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Where the action is: Saturday's biggest college football line moves
College football action is picking up with Saturday just around the corner. We talk to Jay Rood, Director of Race and Sports at MGM properties in Las Vegas, about the biggest line moves on the Week 6 board and where those odds could end up come kickoff:
Texas A&M Aggies at Mississippi State Bulldogs – Open: Pick, Move: -2.5
This SEC showdown opened with oddsmakers on the fence, but wiseguys hit Mississippi State hard early in the week and pushed this spread as many as 2.5 points. Rood, however, doesn’t expect a move to the key number of three before the noon ET kickoff.
“The ticket count is fairly even, with a little lean to Texas A&M. But the sharps are all on Mississippi State,” Rood tells Covers. “Hard to say what the public will do now. Depending on where this spread moves, we could have sharps coming in late and laying the favorite.”
SMU Mustangs at East Carolina Pirates – Open: -34.5, Move: -41.5
The cat is out of the bag on East Carolina, which seems to be the mightiest of the mid-major programs. Sharps were all over the Pirates in the opening weeks of the season but now the public has caught on and has moved this spread as much as a touchdown at online books.
“Sharp action laid the big number and the public continues to bet East Carolina,” says Rood. “Everyone is keenly aware of ECU now, they’re not an undercover story now. So we will be needing the Ponies in a big way Saturday, probably need them for two scores. And the way they’ve played recently, they could be hard pressed to do that.”
Wisconsin Badgers at Northwestern Wildcats – Open: +10, Move: +7
Some markets have moved the spread for this Big Ten battle as much as a field goal, while MGM properties opened Wisconsin -9 and are now dealing -8. All the money is on Northwestern, which is a change of pace for the Badgers’ recent games, in which Wisconsin was the overwhelming choice for bettors.
“They’re definitely all over Northwestern,” Rood says of the wiseguys. “This game is dropping as we speak. The home dog is getting all the action, from the sharp perspective. However, it’s all Wisconsin on parlays and teasers.”
Kansas Jayhawks at West Virginia Mountaineers – Open: -24, Move: -28
The firing of Kansas coach Charlie Weis has sparked money against the Jayhawks in Week 6. It’s a tough call whether or not KU will be better or worse without Weis – it can’t get much worse, can it?
“It’s literally all West Virginia money from everywhere – sharps and squares,” says Rood, “Everyone is calling for a lopsided affair. I sometimes look at these situations and expect some extra motivation (from the team that fired its coach). But I just don’t know in this case?”
LSU Tigers at Auburn Tigers – Open: -9, Move: -7.5
This SEC matchup is the big game on the Week 5 schedule, and it looks like Auburn is the popular play even though the line has moved as much as 1.5 points toward LSU, pointing the finger to sharp money. According to Rood, there haven’t been a lot of tickets written on this game yet, but the ones that have come in are substantial.
“We have some decent-sized tickets on this. It’s going to be a pretty high dollar amount game. We’ll write some business on this one,” he says. “Sharps could bring this one down and the public could keep playing it. We could get some decent two-way action on this but if sharps keep chopping it down, we could find ourselves in a spot where we get sided on eight.”
College football action is picking up with Saturday just around the corner. We talk to Jay Rood, Director of Race and Sports at MGM properties in Las Vegas, about the biggest line moves on the Week 6 board and where those odds could end up come kickoff:
Texas A&M Aggies at Mississippi State Bulldogs – Open: Pick, Move: -2.5
This SEC showdown opened with oddsmakers on the fence, but wiseguys hit Mississippi State hard early in the week and pushed this spread as many as 2.5 points. Rood, however, doesn’t expect a move to the key number of three before the noon ET kickoff.
“The ticket count is fairly even, with a little lean to Texas A&M. But the sharps are all on Mississippi State,” Rood tells Covers. “Hard to say what the public will do now. Depending on where this spread moves, we could have sharps coming in late and laying the favorite.”
SMU Mustangs at East Carolina Pirates – Open: -34.5, Move: -41.5
The cat is out of the bag on East Carolina, which seems to be the mightiest of the mid-major programs. Sharps were all over the Pirates in the opening weeks of the season but now the public has caught on and has moved this spread as much as a touchdown at online books.
“Sharp action laid the big number and the public continues to bet East Carolina,” says Rood. “Everyone is keenly aware of ECU now, they’re not an undercover story now. So we will be needing the Ponies in a big way Saturday, probably need them for two scores. And the way they’ve played recently, they could be hard pressed to do that.”
Wisconsin Badgers at Northwestern Wildcats – Open: +10, Move: +7
Some markets have moved the spread for this Big Ten battle as much as a field goal, while MGM properties opened Wisconsin -9 and are now dealing -8. All the money is on Northwestern, which is a change of pace for the Badgers’ recent games, in which Wisconsin was the overwhelming choice for bettors.
“They’re definitely all over Northwestern,” Rood says of the wiseguys. “This game is dropping as we speak. The home dog is getting all the action, from the sharp perspective. However, it’s all Wisconsin on parlays and teasers.”
Kansas Jayhawks at West Virginia Mountaineers – Open: -24, Move: -28
The firing of Kansas coach Charlie Weis has sparked money against the Jayhawks in Week 6. It’s a tough call whether or not KU will be better or worse without Weis – it can’t get much worse, can it?
“It’s literally all West Virginia money from everywhere – sharps and squares,” says Rood, “Everyone is calling for a lopsided affair. I sometimes look at these situations and expect some extra motivation (from the team that fired its coach). But I just don’t know in this case?”
LSU Tigers at Auburn Tigers – Open: -9, Move: -7.5
This SEC matchup is the big game on the Week 5 schedule, and it looks like Auburn is the popular play even though the line has moved as much as 1.5 points toward LSU, pointing the finger to sharp money. According to Rood, there haven’t been a lot of tickets written on this game yet, but the ones that have come in are substantial.
“We have some decent-sized tickets on this. It’s going to be a pretty high dollar amount game. We’ll write some business on this one,” he says. “Sharps could bring this one down and the public could keep playing it. We could get some decent two-way action on this but if sharps keep chopping it down, we could find ourselves in a spot where we get sided on eight.”
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