Sports books take hit in openers
A memorable opening weekend of college football is in the books, and it’s one Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and several Las Vegas sports book directors want to forget for different reasons.
Carr is sitting on a hot seat after Appalachian State pulled off a historic upset by dumping the Wolverines 34-32 on Saturday.
Sports book directors, such as the Las Vegas Hilton’s Jay Kornegay and MGM Mirage’s Robert Walker, also were counting their losses after the betting public won a lopsided decision.
“I can’t remember a worse college football Saturday,” Walker said. “Nobody wants to lose, period. But the first day, to get hammered like that, it was a tough way to start the season.
“We had some happy customers, though.”
The books were crowded with tourists on Labor Day weekend, and most tourists prefer to play the favorites. So with favorites posting a 30-16-1 record, it was as if a perfect storm formed.
The biggest decision of the day for the books, according to Walker and Kornegay, was on California’s 45-31 victory over Tennessee. Bettors jumped all over the Golden Bears, who closed as 7-point favorites after the line opened at 4 1/2.
Cal’s DeSean Jackson produced a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown that landed on every highlight reel and helped bury the sports books.
The day started innocently enough, with Virginia Tech failing to cover in a victory over East Carolina. The public, which backed the Hokies, rebounded from that loss.
“After that, the players had the best of the books for the next 11 or 12 games, and most of those were public teams,” Kornegay said.
Arizona State, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA and West Virginia all covered as popular favorites.
Top-ranked Southern California, which closed a 49-point home favorite in a 38-10 victory over Idaho, blew up some parlays.
“If USC would have covered that game against Idaho, it might have been the worst Saturday ever,” Kornegay said.
The Hilton opened then-No. 5 Michigan as a 28 1/2-point home favorite, and the line closed at 31 1/2. Most books don’t post lines on games involving Division I-AA teams (now classified as the Football Championship Subdivision), but the Hilton put Appalachian State-Michigan on the “Extra Added Games” board with a $1,000 limit.
Kornegay said Michigan drew minimal action.
It was the biggest pointspread upset since 1985, when Texas-El Paso beat Brigham Young 23-16 as a 36-point home underdog.
“In terms of numbers, the UTEP upset was the biggest. But in terms of significance, the Appalachian State upset was bigger,” said handicapper Andy Iskoe (thelogicalapproach.com).
Iskoe said his pure power ratings favored the Wolverines by 13 points. His adjusted line, taking into account the difference in conference and class, would have been about 20.
Another underdog that delivered Saturday was Georgia Tech, which whipped Notre Dame, 33-3. The Irish opened as 3 1/2-point favorites, and the line closed at 1.
“A lot of the big favorites covered, and the one ‘dog they pounded was Georgia Tech,” Walker said.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis announced Tuesday that freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen will start this week against Penn State, which is a 17-point home favorite.
“That’s a lot of points. There is no way you could have ever imagined that two years ago,” Walker said. “If it wasn’t for Michigan, the only thing you would be hearing about is how bad Notre Dame looked.”
