Bad beats.
It doesn’t take long to forget miracle hits, but those bad beats?
They sting for quite a while.
Week 1 of the college football season reminded us of just how crushing they can be with several notable ones costing the public dearly.
Sam Houston State vs. Rice: Over 48.5
The public loved the over in this one as 87% of bets and a whopping 99% of the money backed it. So, there was a lot of celebrating going on when a Sam Houston field goal gave the Bearkats a 34-14 lead with 3:43 left in the game.
So, what happened?
Naturally, not a single point was scored the rest of the way as the total finished at exactly 48 points, heartbreakingly crushing the public. The cherry on top was a missed Sam Houston chip shot from 28 yards out with 1:37 left in the game.
Boise State vs. Georgia Southern: Boise State -13
The Broncos led 28-9 in the final seconds of the second half and looked primed for a blowout win before Georgia Southern found the end zone 18 seconds before halftime. The Eagles outscored Boise State 27-7 after that before the Broncos took control following a 75-yard Ashton Jeanty touchdown run. The TD sparked Boise State as the Broncos scored 20 straight for a 19-point lead.
Following that, a meaningless Jalen White touchdown run and two-point conversion for Georgia Southern with 2:04 left is what happened for a painful backdoor cover. Once again the public ended up on the wrong side of the result as 63% of tickets and 65% of the money backed the Broncos.
Indiana vs. Florida International: Indiana -18.5
Indiana led by 17 with just over a minute to go. FIU had no timeouts left. Surely the Hoosiers would just take a knee and run out the clock, right? Wrong! Instead, they handed it off on 2nd-and-23 and bettors watched as Elijah Green scampered 51 yards into the end zone.
The public was on FIU to cover with 60% of all tickets on the Panthers. The silver lining, though, is that it wasn’t a total wipeout as 70% of the money backed the Hoosiers.
