the total all the way to 60.
Cardinals-Tide Match-Up
Louisville gets back only 11 starters this season from a team that finished 8-5 straight-up, 5-8 against the spread last season. The Cardinals didn’t really beat anybody of note all year, and lost two or three games they shouldn’t have. And they lost a bowl game as six-point favorites against Mississippi State. The ‘Ville then took their biggest hit during the off-season with the departure of Heisman-winning QB Lamar Jackson. So this is a team in transition at the moment. Seven starters are back on an offense that averaged 545 yards per game last year, but of course, that was with Jackson. And just four starters are back from a defense that gave up 388 YPG last season.
Alabama, meanwhile, only returns 10 starters from a team that went 13-1 and won the national championship last year. ‘Bama started 11-0 last season, lost to Auburn and missed the SEC championship game but made the College Football Playoff anyway. The Tide then revenged Clemson and came from behind twice to defeat Georgia in overtime in the title contest. But they also created a situation at QB by playing two quarterbacks against the Bulldogs, and that carries into this season. However, they’re both very nice players, so it’s not a bad situation to have. Seven starters are back on an offense that averaged 444 YPG last year, but just three starters are back on a defense that allowed only 260 YPG. Then again, this is Alabama.
Recent History
These teams have no recent history, last meeting back in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl, a 34-7 Louisville victory.
Totals Report
Unders went 6-5 in the Cardinals’ 11 games last year against Power 5 opponents, even though those games averaged a healthy 67 total points.
Unders also went 6-5 in the Tide’s 11 games last year against Power 5 foes, and they would have gone 7-4 had that championship game not gone to OT. Those games, without that overtime period, averaged 46 points.
Get more details: Louisville at Alabama NCAAF Match-Up
