This past weekend saw big losses for books in general, as many worst-case scenario middles landed, and many sides backed by both sharps and the public covered. BookMaker was no exception to this, taking big hits on a number of games, and only partially making up for it with some other games that were nice winners.
Two of the biggest middles in college were Ohio St/Michigan and Minnesota/Iowa. Michigan opened as a 13-point home dog, but got bet all the way down to 10 by close. The final margin of 11 resulted in wins all around for bettors, and a big loss for the books. Iowa opened as a 9.5-point home fave, and got bet up to 12.5, where the final margin of 12 resulted in similar fortunes.
In the NFL, the bookie-busting middle trend continued on Sunday with San Francisco/Green Bay. Even though the number only moved a little, between 5.5 and 6.5, the final score landing on 6 was a bad result for the books.
There were also a number of sides with one-way action, backed by both the public and the sharps, that covered and hurt the books. In college, Florida and East Carolina were two such sides, while in the NFL New England's cover of their double digit spread over the Jets cashed tickets for both the public and sharper money. Rutgers was a notable sharp and public side that failed to cover.
On two of the most-debated lines of the week, Penn St/Michigan St and Cal/Stanford, the sharps favored the dogs while the public backed the faves. Michigan St as a 3-point home dog attracted sharp action which was fully balanced out by public action on Penn St, and the public won out there with Penn St's easy cover. But the sharps were proved right with Cal's outright win over Stanford as a 7-point road dog. BookMaker made out well on that one even though they got hit with a bunch of sharp action on the Cal moneyline, due to all the public action on Stanford.
And on Sunday, the books did get some relief with outright wins by KC and Oakland screwing a lot of teasers, as well as with the Atlanta/Giants game, where the public and sharps once again backed the Giants, and the Giants once again, for the 5th game in a row, burned their backers.
Indianapolis was another loser for the books and winner for bettors, mostly public, as the Colts attracted a lot of public money early in the week, and cashed.
The Monday night game had no notable betting trends leading up to game time, with the action mostly split down the middle.