The college football betting market is taking shape in Las Vegas.
Season win totals and conference championship odds are up at sports book operator CG Technologies. The Golden Nugget posted point spreads on 200 games last weekend. And national championship futures odds have been on the move since January at the LVH, MGM and Wynn.
Combined, they paint the picture of how Vegas anticipates the season playing out. In the first of a 10-part series – 100 Things College Football Bettors Should Know – gearing up for kickoff of the 2014 season, we examine the current betting market and how it got to this point.
Here are three of the first 10 things to know:
- Defending champion Florida State is the consensus favorite, but there hasn’t been a ton of betting support for the Seminoles. They are in the middle of pack in terms of number of bets and total money wagered in the LVH’s national title futures book. At the Wynn, Florida State has fallen back to co-favorite status with Alabama at 4-to-1. The Seminoles’ championship odds also have backed up at the LVH, going from 5-to-2 to 9-to-2; at William Hill, from 3-to-1 to 4-to-1; and at the MGM, from 7-to-2 to 5-to-1.
Florida State returns 12 NFL prospects, including projected No 1 overall pick, quarterback Jameis Winston. In addition to Winston, six other Seminoles are ranked in the top five at their position by NFLDraftScout.com.
Winston spearheaded an offense that helped produce an 11-3 record against the spread. Ten of the Seminoles’ 14 games last season went OVER the total last, averaging 63.8 points.
Oregon is receiving lots of respect from oddsmakers. The Golden Nugget’s Aaron Kessler says he’d have the Ducks favored over every other team. Chris Andrews, a 30-year veteran Nevada oddsmaker now with AgainsttheNumber.com, has Oregon at No. 2 in his power rankings, behind only Florida State.
Auburn is getting plenty of respect from bettors at multiple books. One year after beginning the season at 1,000-to-1 to win the national title, the Tigers have attracted more money than any other team at the LVH. Their odds have been slashed from 20-to-1 to 12-to-1.
At the Wynn, executive director John Avello says Auburn is among a group of four teams that has drawn the most money in his national championship futures book. The Tigers have gone from 40-to-1 to 15-to-1 at the Wynn.
Auburn returns 13 starters, including promising quarterback Nick Marshall from last season’s upstart squad that went 12-2 against the spread. Coach Gus Malzahn enters his third season as a head coach with a 20-6 ATS record, the best of any active coach.
For the next seven things to know, jump over to The Linemakers on Sporting News.
Editor’s note: We will be dialing back the frequency of our newsletter during the summer months. We’ll still be delivering it multiple times a week, and we’ll resume our Monday through Friday schedule as we get closer to football season.
