Bookmaker's Corner: Betting on College Football's State Rivalry Games
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 11/24/2009
This week in college football, Bodog Sportsbook takes a look at state rivalry games and some of the matchups we expect bettors will want to get an early jump on. But first, a quick peek at last week's big moves and big wins.
The Iowa Hawkeyes football betting lines opened -10 and had been bet all the way to -12 by the time the game started. Because Iowa ended up winning 12-0, only those players who got in early got more than a push.
That isn't to suggest that early birds always win. Ohio State bettors who waited for the football betting lines in the Michigan game to be bet down from -12.5 to -11 escaped with a push as the Buckeyes went into the Big House and won 21-10.
While most of the casual bettors were behind Ohio State, a good amount of sharp money came in on the underdog Wolverines, who had the home crowd and bowl eligibility to play for against a Buckeyes team that had already booked its ticket to the Rose Bowl. Michigan played hard in front of the faithful but was ultimately killed by turnovers, including four interceptions by freshman quarterback Tate Forcier.
Looking at this week's matchups, we expect a good amount of action on Saturday's LSU-Arkansas game, and there's also a whole load of state rivalry games on the slate, like the Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State on Saturday. How bad are the Cougars? They're so bad that they're getting more than three touchdowns against a 3-7 Husky team. That's a lot of points, but don't forget the revenge factor in this one. The Huskies won't soon be showing any mercy to the Cougs, who won last year's Apple Cup as a big underdog to send the Dawgs on their way to a winless season.
Other rivalry games this weekend include Florida-Florida State, Texas-Texas A&M, Georgia-Georgia Tech, USC-UCLA, Auburn-Alabama, North Carolina-NC State, Mississippi-Mississippi State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Virginia-Virginia Tech, and Arizona-Arizona State.
The rivalry to end all rivalries is coming up on Dec. 3 with Oregon State at Oregon Ducks.
This Civil War is 113 years old. With a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line and the excitement that goes with most nationally televised games, you have to know that Autzen Stadium is going to be L-O-U-D. The stakes are so high that we expect our largest handle ever for this particular rivalry game.
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