Steam moves on Notre Dame sends opening line soaring over Temple
Notre Dame’s 2016 football season was a disaster. Ranked in the top 10 in the preseason, the Fighting Irish finished 4-8.
Eighth-year coach Brian Kelly will be fighting to keep his job in 2017, when the Irish break in a new quarterback in Brandon Wimbush, a new offensive coordinator in Chip Long and new defensive coordinator in Mike Elko.
Despite the question marks, bettors already are all over Notre Dame in its Sept. 2 home opener against Temple in South Bend, Ind. Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller posted lines on the opening week of college football games in early April and the Irish-Owls matchup has been his biggest mover by far.
“Notre Dame opened as a 6-point favorite and is up to 15,” he said. “We got steamed on Notre Dame, so obviously we were off on that number.”
The second-largest move was on Michigan-Florida. The Wolverines are 7-point favorites over the Gators after the line opened at 3 for their Sept. 2 neutral-site game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Miller said there’s been good two-way action on Alabama-Florida State. The Crimson Tide are 5½-point favorites over the Seminoles for their Sept. 2 game at Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Raiders-Titans total tumbles
While there have already been major line moves in college football, there have been only minor ones on the NFL’s Week 1 regular-season games since Las Vegas sports books posted point spreads Thursday night following the release of the 2017 schedule.
The biggest move was on the total on the Raiders-Titans game. The highest number on the board, the total is at 52 after opening at 53½.
The Falcons are 6½-point road favorites over the Bears after the line opened at 5½, the Patriots are 7½-point favorites over the Chiefs after opening at 7, the Packers are 3-point favorites over the Seahawks after opening at 2½ and the Broncos are 4-point favorites over the Los Angeles Chargers after opening at 3½.
Blazers extend playoff trend
NBA home teams trailing 2-0 in a series are 10-0 against the spread in the first quarter and first half of Game 3 this year. The Trail Blazers were the most recent team to cash the trend, which is 12-0 going back to Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Portland led Golden State 37-30 after one quarter and 67-54 at halftime en route to a 119-113 loss.
Many bettors who backed the Warriors in the game won. Golden State closed as a 5-point favorite and the line also sat at 5½, 6 and 6½.
In-progress long shot pays off
When the Cavaliers trailed the Pacers by 18 points in the first half of Thursday’s Game 3, Cleveland was a 25-1 long shot to win the game in in-progress wagering at William Hill sports books. A bettor at Ellis Island placed a $55 wager on the Cavaliers to win $1375 and cashed the ticket when Cleveland erased a 25-point halftime deficit en route to a 119-114 win.
NFL Draft party
Sunset Station will host its fourth annual Draft Day party starting at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Club Madrid. Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito and Las Vegas radio host Brian Blessing will host the event, which is free and open to the public and will feature giveaways. This is the first year that sports books are allowed to accept wagers on the NFL Draft.
Follow all of our sports betting coverage online at reviewjournal.com/betting and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
