Editor's note: On Wednesday, the South Point sportsbook in Las Vegas posted moneyline odds for Saturday's Ohio State-Rutgers game. They made Rutgers a 2000-1 underdog. It didn't long for one bettor to bet on Rutgers, wagering $5 to win $10,000.
Ohio State is good and Rutgers is bad. I'm not breaking any news here. But just how different the extremes are according to the betting market is staggering.
Circa Sports in Nevada is the first sportsbook across the betting market to post odds for the college football Week 12 matchup between Ohio State and Rutgers, and boy these odds are a doozy.
The Buckeyes opened as a staggering 50.5-point favorites against the Scarlet Knights at Circa Sportsbook in Las Vegas. According to our Bet Labs data, just 53 college football teams have closed as favorites of more than 50 points since the 2005 season.
In fact, we have yet to track a road favorite of more than 50 points since 2005, as well. The largest road favorite in our database was Baylor, which closed -46 against Kansas on Oct. 10, 2015.
The KillerSports database has two larger spreads — Oklahoma -57.5 at Kansas State in 1987, and Oklahoma -54 at Kansas the same year.
These massive point spreads haven't been great bets historically either, posting a 20-32-1 (38.5%) against-the-spread (ATS) record since 2005.
But it's not just the Ohio State vs. Rutgers spread that's eye-catching. This over/under is 56, showing just how little faith oddsmakers have in the Scarlet Knights, and especially their offense.
Both Ohio State and the over have taken action at Circa Sportsbook since opening. The Buckeyes are now 52.5-point favorites with the over/under at 58.5.
Circa bookmaker Matt Lindeman told The Action Network's Darren Rovell, "We took Ohio State money early. I think I heard [fellow Circa bookmaker Matt] Metcalf say wow when the first bet game in on -50.5. We took another bet at -52 then saw some buyback at +54 and +53.
"We took one over bet and Metcalf decided to bump the total like 3.5 points."
Be sure to download The Action Network's free mobile app to track real-time betting odds and percentages for every college football Week 12 matchup, including Ohio State vs. Rutgers.
