Opening Week Totals on the Move

College Football Totals Market Shows Significant Movement

College football totals were released last week and we’ve seen some significant totals moves as the bookmakers adjust to the betting market. The sides have been out for months for opening week, including many ‘Games of the Year‘ for future weeks, and some of those numbers have been hammered as well.

A few college football games kicked off last week, and the market reaction missed on both the side and total in Colorado State’s ‘ramming’ of Oregon State 58-27. That over/under was bet down more than 3-points from 62.5 to 59 with the Beavers taking some late money as +3 ‘Dog.

Now the first full week of action begins, and here are the games with at least a 3-point move from the opening total. Trying to stay ahead of the market and anticipate line moves can be difficult for many bettors, and having multiple sportsbook ‘outs’ to choose from becomes imperative if you’re gambling as an investment. But not all the moves are correct, despite some of the money influencing the action.

The totals below are taken from industry leading offshore sportsbook BookMaker.  Shop and compare at other industry leading sports books including a reduced juice shop like 5 Dimes, and the current lines and totals from Las Vegas sportsbooks.

Following opening week, you can expect some significant over-reaction to the opening week’s results. To stay ahead of the game and understand the results, don’t just follow the scores. Dig deeper and analyze box scores, scoring drives, impactful turnovers and understand how scoring happened, who controlled the point of attack more often, and the pace and style to which teams play. You will see many significant moves both on the side and totals, and you’ll realize that some of the early and late steam may not be warranted, but rather based on public perception and not reality.

Here is a list of the significant totals that moved 3 points or more, and last year’s results where applicable. Note the totals moves of at least 7 points in the games with favorites Washington, Northwestern, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Auburn – all big double-digit favorites.

Ohio State at Indiana
Opener: 53
Current: 58
Last Year’s Meeting: OSU 38, IU 17 – UNDER 60.5

New Mexico State at Arizona State
Opener: 67
Current: 71.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Washington at Rutgers
Opener: 58.5
Current: 51.5
Last Year’s Meeting: WASH 48, RUT 13 – OVER 56.5

Navy at Florida Atlantic
Opener: 65
Current: 68.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Utah State at Wisconsin
Opener: 49
Current: 52
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Sat., Sept. 2

Nevada at Northwestern
Opener: 52.5
Current: 60.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

UTEP at Oklahoma
Opener: 69.5
Current: 62
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

California at North Carolina
Opener: 66
Current: 53.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Georgia Southern at Auburn
Opener: 52
Current: 59
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Houston at Texas San Antonio
Opener: 54.5
Current: 51.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee State
Opener: 61
Current: 58
Last Year’s Meeting: VAN 47, MTSU 24 – OVER 51

Florida State vs Alabama
Opener: 53
Current: 48.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Troy at Boise State
Opener: 58
Current: 62.5
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

BYU vs LSU
Opener: 44.5
Current: 48
Last Year’s Meeting: N/A

Check out the leading online sportsbooks and this article posted at osga.com.