|
The Golden Nugget recently released lines for college football's games of the year, and as always, perception is quite telling, especially this far away from the start of the season. For one, the ACC will be playing with plenty of house money during the season's opening weekend, as Louisville (+10.5 to Auburn), Virginia (+17 at UCLA) and Virginia Tech (+16 vs. Ohio State) are double-digit underdogs for their marquee nonconference matchups.  That seems to be a general theme surrounding the ACC, as its teams are underdogs in nine of the 15 nonconference games listed by the Golden Nugget, with Miami's Sept. 19 home game against Nebraska listed as pick 'em.
The ACC has one other game listed as a pick 'em: Florida State's Oct. 24 game at Georgia Tech, a rematch of the 2014 league title game. The league's biggest spread? That would be Syracuse, which is a 20-point underdog to LSU for its Sept. 26 home game against the Tigers. Some other interesting notes: The ACC's recent success against its SEC rivals has apparently had a carryover effect: The ACC is favored in three of its four games against the SEC on the season's final weekend. The only underdog, Georgia Tech, is getting one point from visiting Georgia. Notre Dame is favored in five of its eight games that have lines, an underdog in two games and a pick 'em against rival USC on Oct. 17. The Fighting Irish are favored in three of four games against ACC teams, with only Clemson (-3.5) holding favored status against the Irish in 2015. (They face off Oct. 3 in Death Valley.) There are no lines on two of the Irish's ACC games, against Boston College (at Fenway Park) and against Wake Forest. BC and Wake are two of three ACC teams with no lines available, along with Duke. Speaking of Clemson, the Tigers are favored in all six games available to bet on, including being a two-point favorite for their Nov. 7 home game against Florida State. That is the only game the Seminoles are underdogs in, although, as mentioned above, they are a pick 'em at Georgia Tech. FSU is favored in its other three listed games -- giving 14.5 points to Miami, 12 points to Louisville and four points at Florida. If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times: Virginia sure has its work cut out for it this year. The Cavaliers are underdogs in all seven of their games listed -- a list that includes three of UVA's nonconference games. In addition to being 17-point underdogs at UCLA, the Hoos are 9.5-point home underdogs to both Notre Dame and Boise State. Among ACC teams, Georgia Tech has the most games available to currently bet on, eight. The Yellow Jackets are favored in four games, underdogs in three and, as mentioned earlier, a pick 'em against FSU.
Let's take a look at a few 2014 lines from this list last summer, so we can see what an inexact science picking college football can be: Ohio State -18 vs. Virginia Tech
USC -23 at Boston College
North Carolina -10 vs. Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech -16 vs. Boston College
Miami -10 at Virginia
Georgia -14 vs. Georgia Tech
North Carolina -20 vs. NC State How'd those all work out for the favorites?
|
