Phoenix Suns
NCAAF Week 8: Winners and losers on the Field and in the Wagering World
The eighth week of the college football season saw plenty of intriguing NCAAF betting lines and results. There were controversial calls that wound up impacting Vegas betting odds as well some dazzling plays and stunning finishes.
Losers: Let’s get the ugly out of the way and we don’t mean Michigan crushing Michigan State. The Big Ten schools have done themselves ugly this year between alleged sign-stealing, a coaching scandal and the Spartans using an unfathomable image for a trivia question before being clobbered.
Losers: Speaking of the Big Ten, if you had the Iowa Hawkeyes and gave 3.5 points to Minnesota, you had to be thrilled with the apparent punt return for a touchdown that would have made it 17-12 if there had been a successful PAT.
Only problem was the zebras thought they saw Cooper DeJean make a fair catch signal and that led to a penalty nullifying the TD. Either way, Hawkeyes fans were broiled. The historic low under of around 30 was safe either way.
Winner: Speaking of low-scoring games, Nevada won for the first time in 2023. The Wolf Pack downed San Diego State, 6-0. That leaves Sam Houston State as the lone winless team in the country..SHSU suffered a double-overtime loss.
Winner/Loser: Washington (+1200 to win national championship) avoided a bad loss and didn’t come close to covering against a one-win Arizona State team. The Huskies were home and needed an 89-yard pick-six to down the Sun Devils.
The result didn’t help the Huskies in the national championship picture and it put a dent in Michael Penix Jr.’s bid to remain the favorite in Heisman Trophy odds. Penix did not throw a TD pass and was responsible for three turnovers, two picks and a lost foumble.
Losers: The officials had a role in two other games. Pittsburgh appeared to make a game-icing first down on a run by quarterback Christian Veilleux. Watch the video. The QB clearly slides after he has enough yardage for a first down.
60 minute football games are never decided on just one play, but that is the most egregious bad spot/non replayed call that prevented Pitt from being able to kneel it out. https://t.co/6sNW8q2DBJ
— Steve M (@SteelCurlin) October 21, 2023
That would have set the Panthers up for a kneel-down to win the game. Instead, the officials said he started his slide before the line to gain, Wake got the ball back and won on a TD pass by a third-string QB.
More losers: Houston got bad spots in its game against Texas and those who had the Cougars on the money line never had a chance to see if they could pull off a game-winning drive after falling behind 21-0.
Not sure what there are booth reviews for if these calls continue to go awry.
The biggest loser: Tennessee fans were chirping big time as they had a 20-7 lead at the half against Alabama. The Vols were getting 9 points in Tuscaloosa and their backers had to being living large at the break with a “29-7” lead with that nine-point cushion.
Okay, so the Tide ran off 20 straight points and then led 27-20 but the Vols had the ball and a chance to tie until … Joe Milton dropped the football and Jihaad Campbell picked it up and rumbled 24 yards for a score. The PAT made it 34-20 and in addition to the insult of losing to Alabama, Tennessee backers had to try and digest a brutal ATS beat.
