PinnacleSports.com Opens NCAA Wagering

Although NCAA football doesn't begin until September, fans everywhere are anxiously anticipating the start of another exciting college football season. With nearly a month to go until kickoff of the first NCAA games, PinnacleSports.com has already opened wagering on the first week of college football action and has set betting lines on several marquee match-ups throughout each week of the NCAA season.

The Internet's largest sports betting site, PinnacleSports.com has become the first sportsbook to open betting on the entire Week 1 schedules of the 2005 NCAA football season. The first day of college games takes place on Thursday, Sept. 1 and features the start of the Steve Spurrier regime at South Carolina, where the Gamecocks have opened as 18.5-point favorites over visiting Central Florida. On the first Saturday of games, new Washington coach Ty Willingham has his Huskies as 3-point favorites over Air Force, while his replacement at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis, is a 4-point underdog in a tough match-up at Pittsburgh. The Urban Meyer era will also officially begin at Florida on Saturday, Sept. 3 and PinnacleSports.com currently lists the Gators as 22-point favorites when they host Wyoming. The biggest match-up of the opening week pits rivals Miami (Florida) against Florida State in Tallahassee where the visiting Hurricanes are favored by 3.5 points.

In addition to opening betting on the full schedule of games taking place during the first week of the NCAA season, PinnacleSports.com is also taking wagers on several of the most anticipated games taking place each week during the entire 14-week NCAA regular season. These marquee match-ups include:

-- Notre Dame (+15) at Michigan on September 10

-- Tennessee (+2.5) hosting Florida on September 17

-- October 8, "Red River Shootout" between Texas (-4) and Oklahoma

-- Michigan (-1) traveling to Iowa October 22

-- Florida (-2.5) vs Georgia at "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" October 29

-- Defending champs USC (-8.5) at California on November 12

-- Ohio State (+4) at rival Michigan November 19

-- "The Iron Bowl" November 19 with Auburn (-6.5) against in-state rival Alabama

-- The annual Army-Navy game on December 3 (Navy is a 10-point favorite)

"After becoming the first sportsbook in the world to open betting on the NFL's first week of games, we've followed suit by giving our customers the earliest opportunity to place bets on college football games as well," said Simon Noble of PinnacleSports.com. "It simply wasn't enough to give our bettors the opportunity to place wagers on the first week of college games, so we decided to offer lines on the best match-ups of each week throughout the entire NCAA football season. Whether bettors would like Florida State to upset Miami on September 5, or Texas to break Oklahoma's winning streak at the 'Red River Shootout' on October 8, players will find lines on all the biggest games at PinnacleSports.com."

PinnacleSports.com also has compiled odds on a number of NCAA teams winning the BCS Championship Game at the 2006 Rose Bowl, where two-time defending champion USC is an overwhelming 2/1 favorite to three-peat. In addition, the online sportsbook lists USC quarterback Matt Leinart as the early favorite to become only the second repeat winner of the Heisman Trophy at 7/5 odds. Bettors can also place wagers on the total number of regular season wins by every Division IA NCAA team at PinnacleSports.com.