Late Alabama TD leads to worst CFB Saturday for many Vegas books
Alabama had not been able to shake two-touchdown underdog Auburn all day. The plodding Crimson Tide needed Adam Griffith‘s fifth field goal to finally take a two-possession lead, 22-13, with 10 minutes to play, and after Auburn turned the ball over on downs with two minutes left at its own 34-yard line, any comeback hopes were ended. All that was left was for the Tide to run out the clock with a first down.
On third-and-10, with a minute left, Derrick Henry picked up nine yards. One more yard and Alabama would have been headed for the victory formation, but instead, the Tide would need to run another play. Coach Nick Saban, opting to avoid any potential kicking-game disasters, elected to give Henry his 46th carry of the day. The Heisman frontrunner took a standard handoff, burst through Auburn’s worn-down line and raced 25 yards for a touchdown that covered the spread with 25 seconds to play in a 29-13 win. It was the first time Alabama was covering the spread the entire game. Bettors rejoiced.
In the hours leading up to kickoff, 90 percent of the money bet on the Iron Bowl point spread was on the Crimson Tide at both the Westgate SuperBook and William Hill’s Nevada sportsbook. The Stratosphere sportsbook said for every one parlay that included Auburn, there were 20 that had Alabama. At the MGM, six times more money was bet on the Tide than on the Tigers.
It was the biggest decision of the day, leading to the worst Saturday of the college football season for several Vegas books.
“That was the killer on the day, a significant swing against us,” MGM vice president Jay Rood said of Henry’s covering touchdown. “We had everybody on Alabama, big players, sharps. It was the game that we needed to win.”
Favorites dominated Saturday in college football, covering the spread in as many as 28 of the 42 games on the board. The Ohio State-Michigan game attracted the most money at William Hill, just edging Notre Dame-Stanford as the most heavily-bet game on Saturday. The Buckeyes opened as underdogs at Michigan, but closed as consensus favorites. They started the run of favorites with a 42-13 win over the Wolverines. Favored Florida State pummeled Florida, handing Caesars one its biggest losses of the day, and Oklahoma put the finishing touches on a day of thanks for bettors by easily covering as a heavily-bet 7.5-point favorite in a 58-23 win over Oklahoma State.
“We wrote 12 parlays of $5,000 or more,” Jason Simbal, vice president of race and sports at sportsbook operator CG Technology. “We went 1-11 on those 12. Oklahoma was no good, Alabama was no good, Ohio State was no good. No good.”
Ravens-Browns is biggest Monday night decision of year
Tonight’s matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns may lack national interest, but it’s drawing big money in Las Vegas. The Browns opened as 1.5-point favorites, but have been bet all the way up to -3.5 (-115) at the MGM. Rood said Sunday night that he had taken less than $500 in bets on the underdog Ravens. One hundred times more money had been bet on the Browns, he added.
“It’ll easily be the biggest Monday night decision of the year,” Rood said. “It’s just a huge, huge decision.”
CG Technology was in a similar position and reported taking a six-figure bet on the Browns on Sunday morning. “We have a ton of money on Cleveland,” Simbal said Sunday night. “In fact, 99.3 percent of the money is on Cleveland so far.”
Bears save Thanksgiving
When Hugh Citron, oddsmaker at the Stratosphere, arrived for his Thanksgiving evening shift, he found himself staring at possibly the worst NFL day of the season for the book. The Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions were popular bets at the Stratosphere and created some significant parlay liability on the night game. If the Green Bay Packers covered the spread in a high-scoring game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday would have been the worst NFL day of the season.
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“I felt like a closer coming with the bases loaded,” Citron joked.
The Packers had won and covered the spread 10 of the 11 previous meetings with the Bears, but Chicago pulled the upset, holding off Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the end zone in the final minute to secure a 17-13 win. It was a disappointing ending to Thanksgiving for one bettor at William Hill, who placed a $12,600 moneyline bet on the Packers winning straight-up at odds of -420. The bet would have paid $3,000.
More money was bet on each of the three Thanksgiving Day games than any of the Sunday games at the MGM. Caesars said the three Thanksgiving games generated more betting handle than the nine early Sunday games combined.
Overall, handle was light during an up-and-down Sunday that didn’t feature many big decisions for the books. Most books needed the New England Patriots in the night game, but at CG Technology, the bigger money was on the underdog Denver Broncos. An hour before kickoff, 79 percent of all bets were on the Patriots, but 58 percent of the money was on the underdog Broncos, who handed the Patriots their first loss, 30-24, in overtime.
[Courtesy of Westgate SuperBook]Alabama 6-5
Oklahoma 5-2
Clemson 5-1
Michigan State 8-1
Ohio State 15-1
Iowa 20-1
North Carolina 30-1
Stanford 40-1
Friday
MAC Championship Game
Northern Illinois vs. Bowling Green -9
Saturday
Conference USA Championship Game
Southern Miss vs. Western Kentucky -8
American Athletic Championship Game
Temple vs. Houston -5.5
Pac-12 Championship Game
USC vs. Stanford -3.5
SEC Championship Game
Florida vs. Alabama -16
Mountain West Championship Game
Air Force vs. San Diego State -3.5
ACC Championship Game
North Carolina vs. Clemson -6
Big Ten Championship Game
Michigan State -3.5 vs. Iowa
–Alabama is No. 1 in SuperBook head football oddsmaker Ed Salmons’ power rankings, followed by Oklahoma, followed closely by Ohio State and Clemson. Salmons said he’d make Alabama a “4- or 4.5-point” favorite over Oklahoma on a neutral field.
–Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather capitalized on Tyson Fury’s upset of heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. As first reported by Fighthype.com, Mayweather bet $4,800 on Fury at +375 and won $22,800. Fury won a unanimous decision.
–A punter at Australian sportsbook TAB took a risky $8,000 stab on the Sacramento Kings to beat the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at +1,500 odds. The Warriors won 120-101.
–LeBron James’ game-winning, running hook shot against the Brooklyn Nets completed an $800, eight-team parlay for one bettor that paid $26,000 at CG Technology.