Down to Eight
By Chris David
For the second week in a row, the Sooners helped out the sportsbooks by failing to cover the point-spread. The difference this week was No. 3 Oklahoma also lost outright. Bob Stoops and company fell behind early and could never catch up in their 41-38 upset loss to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders opened as 24-point underdogs last Sunday but the closing number was 29, which told you that the betting public was trying to squeeze another against the spread victory out of Oklahoma. It’s rare to see money-line odds when you have a spread close to the 30, but most major offshore outfits had the Red Raiders listed between 25 and 30/1 (Bet $100 to win $3,000).
Oklahoma wasn’t the only unbeaten Top-10 school to go down in Week 8. The other was No. 4 Wisconsin, who lost on a Hail Mary pass to Michigan State, 37-31. The Badgers jumped out to a 14-0 lead in East Lansing but the Spartans rallied with 23 straight points to close the first-half. Wisconsin managed to tie the game at 31-31 late before losing on the final play. The line opened at seven but was spiked up to 9 ½ in the middle of the week before closing back at seven.
Even though the Sooners and Badgers went down, gamblers still could’ve produced a profit by riding the Top 10 ranked schools in the recent AP Poll. Including the above losses, the group went 8-2 straight up and 6-4 against the spread.
With eight weeks in the books, we have eight schools still undefeated.
Alabama (8-0 SU, 7-1 ATS) – Nick Saban’s team looked sluggish against Tennessee, but managed to cover again with a 31-0 burst in the second-half for a 37-6 victory. Five of eight opponents held to seven points or less.
LSU (8-0 SU, 6-2 ATS) – Gamblers witnessed another wire-to-wire cover for Les Miles and the Tigers as they stomped Auburn 45-10. All the talk in Baton Rouge and nationally is about LSU’s defense, but the team is averaging 39.2 PPG.
Clemson (8-0 SU, 7-1 ATS) – Three of the final four games for the Tigers are on the road, including a tough test against Georgia Tech this Saturday. Gamblers betting the Clemson-Over correlated parlay have seen that ticket cash five times this season.
Oklahoma State (7-0, 6-1 ATS) – Six straight covers for OSU! The Cowboys should be favored in next four games but will they be laying points to Oklahoma on Dec. 3 in Stillwater?
Kansas State (7-0, 6-1 ATS) – The Wildcats could be next to go down. The next four games are against Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and at Texas. Good Luck coach Snyder!
Houston (7-0, 5-2 ATS) – The Cougars next three opponents (Rice, UAB, Tulane) are a combined 5-17. Houston should be unbeaten heading into SMU, Tulsa to close the season and then it looks like a conference championship against a quality Southern Mississippi team.
Stanford (7-0 SU, 7-0 ATS) – This team is a covering machine. It will be fun to see the Cardinal travel to USC this weekend. After the Trojans, Stanford should get a likely win at Oregon State before the Pac 12 showdown versus Oregon.
Boise State (7-0 SU, 4-3 ATS) – Even though the Broncos didn’t look dominant against Air Force (37-26), they still got a win. Make a note that Boise is 4-0 both SU and ATS on the road, with a trip to UNLV scheduled for next weekend. And another note, gamblers might not be backing Boise as much this year due to the Mountain West Conference having no ties with ESPN. Versus does pick up some action, but the reach and start times are much different.
SEC Showdown
The hype for the SEC West battle Alabama and LSU has already started, even though the contest won’t be played until Nov. 5 from Tuscaloosa. One major offshore, 5Dimes, opened Alabama as a four-point home favorite against LSU.
Other Observations
Virginia Tech (7-1 SU, 2-6 ATS) is quietly poised for another spot in the ACC Championship. The Nov. 10 matchup at Georgia Tech should do it for Frank Beamer and company.
The rumors about Joe Paterno’s exit from Penn State continue and most sources are saying it will happen after this season. Right now, the Nittany Lions own the best overall record (7-1) in the Big Ten. Still, the final four games are tough, especially road trips to Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Total Watch
Under Teams
Temple (7-1)
Penn State (6-1-1)
Virginia (6-1)
Rutgers (6-1)
Boston College (6-1)
Arkansas State (6-1)
Over Teams
Air Force (7-0)
TCU (6-1)
Arizona State (6-1)
Kansas (6-1)
West Virginia (6-1)
Luck will go where?
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. With all the publicity on the gun slinger and the enormous amount of bad teams in pro football, a lot of pundits are talking about teams tanking to get a chance to draft Luck. With that being said, our friends at BetOnline.com have posted odds.
Which team will be awarded the #1 pick in 2012 NFL draft?
Indianapolis Colts +265
Miami Dolphins +300
St. Louis Rams +340
Jacksonville Jaguars +350
Carolina Panthers +550
Denver Broncos +650
Minnesota Vikings +650
Arizona Cardinals +950
Field (Any other team) +850
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