LAS VEGAS — Week 9 of the college football season is here, and we've got some high-profile games on the East Coast, in the Midwest and on the West Coast drawing plenty of interest at the sportsbooks in Las Vegas.
But before we dive in, a quick update on everyone's favorite Vegas character …
Duffel Bag Boy
Last week saw Duffel Bag Boy, this football season's most infamous big bettor in Vegas, cash tickets worth more than $540,000. That pushed his bankroll over the last two weeks north of $2 million.
The big wins came on a pair of $100,000 straight bets on UCF at two Vegas locations. He also hit a $30,000 three-team parlay on UCF, Iowa and Buffalo to net him a total of $360,000.
Even though Duffel Bag Boy's favorite team to fade, Rutgers, is on a bye this weekend he's not sitting on the sidelines. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The deep-pocketed player has placed a few huge bets at the Westgate SuperBook and William Hill.
According to John Murray, director of the Westgate SuperBook, Duffel Bag Boy bet $30,000 on Purdue (+1) against Michigan State and played the Boilermakers in a two-team parlay with Clemson (-17) against Florida State. He also played a three-team parlay with Purdue, Clemson and Houston (-8.5) against South Florida.
He also played a similar card at William Hill.
Florida-Georgia (-6.5/7) | Over/Under: 52
"The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" may have lost some of its luster in recent seasons, but it has gotten some back for this season. Both Georgia and Florida are still hoping to win the SEC East and bets are coming in on both sides.
"This is my favorite game of the week because it's a big two-way action game, which we love," said Jason Simbal, sportsbook director for CG Technologies. "It's interesting — the bettors are laying -6.5 with Georgia or taking +7 with Florida. If we move the line to 6.5 we'll take a big Georgia bet, when we moved the line to +7 we'd get a big Florida bet.
"This leaves us in a pretty good spot as long as the game doesn't fall at 7. My gut tells me that even though the money is coming in on both sides, the game is more likely to close at -6.5 than -7."
At the Westgate SuperBook, however, they are writing more tickets for Florida.
"There’s been some real sharp money on Florida +7 in that game and the line is down to 6.5," Murray explained. "Florida has an elite defense but Georgia is loaded on both sides of the ball. That game should decide the SEC East which will naturally grab the public's attention."
At William Hill, this game is getting a lot of two-way action. At the time of writing, Florida is getting 53% of the money bet and Georgia is getting 56% of the tickets written. A virtual split.
Texas (-3) at Oklahoma State | Over/Under: 62
The Longhorns have finally emerged from the doldrums of mediocrity and are now seem to be a legitimate threat in the Big 12.
This game seems to be getting a lot of attention around town.
"Texas hasn't had a great record against the spread recently even though they're winning some big games," Simbal explained. "But the public is still backing them on the road here. The line originally was at -3 but it's moved a little bit here to -3 -115 but it's toggled back and forth.
"People don't seem to be taking the +3 -105 on Oklahoma State so I expect that we will eventually move the number and reach -3.5 by kickoff. So if you like the home dog, I'd wait this one out, if you like Texas I'd jump on board quickly," he added.
The Westgate is also seeing a majority of the action on Texas but did have some professional money come in on the Cowboys.
"We've already taken some action on Texas," Derek Wilkinson, a supervisor at the SuperBook said. "We did have one pretty sharp bettor take OK State with the points, but I like the other side. I also think we’ll be at -3.5 by Saturday."
Murray echoed that sentiment and added that the book will have pretty big liability on Texas. "It should be a heavily bet game and I expect to need Oklahoma State pretty big by kickoff Saturday night," he noted.
Iowa-Penn State (-6.5) | Over/Under: 51.5
Iowa has failed to cover in its last five games against Penn State but surprisingly is still getting some attention in Vegas.
"When I first looked at this game (Thursday) morning, it looked like we were getting solid Penn State money," Simbal said. "The line opened here at -5.5 and the bettors seemed happy laying 5.5 and then 6. The line eventually went to -7 and a couple of mid-size players jumped in on Iowa at +7 dropping the line back to -6.5 so I figured this was probably the right number."
Things changed at CG's books later in the day as some sharp bettors came down on the underdog.
"Two of our bigger players hit us on limit bets on the Iowa +195 and at -6.5," Simbal explained.
The Westgate also saw this game go from -4.5 to -6.5 before some buyback on Iowa at +6.5
Oregon (-9.5) at Arizona | Over/Under: 65
Oregon still has its eye on the Pac-12 title, so you'd expect bettors to be leaning toward the Ducks.
"Oregon could be the bail-out side the public loads up out of the late games," Murray said. "They’re another road favorite which the public loves. I realize they’re coming off a high-profile loss last week at Washington State, but nobody wants to back Arizona right now. Considering the coaching decisions I’ve seen Kevin Sumlin make in recent weeks, I’d be in no rush to back him, either."
CG Technologies saw one-way traffic on Oregon in the beginning of the week but since then had to adjust its number due to a couple of big bets on Arizona.
"We dropped the number to -8.5 after taking two sizable limit bets on the Wildcats," Simbal said. "One at +9.5 and the other at +9. Now, you can maybe read into what that says about the possible quarterback injury issue Arizona has. Or it could just be an anti-Oregon play, I honestly don't know. Even though Washington State beat Oregon last week, it was a solid effort from the Ducks."
