This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Lookahead spot
The 2015 season has been a disaster for the Washington Nationals, who entered the year as a 6/1 co-favorite to win the World Series along with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Flash forward to late September and that Nats sit second in the National League East, and out of the playoff picture. It’s a frustrating finish for a club that hit a boiling point this weekend when star slugger Bryce Harper and closer Jonathan Papelbon got into it in the dugout after Harper gave a less-than-solid effort running to first on a pop fly.
Washington’s players turned on manager Matt Williams a while ago but now it seems they’re turning on each other. That makes the final week of the season a lengthy lookahead spot for this club, with everyone – players, managers, and front office types – counting down the seconds until the offseason and some time away from what has become a poison environment in D.C. The Nats are on the road at Atlanta, then visit the division-leading Mets for the final weekend of the schedule.
Letdown spot
Duke football doesn’t get much to cheer about in Durham. In a spot where kids camp out days for basketball tickets, the Blue Devils’ pigskin achievements hit a high this past weekend when Duke stunned No. 20 Georgia Tech 34-20 as a 7.5-point home underdog. The Blue Devils improved to 3-1 SU and ATS with the victory but find themselves in a classic letdown spot this coming Saturday.
Duke hosts the Boston College Eagles as 6.5-point favorites in Week 5. Boston College is a battered bunch, losing RB Jon Hilliman to a knee injury last week and already playing without starting QB Darius Wade, who is out for the year with a broken ankle. All that and they’re still under touchdown dogs in Durham. Books seem cautious of the Dukies and this letdown situation.
Schedule spot
When you play football in Hawaii you trade tropical paradise for tumultuous travel, having to make the long plane ride to the mainland more times than you’d like. The Warriors are on the road for the second week in a row, having lost 28-0 at Wisconsin last weekend and now must head to Idaho and the “Smurf Turf” at Boise State Saturday after enjoy just four days in their own beds.
The Warriors are road weary and it’s only Week 5, with this being their third road date in four games and marks the second away tilt in a span of four road stops in five games, which takes the program into November. Hawaii has struggled when playing in Mountain Time, losing six straight games in the time zone, and owns a 26-59 SU all-time mark in MT. The Warriors are hefty 24.5-point underdogs in this tough travel spot.