By @Vegas_Matty
Let the Week 2 College Football overreactions begin!
The 4th ranked USC Trojans needed to outscore upset-minded Western Michigan 28-10 in the fourth quarter Saturday to pull away for a 49-31 victory (failing short as 28 point chalk). The week prior their upcoming opponent, Stanford, blasted Rice 62-7 in a game played down in Australia.
The 2nd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes endured a similar early struggle Week 1 against Indiana trailing 14-13 at halftime – before outscoring the Hoosiers 36-7 in the second half en route to a 49-21 win. Ohio State now hosts the seventh-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in what many are calling the biggest game of Week 2. The Sooners destroyed UTEP 56-7 on Saturday with Heisman Trophy hopeful Baker Mayfield compiling a gaudy stat line; 19-20 passing for 329 yards and three touchdowns despite resting the entire second half.
Given those four very different results we’ve seen wild volatility with early line movement in this weekend’s biggest games. USC opened as a 10.5-point chalk with early Stanford money pushing that number as low as -4, before settling in at -6.5; is it time to panic in Troy? Hard to say, although Heisman favorite Sam Darnold looked pedestrian in his debut throwing for less than 300 yards with no touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Bettors do not seem to be nearly as concerned about Ohio State considering the Buckeyes opened -6.5 before ballooning out to -9. The market couldn’t hold that price and ultimately the number for the much-anticipated showdown with Oklahoma settled in at Ohio St -7.5. We’ll get a much better indication of where all four of these national title contenders are headed after this upcoming weekend.
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Other lines of note:
UNLV lost to Howard over the weekend as 45-point home favorites making it the largest outright upset in college football history on record. The Rebels will look to rebound as 9 point underdogs in their trip to Moscow, Idaho to take on the Vandals.
Everything is bigger in Texas … including the upsets. Both Baylor and Texas lost outright as massive favorites; UT as 19-point chalk to Maryland and Baylor as 35-point favorites to FCS member Liberty. They’ll both be back in the big favorite role this week with Baylor laying 16.5 versus UT San Antonio and the Longhorns -28 against San Jose State.
Here’s the complete list of games for the 2nd weekend of college football at BetOnline.AG:
Purdue (-4) vs Ohio
Oklahoma St (-26.5) @ South Alabama
Wisconsin (-31) vs Florida Atlantic
Army (-16.5) vs Buffalo
Northwestern (-3) @ Duke
South Florida (-17.5) @ Connecticut
Michigan (-33) vs Cincinnati
Louisville (-8) @ North Carolina
Kansas St (-36) vs Charlotte
Iowa (-2.5) @ Iowa St
Boston College (-2) vs Wake Forest
Colorado (-36.5) vs Texas St
Ball St (-12.5) vs UAB
Michigan St (-7) vs Western Michigan
Rutgers (-4) vs Eastern Michigan
Syracuse (-7.5) vs Middle Tennessee
Indiana (-2.5) @ Virginia
Penn State (-20) vs Pittsburgh
Alabama (-42.5) vs Fresno St
Navy (-13) vs Tulane
Miami Florida (-14) @ Arkansas St
Texas (-28) vs San Jose St
TCU (-2.5) @ Arkansas
Kansas (-3.5) vs Central Michigan
Tulsa (-15.5) vs UL Lafayette
Oregon (-12.5) vs Nebraska
NC State (-24) vs Marshall
Toledo (-9) @ Nevada
Florida St (-31.5) vs UL Monroe
Missouri (-2.5) vs South Carolina
SMU (-12.5) vs North Texas
Clemson (-6) vs Auburn
Notre Dame (-6.5) vs Georgia
Idaho (-9) vs UNLV
Mississippi St (-7) @ Louisiana Tech
Ohio St (-7.5) vs Oklahoma
New Mexico (-8.5) vs New Mexico St
Rice (-1.5) @ UTEP
Western KY (-8) @ Illinois
Baylor (-16.5) vs UTSA
UCF (-2) vs Memphis
USC (-6.5) vs Stanford
Oregon St (-1) vs Minnesota
BYU (-1.5) vs Utah
Houston (-1) @ Arizona
Washington St (-9) vs Boise St
Arizona St (-3) vs San Diego St
