Three formerly unbeaten schools suffered their first losses of the season last week in college football, with the Clemson Tigers, Washington State Cougars and Washington Huskies all going down in significant upsets.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Meanwhile, the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide continue to roll, as they are 35-point home favorites against the stumbling Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday in what appears to be another lopsided SEC game.
The Crimson Tide are the unanimous top team in the country right now, and justifiably so. The defending national champion Tigers looked like they were nearly as good as last year until they fell to the Syracuse Orange last Friday night as 23.5-point road chalk.
Alabama is an overwhelming favorite to win the national championship following that loss and without any legitimate challenger until the Iron Bowl on November 25.
As bad as the Volunteers have played lately, sportsbooks will be counting on them to cover the extra-large number in Tuscaloosa, something they have done only once this year. Tennessee has dropped three of four straight up and owns a 1-5 mark against the spread with head coach Butch Jones likely on his way out sooner rather than later.
Taking Clemson’s place at No. 2 nationally are the Penn State Nittany Lions, who will be severely tested in their next two games. The Nittany Lions host the 19th-ranked Michigan Wolverines this Saturday and then visit the sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
Penn State is coming off a bye week and is listed as a 10-point home favorite versus a Michigan team that has not performed well over the previous two weeks.
The Wolverines needed overtime to beat the Indiana Hoosiers last Saturday and lost to the Michigan State Spartans at home prior to that. The visitor is 1-4 ATS in the past five meetings of this series, with the Nittany Lions also 13-1-1 ATS in their last 15.
Two other monster favorites ranked in the Top 5 are the TCU Horned Frogs and the Wisconsin Badgers. The fourth-ranked Horned Frogs are 37.5-point home chalk against the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday night while the fifth-ranked Badgers are 24-point favorites hosting the Maryland Terrapins earlier in the day.
Books will probably need the Jayhawks and Terrapins to cover with bettors expected to back the more public teams.
