NCAA Football Week 1: Two Games That Matter

College football has finally arrived. The 2012 NCAA Football Season will kick off this week the first games of the season schedule to start this Thursday, August 30^th at 7:00 pm ET.

While fans and bettors will have their hands full this weekend, as well as multiple chances to call for some additional action, Week 1 features only two games matching top-25 opponents and both involve teams representing the state of Michigan.

The first game will take place this Friday, August 31^st when No. 13 Michigan State Spartans hosts No. 24 Boise State Broncos at 8PM ET.  According to recent college football odds, the Spartans currently show listed at - 6.5-points against the Boise State Broncos.

The Spartans finished the season 11–3, 7–1 in Big Ten play to be champions of the Legends Division. Michigan represented the division in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game where they lost to Wisconsin (Leaders Division) 39–42. In addition, the team was invited to the Outback Bowl where they defeated Georgia 33–30 after three overtimes.

Meanwhile, Boise State is 73-6 under Coach Chris Petersen and has knocked off Virginia Tech and Georgia in their last two season openers. The Broncos closed the 2011 regular season with 12–1 overall record and 6–1 Mountain West play to finish in second place. They were invited the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas for the second consecutive year where they easily beat the Arizona State Sun Devils 56–24

Probably the most expected game of the week will take place on Saturday night when the current BCS National Champions and number two favorite, the Alabama Crimson Tide, play the number 8^th Michigan Wolverines at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The atmosphere and fan expectation for this game couldn’t be greater. The always impressive Cowboy stadium will welcome about 80,000 fans for this game, and the full capacity for this game is already sold out.

In addition to hosting the past three Cotton Bowl games and the Big 12 Championship Game in 2009-10, the famous dome stadium has also hosted four neutral-site Cowboys Classics, including BYU’s 14-13 upset over the Oklahoma Sooners in 2009, TCU’s 2010 victory over Oregon State 30-21, and LSU’s 40-27 beating over Oregon registered last year.

The defending national champion, the Alabama Crimson Tide, enters the game as a -13 favorite over Michigan. Alabama has not lost a non-conference game since 2008. Despite its underdog tag, Michigan is coming off an 11-2 season in 2011 that includes a 236-20 victory over Virginia Tech at last year’s Sugar Bowl. Michigan is also 2-1 against the Crimson Tide, with all three previous meetings coming in bowl games.

Get access to all odds on NCAA Football, including over/under totals for each game in Week 1, plus special prop bets and odds for the 2012 College Football Season.