College football action begins with a bang for bettors

A long list of talented running backs will be on display at Lambeau Field this season, but maybe the best of them all can be seen Saturday. That’s how highly some scouts think of Leonard Fournette.

The Louisiana State junior has been compared to — and this is no joke — Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker and Adrian Peterson. The Peterson comparison is made most often, and he was the NFL’s rushing leader last season.

Fournette will be featured during a college football weekend that serves up at least seven magnificent matchups.

“It may be the best first week college schedule we’ve ever seen,” said veteran oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro of the South Point sports book.

The sun will be bright Saturday, yet despite perfect weather, most of us will turn into vampires and stay indoors to watch football from morning to night and coast to coast. It actually starts overseas.

The action kicks off early Saturday (4:30 a.m. PT) from Dublin, Ireland, where Georgia Tech is a field-goal favorite over Boston College. Yellow Jackets senior quarterback Justin Thomas, who was sensational two seasons ago, needs to bounce back from a dismal 2015.

At 9 a.m., Hawaii is a 41-point underdog to Michigan. The Warriors faced an insane travel schedule, flying from Sydney, Australia, to Ann Arbor in a week to pick up a fat paycheck. Will Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh run up the score?

The first game of the season was California-Hawaii, and it turned out to be a wild point-spread decision. The Warriors were getting 21 points at kickoff — most bettors probably laid 20 or took 20½ — and the Golden Bears tried to run up the score. A Cal running back was tackled inches from the goal line as time expired in its 51-31 win.

Oklahoma and Houston also kick off at 9 a.m. at NRG Stadium in Houston. The Sooners are 11½-point favorites, and the total is 68.

“This may be the most entertaining game of the week,” William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said.

Both quarterbacks — the Sooners’ Baker Mayfield and the Cougars’ Greg Ward Jr. — will be airing it out. Houston went 13-1 last season, capped by a blowout of Florida State in the Peach Bowl.

LSU and Wisconsin meet in Green Bay at 12:30 p.m. The Packers would love to have Fournette, and his Tigers are 10½-point favorites. Sportsmemo.com handicapper Erin Rynning said he laid 9½ with the Southeastern Conference team with the stronger defense and running attack.

“From a power-rating perspective, I made it 17,” Rynning said. “LSU’s talent is about as good as anybody. I think the Wisconsin program has eroded the last three or four years. It’s that SEC speed against Big Ten bulk, and I think the speed wins out. But I wasn’t crazy about laying that many points.”

Another angle Rynning likes is LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who was at Wisconsin last year. Expect the Badgers to have problems moving the ball.

Kicking off at the same time will be UCLA-Texas A&M. The Aggies, 3-point home favorites, are pinning their hopes on Oklahoma transfer Trevor Knight at quarterback. Bruins sophomore QB Josh Rosen will be prematurely ranked as the top Heisman Trophy candidate if he wins this game.

Nick Saban reappears with another great defense when Alabama faces Southern California at 5 p.m. in Arlington, Texas. The Crimson Tide, favored by 11½ points, have drawn a whopping 11 times more money than the Trojans, according to CG Technology sports book director Jason Simbal.

Clemson, which took Saban to the wire but lost the national championship game in January, opens as a 7½-point favorite at Auburn at 6 p.m. Sharp money is on the Tigers — and that is a joke. If Clemson covers, quarterback Deshaun Watson will take over the Heisman lead.

The nightcap is Brigham Young-Arizona at 7:30 p.m. from Glendale, Arizona. The Cougars are 1-point favorites behind do-it-all quarterback Taysom Hill.

The only game on Sunday’s schedule is Notre Dame at Texas, with the Fighting Irish favored by 3½.

“It’s all Irish action,” Simbal said. “The public is going to be all over the Irish.”

Five consecutive days of college action concludes with Mississippi-Florida State on Monday night.

“It will be slammin’ at the books this weekend,” Bogdanovich said. “The start of the football season is great because of the anticipation, and you just never know what’s going to happen.”

CLOSING NUMBERS

I’ll try to guess what’s going to happen with these five best bets for the weekend (home team in CAPS):

Georgia Tech (-3) over Boston College; AUBURN (+7½) over Clemson; Ucla (+3) over TEXAS A&M; Byu (-1) over Arizona; TEXAS (+3½) over Notre Dame.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts “The Las Vegas Sportsline” weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247