College Football Game Capsules

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/02/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Terrelle Pryor threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns, as second-ranked Ohio State blew out Marshall, 45-7, in the season opener for both teams. Pryor, coming off a sophomore season in which he led the Buckeyes to an 11-2 finish, including a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon, completed 17-of-25 passes. Brandon Saine added 103 yards on the ground and two scores for Ohio State, which has won at least a share of the Big Ten title in each of the last five seasons. Brian Rolle ran back an interception for a score for the Buckeyes (1-0), who will meet nationally-ranked Miami-Florida next Saturday. Ahmed Shakoor scored on a return of a blocked field goal for Marshall (0-1), which played its first game under new head coach Doc Holliday. The Thundering Herd finished 7-6 last year, including a victory over Ohio in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Brian Anderson completed 17-of-28 passes for 135 yards for Marshall.

Final Score: (13) Miami-Florida 45, Florida A&M 0

Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Junior quarterback Jacory Harris completed 12- of-15 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, as the 13th-ranked Miami- Florida Hurricanes annihilated in-state foe Florida A&M, 45-0, in the season opener at Sun Life Stadium. Senior Leonard Hankerson caught six passes for 115 yards and a career-best two touchdowns for the Hurricanes (1-0), who are coming off a 9-4 season in 2009. Damien Berry also caught a TD pass. Lamar Miller carried the ball 11 times for 65 yards and a score for Miami, which also got a rushing touchdown from Mike James. Martin Ukpai connected on 5- of-11 passes for 58 yards and a pick for the Rattlers (0-1), who went 8-3 last year. Philip Sylvester ran for 45 yards on 15 carries.

Casinos--sportsbooks NCAA Football Betting News

<< Blue Hens expect to be more than Devlin
Newark, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - OK, now, the Delaware offense consists of quarterback Pat Devlin and, well, uh, um ... Yes, the answers don't necessarily role off the tongue. Don't be mistaken, however, UD will be much more than PD th

<< Hurricanes storm to big win in season-opener
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Junior quarterback Jacory Harris completed 12- of-15 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, as the 13th-ranked Miami- Florida Hurricanes annihilated in-state foe Florida A&M, 45-0, in the season ope

<< Red Sox edge Orioles to win series
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Ortiz drove in a pair of runs and Adrian Beltre homered as Boston used an early burst of offense to down Baltimore, 6-4, in the rubber match of a three-game set from Camden Yards.

<< Ohio State rolls over Marshall in opener
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Terrelle Pryor threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns, as second-ranked Ohio State blew out Marshall, 45-7, in the season opener for both teams. Pryor, coming off a sophomore season in which he led the B

<< Tigers' Cabrera exits with biceps tendinitis
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera left Thursday's game against Minnesota with left biceps tendinitis. Cabrera did not return to the field in the bottom of the sixth inning, and is considered day

Steelers top Panthers in preseason finale, QB questions unresolved >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dennis Dixon completed his only pass of the night for a 23-yard touchdown to Emmanuel Sanders in the second quarter the Steelers beat Carolina, 19-3, in the preseason finale for both teams. Dixon, w

Jets down Eagles in preseason finale >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Brunell's 51-yard touchdown throw to Santonio Holmes shortly into the fourth quarter put the Jets in front, and New York held on for a 21-17 victory over the Eagles in the team's final preseason game.

Dawson's last-moment FG lifts Browns over Bears >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Dawson's 36-yard field goal in the final seconds lifted Cleveland over Chicago, 13-10, in the final preseason tilt for both clubs at Browns Stadium. Colt McCoy took the majority of the snaps and finish

Rams top Ravens in preseason finale >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Thaddeus Lewis' 26-yard TD pass to Brandon McRae in the fourth quarter helped the St. Louis Rams beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-21, in the preseason finale for both clubs. Lewis completed 6

Chiefs edge Packers in preseason finale >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brodie Croyle completed 11-of-16 throws for 119 yards and Jackie Battle carried 10 times for 67 yards and a touchdown to lead Kansas City to a 17-13 win over Green Bay to conclude the preseason for both te

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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