Behind The Betting Lines Sept 20 2003

September 20 2003
By Wilson King
Football Sports Betting – Inside the football betting lines

9/20 College Football Wrap-up

When it comes to the betting public, sometimes it pays to be good.  Other times it pays to be lucky.  But this week, it didn’t pay either way.  After favorites led them on a rollercoaster ride through jubilation and heartache last week, the public was back laying points and counting on high-priced favorites to deliver.  However, when it was all said and done, underdogs outplayed favorites, losers outnumbered winners, and Sports Insighters outgained them all.

The majority of the afternoon’s action was on the early-season SEC match-up, which  pitted the 12th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers against the 17th – ranked Florida Gators at the Swamp in Gainsville.  While Florida was the smart bet back when Peyton was manning the helm for the Vols, the visiting team has been the victor in each of the last four meetings in this series.  However, the public disregarded this information and went with the chronically unimpressive Gators laying 3.5.  Florida could have been getting 13.5 and it still would not have mattered, because the toothless Gators let an early lead slip away and lost outright.  The public followed.

The early games were not a total loss for the favorite-loving fans, as NC State and Syracuse both covered at home, but these games were overshadowed by the Thundering Herd’s dismantling of prohibitive favoirte Kansas State.  Despite being 23.5 point underdogs, Marshall took Manhattan and made the Wildcasts look like the Muppets.

While last week’s late day dog’s were unkind to everyone, they proved to be even more uncooperative this week.  The Georgia Bulldogs failed to cover despite a late game rally, allowing us to pick up a big win in Baton Rogue; and the Oregon Ducks overcame the stigma of being college football’s worst dressed team and beat the favored Michigan Wolverines outright, allowing us to double our days winnings.

Unlike last week, the public had a little gas left in it’s tank as the late games rolled around.  Determined to ride the favorites into NFL Sunday, the public went with Miami giving 12 points to Boston College.  While the move was not earth shattering, it was enough to give everyone the hope that their strategy of playing favorites would pay off tomorrow.