After a few weeks of the favorites dominating, the past weekend was all about the underdogs in both the NFL and college football.
On Saturday, several top college teams were upset. And on Sunday, underdogs went 10-3 against the spread, including several outright wins, according to data from the BetMGM Sportsbook.
Trends of the Week
The Missouri-Oklahoma game saw 28 points scored in the final 3 minutes, 18 seconds. The game was tied 16-16 and finished with Missouri winning 30-23. The back-and-forth ending not only saw bettors sweat out the spread, which was Oklahoma favored by three points, but also the over/under. Going into the fourth quarter there were only 19 points scored, but with 34 points scored in the final 15 minutes, the game cleared the over of 42.5 points.
The three most bet college teams in terms of tickets all failed to cover the spread — Georgia (-2) at Mississippi, LSU (+3) against Alabama, and Indiana (-14.5) against Michigan. Georgia and LSU lost straight up, while Indiana won but failed to cover the spread.
Two of the three most bet NFL teams in terms of money did not cover the spread — the Detroit Lions (-4) at the Houston Texans, the San Francisco 49ers (-6.5) at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills (-4) at the Indianapolis Colts. While all three teams won straight up, Buffalo was the only team to cover the spread. Eighty-nine percent of the money was on the 49ers to cover, and 86% of the money was on the Lions to cover.
Upsets of the Week
The New England Patriots beat the Chicago Bears 19-3 when they entered the game six-point underdogs. Other upsets were the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York Jets as 2.5-point underdogs and the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Washington Commanders, also as 2.5-point underdogs. Seventy-one percent of the money was on the Bears to cover the spread.
In college, then-No. 4 Miami fell to Georgia Tech 28-23. Miami was a 10.5-point favorite and drew 56% of the bets and 47% of the money. Then-No. 3 Georgia was a 2-point favorite in their 28-10 loss to Ole Miss. They took in 80% of the bets and 79% of the money in against the spread betting.
Coming up
The college football national championship odds changed a bit after the weekend.
No. 2 Ohio State is now +300 to win the national championship after entering the weekend at +350. They are slightly ahead of No. 1 Oregon (+350) for the best odds to win.
Meanwhile, No. 3 Texas has the third-best odds at +450.
Ole Miss was the biggest climber following their win over Georgia, going from +3500 to +1000.
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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.
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