It’s a little sad that college football championship weekend is here, as it means we won’t have another Saturday of wall-to-wall CFB games until next August. But fear not, there are plenty of great games to watch this weekend, starting on Friday.
And in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, many of them have a huge impact on the teams that will make the postseason bracket. The game that stood out to me immediately was Oregon being only a 3.5-point favorite against Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game. As I’m wont to do, I asked an oddsmaker to explain.
“I made the game Oregon -3 and it seemed low to me, but I asked a friend in Vegas and he said he made it closer to -1.5,” Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in Atlantic City, told me. “We can’t open Penn State much higher because we have too many alumni and fans and we’d have an avalanche of Penn State money. It’s been good two-way action on the game at -3.5. Definitely the most-heavily bet game of the weekend.”
Gable also told me that UNLV-Boise State had been getting a lot of action and early UNLV money on UNLV +4.5, which brought the line down to 4, along with respected money on the Under 59.5 to bring the total down to 58.5.
I’ll have much more info from bookmakers and best bets in my full college football report later this week, but I’ve gathered 20 best bets on the weekend’s CFB games from respected handicappers that you may want to look at early in the week before the odds move.
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Week 15 college football public betting info
DraftKings
BetMGM
Most bet games (tickets)
- Penn State-Oregon
- Georgia-Texas
- Iowa State-Arizona State
Most bet teams (tickets)
- Oregon -3.5
- Texas -2.5
- Arizona State -2.5
Most bet teams (handle)
- Oregon -3.5
- Texas -2.5
- Arizona State -2.5
Most bet Overs (tickets)
- Georgia-Texas 49.5
- Western Kentucky-Jacksonville State 57.5
- Clemson-SMU 56.5
Most bet Unders (tickets)
- Tulane-Army 46.5
- Marshall-Lafayette 56.5
- Ohio-Miami OH 44.5
Most bet underdogs to win (tickets)
- Georgia +120
- Iowa State +110
- Clemson +115
BetRivers
Most wagered-on plays by largest % of CFB handle:
1. Oregon -3 vs. Penn State — 14.0%
2. Oregon ML vs. Penn State — 7.8%
3. SMU ML vs. Clemson — 5.0%
4. Boise State -4 vs. UNLV — 4.9%
5. SMU -2.5 vs. Clemson — 4.3%
Most popular plays by largest % of CFB tickets:
1. Oregon ML vs. Penn State — 9.3%
2. Arizona State ML vs. Iowa State — 7.2%
3. Oregon -3 vs. Penn State — 6.3%
4. Boise State ML vs. UNLV — 5.3%
5. Texas ML vs. Georgia -- 4.9%
Strongest spread plays by largest % of game spread handle:
1. Louisiana -6 vs. Marshall — 86.6%
2. Oregon -3 vs. Penn State — 79.6%
3. Miami OH -3 vs. Ohio — 73.3%
4. Tulane -5 vs. Army — 71.8%
5. Texas -3 vs. Georgia — 70.6%
Strongest spread plays by largest % of game spread tickets:
1. Arizona State -2 vs. Iowa State — 82.8%
2. Oregon -3 vs. Penn State — 80.4%
3. SMU -2.5 vs. Clemson — 75.2%
4. Marshall +6 vs. Louisiana — 68.3%
5. Jacksonville State -3.5 vs. WKU -- 66.9%
Photo by Alexey Elfimov on Unsplash
Early Week 15 college football best bets
Friday’s games
Western Kentucky-Jacksonville State UNDER 58 — Adam Burke, VSiN
Western Kentucky +4 — Pam Maldonado, ESPN BET
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Tulane -5.5 — Will Hill, VSiN
Tulane -4.5 — Wes Reynolds, VSiN