Posted on 10/9/2007 5:44:28 PM

NCAA Football Betting: Week 6 Re-cap

By D.S. Williamson

Not much changed from two weekend’s ago to this past weekend in the sense that another top contender for the national championship was permanently placed on a life raft and sent out to drift for a very, very long time.

USC’s loss to the worse team in the Pac-10 conference, Stanford, might go down as the greatest upset in college football history. Why? Because the Trojan’s were favored by 41.5 points against the spread. College football bettors could give two shakes about whether or not a team is from Division I-A or Division I-AA. All us college football bettors care about is the spread and how you do against it. In that sense, this is way more unbelievable than Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State earlier this year.

I can’t remember another upset quite like this one. For a college football bettor, this is tantamount to King Kong losing a fight against a lemur. I mean, that’s how crazy it is.

And, it won’t get any easier for the Trojans. Since I live in Los Angeles, I got a chance to hear the responses from their players regarding their incredibly fruitless game versus the Cardinal. Most of them didn’t appear too shaken about it - - they sort of sounded like the fella who pulls up to the club in his BMW with the hot blonde in the car feeling like he will make it to the big dance even though he’s got no change in his pockets. Wait a second, tough guy!

Oregon, Cal, and ASU are all still on the Trojan’s schedule. How many losses will this team really end up with? Hard to tell, but don’t even think about placing another wager on them if you have to give up more than a touchdown. A heartless team will kill you a lot quicker than a team with guts.

Which brings me to the real winner of this past weekend - - Les Miles. Suddenly, all of that talk about the Pac-10 might be true. What did Miles’s LSU Tigers do over the weekend? Well, they didn’t cover, but I can forgive them. Giving up 9 points to an Urban Meyer coached team is like turning King Kong into that pesky lemur. LSU had no chance of covering that spread.

Why? Because in all honesty they just aren’t as good as Florida. Florida has better quarterbacking, smarter play-calling, and a much faster group of special teams players. But, the Bayou Bengals have something that few if any of the top teams in college football have this year and that’s heart.

Be careful with LSU, however, as they have not covered in their last three games. They get to play the Andre Woodson led Kentucky Wildcats this weekend and there is no doubt that a ridiculous number against the spread will be placed on the Tigers in this game. Kentucky is no slouch and the Tigers may play a letdown game after their emotional win versus the Gators. Also, after Kentucky, the Bayou Bengals have to play Auburn. Auburn has suddenly found life with two exceptional victories the past two weekends.

Is it time to stop chalking up wins against Notre Dame? Earlier this season, college football bettors have absolutely feasted on the Irish but in the past two weekends Notre Dame has covered spreads like a true betting champion. First, they took it to the Purdue Boilermakers. Well, they took it to them enough and only lost by 14 points. The line in that game was Purdue -19 against the spread. Then, the Irish decided to go to Los Angeles and pull off what would have been the shocker of the weekend if USC had won. They beat the UCLA Bruins 20 to 6. The line against the spread in the game was Notre Dame +20.5.

What the heck? Don’t fret college football bettors! Notre Dame gets to play BC in their next game. Expect another butt whipping. The line should hover around 15 to 20 points. BC scores in bunches and Notre Dame left too much on the field in Pasadena in order to get up for a road game against a real college football team. They’ll get back to the early season malaise that is Notre Dame football. Cha-ching!

Teams to Watch: Both Boston College and Ohio State made their way into the top five as did South Florida.

The difference is that Ohio State is a real football team who will have to prove it as the toughest part of their schedule comes up. They play Penn State, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan in a terrifying four game stretch after they get to beat up on Kent State and Michigan State. The odds of Ohio State covering in all four of those games just aren’t very good. The Illinois game, in particular, is setting up as a juicy money-line bet. Illinois is a very good team and unlike most of the other teams in the BCS picture, they’re getting better week to week.

Boston College might fall out of the picture in the next two weeks. They won’t be favored by more than 6 points against a resurgent Virginia Tech squad in two weeks after they destroy Notre Dame. Virginia Tech is better than they were earlier this year and Boston College’s defense is putrid. The Eagle’s defense has given up 17 points to Army and 24 points to Bowling Green this year. That’s just bad. Get off the BC bandwagon in their game versus Virginia Tech but stay on this weekend as they man-handle the Irish.

South Florida had a scare versus Florida Atlantic but I expect them to get back onto the right track. The only two teams who have any chance against them are Rutgers in two weeks and Cincinnati in three weeks. They should have no problems getting up for both of those teams and, if they finish the season undefeated, have as much of a right to play in the BCS championship game as anybody. They are a difficult team to bet on, as they don’t appear to cover often, but they are also a difficult team to bet against because they have as much talent as any other team on their schedule the rest of the year. I mean, they only beat a team named Elon by 15 points earlier this year. But, I’ve got the feeling a real break out game is coming up for these guys.

Until next week, good luck!

NCAA football betting has started, and BetUS sportsbook already has tons of college football Futures betting available for those of us who can't wait. Bet on the Heisman winner, Conference and Divisional winners and, of course, the 2008 BCS National Championship winner. Bet NCAA Football Futures in our sportsbook today in the Future / props section!