Next week’s opening lines: Crazy college football results alter betting outlook

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014 | 5:55 p.m.

There are still a couple college football games between undefeated, top-10 ranked teams on Saturday —it’s just that the one everyone expected isn’t included.

Fans circled college football’s Week 7 since the beginning of the season because of a goliath showdown between the two supposed powers of the Pac-12: Oregon and UCLA. But the Ducks and Bruins fell victim to one of the most upset-heavy weekends in the history of college football.

Arizona downed Oregon 31-24 as a 24-point underdog last Thursday night. Utah followed by knocking off UCLA 30-28 as a 13-point underdog last Saturday.

The dual disappointments might have downgraded the stature of the Ducks’ trip to the Rose Bowl, but it didn’t inflict much change upon the betting line. No. 12 ranked Oregon opened as a 3.5-point favorite over No. 18 UCLA at CG Technologies, the first chain of sports books to post lines on both college football and NFL, Sunday night.

The spread is only a half-point removed from this summer when the Golden Nugget’s Game of the Year number had Oregon at minus-3.

TCU’s game at Baylor wasn’t even among the hundreds listed with a point spread months before the season, but it now holds massive implications in the race for the Big-12 Championship. After beating Oklahoma 37-33 as a 4-point underdog last Saturday, No. 9 TCU travels to No. 5 Baylor looking for its second straight upset this weekend.

The summer spread on Auburn at Mississippi State favored the road team by 9.5 points. But No. 3 Mississippi State is now just plus-3 ahead of hosting No. 2 Auburn.

Check below for all of next week’s point spreads and come back to the Sun all week for coverage ahead of another football betting weekend.

Thursday Oct. 9

BYU plus-3 at Central Florida

Indianapolis Colts minus-1.5 at Houston Texans

Friday Oct. 10

Washington State plus-17 at Stanford

San Diego State plus-6.5 at New Mexico

Fresno State minus-12 at UNLV

Saturday Oct. 11

Texas plus-15 vs. Oklahoma in Dallas

Michigan State minus-22.5 at Purdue

Northwestern plus-2.5 at Minnesota

Rice minus-1.5 at Army

Tulsa plus-14.5 at Temple

Middle Tennessee State plus-21.5 at Marshall

UMass plus-1.5 at Kent State

Florida State minus-21.5 at Syracuse

Duke plus-5.5 at Georgia Tech

Illinois at Wisconsin — no line yet

Boston College plus-5.5 at North Carolina State

Cincinnati plus-13.5 at Miami

Buffalo minus-13.5 at Eastern Michigan

Miami (Ohio) plus-14.5 at Akron

Indiana plus-7 at Iowa

Bowling Green pick’em at Ohio

West Virginia minus-2.5 at Texas Tech

Oklahoma State minus-21 at Kansas

TCU plus-10 at Baylor

Houston plus-6.5 at Memphis

North Texas plus-3 at UAB

Auburn minus-3 at Mississippi State

Western Michigan plus-2 at Ball State

New Mexico State plus-6.5 at Troy

Alabama minus-8 at Arkansas

LSU minus-1 at Florida

Toledo plus-6 at Iowa State

Oregon minus-3.5 at UCLA

USC minus-3 at Arizona

Washington pick’em at California

Georgia minus-3 at Missouri

Louisville plus-11.5 at Clemson

North Carolina plus-17 at Notre Dame

Central Michigan plus-11 at Northern Illinois

Idaho plus-21 at Georgia Southern

Arkansas State minus-13 at Georgia State

Florida International plus-13.5 at Texas-San Antonio

Louisiana-Monroe plus-20.5 at Kentucky

Ole Miss plus-2 at Texas A&M

Air Force plus-7.5 at Utah State

East Carolina minus-14.5 at South Florida

Penn State minus-1 at Michigan

Old Dominion plus-1.5 at UTEP

UConn plus-3.5 at Tulane

Colorado State minus-1 at UNR

Wyoming plus-3 at Hawaii

Sunday Oct .12

Denver Broncos minus-6.5 at New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers plus-1.5 at Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars plus-6 at Tennessee Titans

Chicago Bears plus-2.5 at Atlanta Falcons

Green Bay Packers minus-3.5 at Miami Dolphins

Detroit Lions minus-3 at Minnesota Vikings

Carolina Panthers plus-7.5 at Cincinnati Bengals

New England Patriots minus-1 at Buffalo Bills

Baltimore Ravens minus-3 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

San Diego Chargers minus-7 at Oakland Raiders

Dallas Cowboys plus-9 at Seattle Seahawks

Washington Redskins plus-2.5 at Arizona Cardinals

New York Giants plus-3 at Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers minus-3 at Saint Louis Rams

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.