Public teams help bettors
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
Las Vegas sports books had varied results on the first full weekend of college football, but one thing they were all united with on Saturday night is getting buried by the public with teams like Alabama, LSU and Oklahoma covering the spreads.
"Friday was very solid for us, but Saturday was break even," said Westgate SuperBook VP Jay Kornegay. "We had a big cushion going into the late games and games it all back."
Kornegay sighted Maryland's outright win as a 19-point underdog at Texas as their biggest win of the weekend, but his book couldn't escape the popular public teams covering.
"The two marquee games Saturday both went against us, Michigan and Alabama," he said. "Alabama was our biggest loser since it was the tail end of a lot of parlays."
Over at CG Technology, VP of risk management Jason Simbal didn't have big wins to speak of outside of Purdue covering 25.5 against Louisville.
"It wasn't good at all," he said. "we needed the right underdogs and didn't get any. We we're big losers to Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Penn State."
No. 1 Alabama (-7.5) outclassed No. 3 Florida, 24-7, and No. 11 Michigan (-3.5) easily handled a Florida squad, 33-17, in a game where Michigan's defense dominated. Both of Florida's TD's came early of off interceptions. Despite only one starter returning to Michigan's defense, they've got their act together. Look out Big Ten.
When the popular teams all cover together, it's bad news for the books.
EPIC UNLV LOSS
It's a bit ironic that the biggest college football upset from a point-spread perspective would happen against the local Las Vegas team. UNLV was a 45-point favorite against Howard, a team UNLV paid $600,000 as a travel expense fee for visiting Las Vegas. The idea was that UNLV could jump out to a 1-0 record, then win at Idaho and be 2-0 before traveling to Columbus for a date with the Buckeyes.
What they didn't count on is Cam Newton's younger brother, Caylin Newton, being an unstoppable force at QB. Newton started his assault early in the first quarter with a 52-yard TD run to take a 7-0 lead. He'd also score the final TD on a 4-yard run to make it 43-40. UNLV shot themselves in the foot losing three fumbles, but ultimately it was their defense's inability to stop Newton on the ground. He rushed for 190 yards. It's a crushing blow for second year coach Tony Sanchez. Back to the drawing board.
Despite the record setting spread, I still think the biggest upset with a team that matters -- or did -- was Baylor losing 48-45 as 32-point home favorites against Liberty University which was founded by Jerry Falwell in 1971. As part of the celebration for winning, some of the students from the Christian university drove south from Waco to help with the Texas flood victims.
OBSERVATIONS
I really liked Alabama's and Michigan's defense and I also liked what I saw with Colorado's defense in a poorly reffed game against Colorado State.
California scored over 37 ppg the past two seasons with Jared Goff and Davis Webb taking snaps, but what new QB Ross Bowers did Saturday might be most impressive by scoring 35 points, throwing for 363 yards and four TDs in his first career game, and it came at Chapel Hill 2,800 miles away.
Western Michigan said the heck with getting +28, we want the win at USC and they almost got it, but fell short 49-31 in a game that was much closer than the score indicates.
The Texas Longhorns total rating is going to likely be too low for their next few games under new coach Tom Herman. Also, I can't wait for the tuned up Sooners and Ohio State rematch this weekend.