Bettors Don't Buy Into Top-25 Hype
by SPORTSBETTING.COM - 10/25/2007
Back in the day the teams that were highly-ranked, like the Nebraska and Miami teams of the 1990s, would crush their opponents by a large margin and often cover very large spreads.
However, this football season has not seen that type of domination.
Heading into this week, many of the BCS Top 25 are listed as small favorites or even underdogs:
- No. 2 in the BCS rankings, Boston College is an underdog by three points.
- No. 16 South Carolina is in the same situation as BC.
- West Virginia is favored by less than a TD.
- The BCS top-ranked team, Ohio State is a favorite by only 4½ in their matchup.
Although the uncertainty has the created turmoil for the football betting public, the books and purists alike, it's making for quite an intriguing college football season.
Lets look at some of the interesting games on the board this week:
Boston College at Virginia Tech
The BC Eagles pretty much find themselves in the same situation this week as South Florida last week. The Eagles, who are undefeated at 7-0 (4-2 ATS), see themselves in the BCS' No. 2 spot and heading into a Thursday night game like South Florida before them.
Will BC end up getting upset in Blacksburg, VA tonight like South Florida did at Rutgers?
The Virginia Tech Hokies are also ranked high in the BCS standings (No. 8) and would obviously like to rise in the polls. They haven't been a profitable play most of the year, with a 2-4 record ATS, but in this high profile game they are listed as 3-point favorite.
Bettors thus far have had a slight lean towards the underdog as SPORTSBETTING.COM customers have laid 55 percent of the action on Boston College.
If the actual game is as close as the line and betting action it will be a good one.
Ohio State at Penn State
Betting against the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes might be a smart thing to do the next few weeks because (a) they face Big Ten competition the rest of the way and their conference rivals will be gunning for them and (b) The No. 1 teams have had a hard time staying on top this year.
Betting against Ohio State last week in their matchup against Michigan State was a profitable venture as the Buckeyes squeaked out a 24-17 win against the Spartans but failed to cover the big spread.
This week, the top team in the polls faces another matchup against a conference rival, this time heading to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions with OSU listed as 4-point favorites.
Ohio State managed to win their matchup against Penn State last year but that was within the friendly confines of the Horseshoe and with players like Heisman winning QB Troy Smith and speedy WR Ted Ginn Jr. who have since moved on.
Despite that, however, the majority of the public still has an eye on the No. 1-ranked team in college football and they don't foresee an upset as 85 percent of the action at SPORTSBETTING.COM is going in the direction of the visiting team.