This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Lookahead spot
The Northern Illinois Huskies are chasing down the Toledo Rockets in the MAC West and take on the 6-0 Rockets in Week 8, but before that game NIU is giving heaps of points to the Eastern Michigan Eagles at home this weekend. Books have installed the Huskies as 28-point favorites in DeKalb Saturday.
Northern Illinois has dealt with a mountain chalk like this already this season, covering against FCS Murray State as 29.5-point home chalk in Week 2. And that game preceded a meeting with the defending national champs, Ohio State. However, EMU has covered in five of its last six trips to NIU and the road team is a dominant 11-3 ATS in the last 14 matchups between these MAC rivals.
Letdown spot
The Memphis Tigers put their name among the top programs in college football with an impressive upset over Ole Miss this past weekend, beating the Rebels 37-24 as 10-point home underdogs Saturday. The victory over Mississippi improves the Tigers to 6-0 SU and 3-2 ATS but also sets them up for a classic letdown in Week 8.
Memphis follows that big home win with a road trip to 3-3 Tulsa, which is getting 11 points from oddsmakers. The Golden Hurricane have lost three of their last four games, including a 30-17 defeat to East Carolina but did manage to cover in that game as 14-point pups. Memphis hasn’t had much luck against Tulsa in the past – at least not from a betting standpoint – covering just once in their last six meetings.
Schedule spot
Who wants to leave the cozy warmth of the desert for the damp and dank late-October weather on the East Coast? No one, and definitely not the Arizona Coyotes. Arizona crosses the country for a massive eastern tour, starting in New Jersey Tuesday – the first of five straight road games and one of 16 of the Coyotes’ next 23 games to be played away from Gila River Arena. That span takes the team in mid-December.
Arizona follows Tuesday’s game with the Devils by making the move to MSG to play the Rangers Thursday, then to Ottawa Saturday. The final two games of this trek take the Coyotes to Toronto and Boston Monday and Tuesday, closing a stretch of four games in six days. Arizona has won both road games already this season, at Pittsburgh and Anaheim.