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The first week of college football produced mixed results for sportsbooks. While the public bought into Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, the sportsbooks did not take Primetime seriously in his FBS debut, and they paid the price. Colorado was the most popular bet on Saturday, and the Buffaloes not only covered a three-touchdown spread on the college football betting line, they won outright as an underdog with moneyline odds as high as 7-1 at some places. Interestingly enough, that wasn’t the biggest upset of the day though as Texas State secured its biggest win in program history with a double-digit win over Baylor in a game where the Bobcats were a 27-point underdog by the CFB betting odds.
However, most sportsbooks made that money back and then some on Monday night with the Clemson-Duke game. As is usually the case with a primetime game, money poured in on the favorite. Clemson was expected to trounce Duke, but the Blue Devils turned the tables on the Tigers for their first victory over a top ten opponent in 34 years. That resulted in a huge win for many sportsbooks.
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WINNERS FOR THE PLAYERS
No program received more hype and publicity than Colorado this offseason. Deion Sanders cleaned house like no other coach before him, bringing back just 10 players from the previous season. Sanders welcomed in a record 53 transfers, and all that change led to plenty of people doubting Colorado’s ability to be competitive, especially early in the year.
Shedeur Sanders looks to be a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate after torching TCU’s defense for 510 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday. Sanders lit up the FCS in his two years at Jackson State, but there were questions about how his game would transfer to the next level. New offensive coordinator Sean Lewis came up with an excellent gameplan, and that led to the Buffs putting up 45 points on last year’s runners-up.
That has led to even more money pouring in on Colorado this week. The Buffaloes are playing rival Nebraska in a nationally televised game, and that spread moved drastically after this week’s results. Initially, Nebraska was an 8.5-point favorite by the college football betting odds, but Colorado is now favored by three points and seeing a ton of action.
Miami (FL) was also a big winner for the players. The Hurricanes played the Miami (OH) Redhawks in primetime on Friday night, and the action came in hard and heavy on the Canes. They covered all numbers in a blowout victory and will welcome Texas A&M to town this weekend.
WINNERS FOR THE BOOKS
The biggest winner by far for the sportsbooks was Duke on Monday night. Players were either trying to chase and erase their losses or looking to cap off a big week with an exclamation mark, but Clemson had one of the unluckiest second half performances you will find in football. The Tigers missed a 23-yard field goal, fumbled on the Duke seven-yard line, fumbled on the Duke one-yard line, turned the ball over on downs because Cade Klubnik slid too early, and then had a ball bounce a receiver’s hands for a back-breaking interception. That led to Duke scoring the rare reverse cover as a double-digit favorite per the CFB betting line, and the books rejoiced since there was a lot of money on Clemson moneyline.
Two other big winners for the sportsbooks were Indiana and Rice. Ohio State and Texas came into the season with plenty of buzz and many pundits are calling on both teams to win their conference. However, the Buckeyes and Longhorns both ran into issues in their home openers.
Ohio State had trouble moving the ball through the air in a 23-3 win over Indiana. Kyle McCord completed 20 of 33 passes for 239 yards with an interception in his first start, and that led to the Buckeyes failing to cover a 30-point spread.
Meanwhile, Texas stumbled on offense throughout the first half before a 21-point third quarter ensured the Longhorns would beat Rice. They failed to cover the 35.5-point spread, but there has still been a good amount of action on the Longhorns as a 7.5-point underdog on the road against Alabama in Week 2.
