Around the time the UCLA Bruins were set to host their Spring Game in early May, most Las Vegas sportsbooks thought they were a fringe bowl team. The Bruins\u2019 regular-season win total opened at O\/U 5.5, early money drove the market to O\/U 6 and some shops were out to O\/U 6.5 by August. Wise guys believed in Bob Chesney. Here we are 10 days before Halloween and the Bruins (6-0 SU, 6-0 ATS) are arguably the best betting story of the entire season. Not only have they cashed almost every Over ticket, they\u2019ve covered every single game to date. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports. “It\u2019s remarkable for a first-year head coach,” former Vegas bookmaker Ed Salmons told me. “They run the ball well and don\u2019t make mistakes. “You look at UCLA\u2019s schedule, though, the only good win is at Oregon. And I don\u2019t even know what Oregon is at this point. I watched them the other day against Nebraska and they were horrendous.” At the same, you only play who\u2019s in front of you. “I\u2019ve moved UCLA up a touchdown from the summer,” professional bettor Slice said. “I didn\u2019t do anything with the Nico [Iamaleava] injury yet. I\u2019m still not sure what it means. There\u2019s probably not that big of a drop-off there. “They are an extremely well-coached football team.” One of the weekend\u2019s biggest losers in terms of power rankings is Ohio State. Despite covering a very hostile game at Indiana over the weekend, Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin is out indefinitely with an arm injury. What\u2019s the drop-off from a Heisman finalist to freshman Luke Fahey? “I dropped Ohio State eight points, but I\u2019ll revisit it when they play their next game,” Salmons admitted. “Usually with these top-tier quarterbacks, you take seven right off the top. The backup is a true freshman, and he wasn\u2019t ready for Indiana. It was evident they weren\u2019t going to let him lose the game. “Ohio State goes from my No. 1 team to No. 8 or so without Sayin.” The Buckeyes also went from +600 to +450 to miss the College Football Playoff at a couple sportsbooks around the country. Still, their schedule isn\u2019t exactly tough, and their roster is loaded. Even without Sayin, OSU can beat Oregon, Northwestern and Michigan at home. Then, if you split with USC and Nebraska on the road, you\u2019re a Playoff team. “Here\u2019s the difference between the Big Ten and the SEC,” Salmons said. “You can make a case that the Big Ten is better up top, but once you go down the ladder, the Big Ten is trash from the middle to the bottom. Outside of Arkansas and Vanderbilt, anybody can beat anybody any week in the SEC. It\u2019s so deep.” It might be deep, but that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t flawed teams. Two weeks ago, Texas lost against unranked Oklahoma, then lost to unranked Florida. It\u2019s the first time since 1961 that an AP No. 1 team lost two games in a row against unranked opponents. That\u2019s the definition of underachieving. So what\u2019s wrong with the Longhorns? “I think they just stink,” Slice cracked. “They can\u2019t move the ball. Their average third-down distance is like third-and-9. They can\u2019t put drives together. And now Colin Simmons is out on the defensive side. He\u2019s their best pass rusher. “Don\u2019t get me started on Arch Manning, either.” Salmons has spoon-fed us a winning wager in college football five of the last six weeks. The BYU-ND Under is the only blemish over that span. What\u2019s the move, Ed? “I like South Carolina this week,” Salmons opined. “The public will think there\u2019s no way South Carolina should be favored. A team that\u2019s unranked is favored over a top-12 team. The line and the money tell you the story.” And don\u2019t look now, but if the regular season ended today, every single NFC North team would make the postseason. That has never happened since the league expanded to a 14-team playoff back in 2020. “The Packers look like the most complete team in that division,” Feazel said. “Especially with Josh Jacobs returning to the lineup and Micah Parsons potentially not far behind. Both the Bears and Lions continue to show defensive vulnerabilities and the Vikings\u2019 biggest concern is the offense. “As the season progresses, the NFC North is making a strong case as the deepest and most dominant division in the NFL.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Around the time the UCLA Bruins were set to host their Spring Game in early May, most Las Vegas sportsbooks thought they were a fringe bowl team. The Bruins\u2019 regular-season win total opened at O\/U 5.5, early money drove the market to O\/U 6 and some shops were out to O\/U 6.5 by August. Wise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}