The Review-Journal’s Todd Dewey will track the biggest betting storylines every Saturday of the college football season.
Colorado lost its second straight game Saturday after a 3-0 start under coach Deion Sanders that captivated the world of college football.
But the Buffaloes, 22½-point home underdogs to Southern California, rallied for a cover in a 48-41 loss to the Trojans that sailed over the total of 73.
Station Casinos sportsbooks won on the game as many bettors jumped off the Buffs’ bandwagon after last week’s 42-6 blowout loss at Oregon and backed USC. Colorado also was without two key injured players in two-way star Travis Hunter and safety Shilo Sanders.
“We were clearly Colorado and under fans,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “It was pretty apparent early in the second half the under wasn’t going to get there. We were really hoping somehow Colorado could get the backdoor cover, and they did.”
The Buffaloes scored the final 20 points of the game, making it a one-score contest with 1:43 remaining on Shedeur Sanders’ 16-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Horn Jr. USC recovered the onside-kick attempt, and quarterback Caleb Williams, who threw for 403 yards and tied a career high with six TD passes, kneeled three times to close out the win.
Colorado trailed 34-7 late in the first half and 48-21 late in the third quarter before storming back. Sanders threw a 9-yard TD pass to Omarion Miller on fourth-and-5 with 11:55 left to make it 48-34.
The over cashed for the fourth time in five USC games.
“USC’s defense wasn’t nearly as good as the defense Colorado faced the week before with Oregon,” Esposito said. “Southern Cal got exposed a little bit (in last week’s 42-28 win) at Arizona State.”
Bad beat
Northwestern bettors suffered a bad beat in a 41-13 loss to Penn State as 27-point underdogs. The Wildcats were covering the entire game until Nittany Lions backup quarterback Beau Pribula threw a 30-yard TD pass to Trey Potts with 2:20 left to play after faking a kneeldown.
Penn State scored two TDs in the final 4:07. One play after Northwestern quarterback Brendan Sullivan threw an interception with 2:26 left, Pribula threw the TD pass.
“Northwestern was bad for us and kind of a bad beat for anybody that had Northwestern,” Esposito said. “Penn State could’ve run out the clock but elected to throw late. It looked like the quarterback was going to take a knee and then he throws it over the middle.”
A bettor at DraftKings, which doesn’t operate in Nevada, wagered $38,000 to win $950 on Penn State on the money line (-4,000). The bettor had to sweat a bit early on as Northwestern led 10-3 in the second quarter and the game was tied 10-10 at halftime.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at [email protected]. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
