College Football

College Football Games of the Year

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:00 p.m. ET

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College football season will be here before we know it.  In just two short months all the speculation and prognostications get cast aside for tangible results and the inevitable arguments among fan bases.  However, the betting community actually gains a head start on casual fans thanks to a major annual event taking place here in Las Vegas today.  The Golden Nugget race and sports book released 165 point spreads as part of their college football games of the year, sending bettors into a feeding frenzy.

"It's a process we look forward to every year.  Tony (Tony Milller, Vice President of Race and Sports at the Golden Nugget), Bruce Marshall (Goldsheet), and I all do a ton of homework preparing for this day to make sure we post the best numbers possible," Aaron Kessler, race and sports manager at the Golden Nugget, said about the massive undertaking that comes with being first to market.

Hanging this many games all at once is no easy endeavor for the trio of talented oddsmakers.  Each individual contributor develops base line power ratings entirely on his own before collaborating with the team yesterday afternoon to arrive at final decisions.  Whether it's Ohio St, Alabama, TCU, or Iowa St power numbers need to be accurate or bettors foaming at the mouth to find a soft line will let the staff at the Nugget know pretty quickly what they've done right...or wrong.

"There are teams we'll all agree on but plenty where it's important to find a middle ground when our numbers don't mesh.  We'll take into account the discrepancies depending on confidence levels and make decisions from there.  We're not afraid to take a position on certain teams either letting bettors tell us where we were right and wrong," Kessler added.

Kessler told me a few teams he was high on headed into this year are Tennessee, Michigan, and Georgia Tech, meaning it will be interesting to see if some of the sharpest bettors agree with opening numbers in games involving those sides.  One thing he added was that Ohio St should be the consensus #1 team in the country even though it might be the first time in history the top team in the land still didn't know who their starting quarterback would be for Week 1.

Bets will come in fast and furious throughout the weekend with the posted limit for each game set at $1,000 (also known as a "dime" for those still learning sports betting vernacular).  The Golden Nugget will also see a flurry of additional betting action later this summer when the Westgate Superbook opens their slate of early releases and professionals come out in droves looking to maximize arbitrage opportunities that may still be available.

The Big Games

The more high profile a team, the more often you'll find their games listed on the Games of the Year schedule...unless you're the local team UNLV that finds themselves listed 6 times; including twice as massive underdogs to both UCLA (+32) and Michigan (+33). Unlike past years the Nugget avoided releasing the entire schedule for a handful of select schools electing to use most of the power programs 7 or 8 times when applicable.  Here are a few of the marquee games listed by date:

September 3

Utah -4 vs Michigan

September 5

Alabama -10 vs Wisconsin **Arlington

September 12

Tennessee -3 vs Oklahoma

September 19

LSU -4 vs Auburn

Alabama -9.5 vs Ole Miss

October 10

Oklahoma -6.5 vs Texas **Dallas

October 17

Notre Dame PK vs USC

October 24

Arkansas -6.5 vs Auburn

November 7

Clemson -2 vs Florida St

November 14

Baylor -13 vs Oklahoma

November 21

Ohio St -14 vs Michigan St

Oregon -6.5 vs USC

TCU -5 @ Oklahoma

November 27

TCU -6 vs Baylor

November 28

Ohio St -16 @ Michigan

If you're looking for just SEC teams, here's a breakdown (by school) of each match-up they're included in at the Nugget.  Sorry Vanderbilt fans; not a whole lot of intrigue on this list for you as the Commodores were only included once.  

Alabama (9)

9/5 (-9.5) vs Wisconsin **Arlington

9/19 (-9.5) vs Ole Miss

10/3 (PK) @ Georgia

10/10 (-7.5) Arkansas

10/17 (-7) @ Texas A&M

10/24 (-10) Tennessee

11/7 (-9) LSU

11/14 (-9) @ Mississippi St

11/28 (-3.5) @ Auburn

Arkansas (8)

9/26 (-6.5) vs Texas A&M **Arlington

10/3 (+1) @ Tennessee

10/10 (+7.5) @ Alabama

10/24 (-6.5) Auburn

11/7 (+1) @ Ole Miss

11/14 (+1.5) @ LSU

11/21 (-10) Mississippi St

11/28 (-7) Missouri

Auburn (9)

9/5 (-11.5) vs Louisville **Atlanta

9/19 (+4) @ LSU

9/26 (-8) vs Mississippi St

10/15 (-9) @ Kentucky

10/24 (+6.5) @ Arkansas

10/31 (-4) Ole Miss

11/7 (-1.5) @ Texas A&M

11/14 (PK) Georgia

11/28 (+3.5) Alabama

Florida (7)

9/26 (+2.5) vs Tennessee

10/3 (+6) vs Ole Miss

10/10 (+10) @ Missouri

10/17 (+14) LSU

10/31 (+12) vs Georgia **Jacksonville

11/14 (+2.5) @ South Carolina

11/28 (+4) vs Florida St

Georgia (7)

9/19 (-11) South Carolina

10/3 (PK) Georgia

10/10 (PK) @ Tennessee

10/17 (-8.5) Missouri

10/31 (-12) Florida

11/14 (PK) @ Auburn

11/28 (-1) @ Georgia Tech

Kentucky (2)

10/15 (+9) Auburn

11/28 (+2.5) Louisville

LSU (9)

9/12 (-3) @ Mississippi St

9/19 (-4) Auburn

9/26 (-20) @ Syracuse

10/10 (-8) @ South Carolina

10/17 (-14) Florida

11/7 (+9) @ Alabama

11/14 (-1.5) Arkansas

11/21 (PK) Ole Miss

11/28 (-7.5) Texas A&M

Mississippi St (7)

9/12 (+3) LSU

9/26 (+8) @ Auburn

10/3 (+6.5) @ Texas A&M

11/5 (+6) @ Missouri

11/14 (+9) Alabama

11/21 (+10) @ Arkansas

11/28 (+2) Ole Miss

Missouri (7)

10/3 (-11) South Carolina

10/10 (-10) Florida

10/17 (+8.5) @ Georgia

11/5 (-6) Mississippi St

11/14 (-12) BYU ** Kansas City

11/21 (-2.5) Tennessee

11/28 (+7) @ Arkansas

Ole Miss (7)

9/19 (+9.5) @ Alabama

10/3 (-6) @ Florida

10/24 (-4) Texas A&M

10/31 (+4) @ Auburn

11/7 (-1) Auburn

11/21 (PK) LSU

11/28 (-2) @ Mississippi St

South Carolina (6)

9/19 (+11) @ Georgia

10/3 (+11) @ Missouri

10/10 (+8) LSU

10/31 (+10) Texas A&M

11/14 (-2.5) Florida

11/28 (+3) Clemson

Tennessee (7)

9/12 (-3) Oklahoma

9/26 (-2.5) @ Florida

10/3 (-1) Arkansas

10/10 (PK) Georgia

10/24 (+10) Alabama

11/21 (+2.5) Missouri

11/28 (-17) Vanderbilt

Texas A&M (8)

9/5 (-3) vs Arizona St ** Houston

9/26 (+6.5) vs Arkansas ** Arlington

10/3 (-6.5) Mississippi St

10/17 (+7) Alabama

10/24 (+4) @ Ole Miss

10/31 (-10) South Carolina

11/7 (+1.5) Auburn

11/28 (+7.5) @ LSU

Vanderbilt (1)

11/28 (+17) @ Tennessee

We'll be doing plenty of deeper analysis on these lines next week as well, but we've given you plenty to whet your appetite headed into the weekend.

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