Great day for college football fans, as nine of the Top-10 teams won, but it was an awful day for those backing those teams, as only two of them covered. Notre Dame, who is ranked No. 3, and No. 8 Washington State, trounced their opponents to easily cover the spread.
For WSU, it was the 10th out of 11 times they have covered. The Cougars missed being a perfect 11 for 11 ATS when they were 7.5-point favorites against Cal two weeks ago, and won 19-13.
WSU, who was favored by 10.5 points, destroyed Arizona on Saturday, hanging 55 points on the Wildcats in the first half. It was the most points Arizona had allowed in the first two quarters since 1923. The Cougars went on to win, 69-28.
Coach Mike Leach reached 10 victories for the first time as the Cougars head coach, and preferred this method of winning.
“The last three or four games about gave me a heart attack,” Leach said. “I’d rather just blow a team out. We’re not that good and they’re not that bad.”
Notre Dame Rolls
Notre Dame played Syracuse at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, and showed they can win just about anywhere. The Fighting Irish were 10-point picks against the Orange, and cruised to a 36-3 victory.
The only thing stopping Notre Dame from playing for the National Championship is a road game against Southern Cal. The Trojans lost to rival, UCLA, who was 2-8 coming into the game.
The Fighting Irish are favored by eight against USC. Trojans coach Clay Helton could very well be the next Pac-12 casualty. Colorado fired Mike MacIntyre on Sunday. The Buffaloes won their first five games, but then lost the next six.
Alabama, Clemson Given Scares
The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country were on upset alert in the first half of their games. Alabama was a 53-point pick over The Citadel, while Clemson was favored by 30 over Duke.
These were figured to be tuneup games for both the Crimson Tide and the Tigers, but no one seemed to tell the Bulldogs and the Blue Devils they were supposed to lay down for the best teams in the country.
Instead Alabama found itself tied with The Citadel 10-10 at halftime, giving hope to Crimson Tide haters that the unanimous No. 1 pick would go down in a humiliating defeat. Those hopes were crushed in the second half, when Alabama scored 40 points, to win 50-17.
The Tigers didn’t allow as much suspense as Alabama, but still failed to cover. They had a 14-6 lead going into halftime, but scored 21 second-half points to win, 35-6.
Bad Beat of the Week
Air Force was getting three points against Wyoming, and found itself with a 27-14 lead with five minutes to play. The Falcons then watched helplessly as the Cowboys rattled off 14 points in four minutes.
So those who had Air Force on the moneyline were out of luck, but still backers of the Falcons were ready to cash. That is until Air Force turned over the ball on an interception.
Wyoming tried to run the ball to let the clock expire, but instead Xazavian Valladay ran for 27-yard touchdown with 45 seconds left to ruin Air Force backers.