July 20, 2010

Vegas lines don't favor Penn State in 'marquee' 2010 games


Some interesting, albeit depressing lines out of Vegas today, courtesy of Phil Steele. In games labeled "Marquee College Games," Penn State is... well, you'll see.
ALABAMA vs Penn St -- 11'

IOWA vs Penn St -- 3'

PENN ST vs Michigan -- 7'

OHIO ST vs Penn State -- 10
Umm... can you say yikes? I guess it isn't all that surprising to see Penn State a combined 20½-point dog to Alabama and Ohio State. Actually, I'm not really surprised to see the Buckeyes as a 10-point favorite in the 'Shoe. That's about right for where both teams are projected to be this year, and the location.

I'll continue to say it about Alabama: Everyone is ignoring the Tide defense. But we'll have a whole week in September to harp on that some more.

The other two, Iowa and Michigan, are sort of pleasant surprises. Being a 3½-point dog in Iowa City is better than being a favorite and blowing it. So there's something to smirk about. And Michigan, well, I'm not sure 7½ is giving enough credit to the Wolverines this season. No, they will not win the national or Big Ten titles. But UM sure as hell isn't as bad as the last two seasons. I'd watch that line closely.

But that's not all...

The over/under regular season wins for Penn State is a respectable 8.5. That's something I will take any day of the week in year with so many supposed question marks. Consider that Iowa has the same over/under, while Ohio State has the highest of any BCS automatic qualifier, at 10.5 wins.

This information is posted for news matter only.

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3 comments:

  1. I hate the fact that Phil is pretty darn good and usually gives Props to the Nittany Lions and still hits them here with the dawg numbers. Hopefully it makes for some good PSU inspiration Mojo! O$U and Bama I can see but Um and Iowa laying those numbers out stings imo..

    NittanyLionFootballFreak

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  2. This wasn't Phil's numbers. The lines were from the Las Vegas Hilton. Phil doesn't do gambling, but he does point out that what Vegas says does matter when trying to predict games.

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  3. Those numbers all sound about right to me. I figured Bama would be -10.5 so 11 is spot-on IMHO. I don't feel 7 points is selling Michigan short, Dick Rod hasn't exactly been a road warrior as of late (1-8 on the road with Michigan), not to mention, Michigan has yet to prove they can play defense. If they're able to showcase a defense by late October, you may very well see that line drop.

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