Week 2 MACtion Bet-kakke: Sports Gambling Lessons and Picks

Sure, at its most basic, the return of football is its own reward. But perhaps you’re like me and looking for a way to make even the most uninteresting games have a little bit of excitement and put some skin in the game for you. Enter the glorious world of sports wagering.

Admittedly, sports wagering is not for everyone and there’s more reasons to not do it than to do it, but if you have disposable income and live near a place where this is an option, then combining making some dollar bills with watching some football isn’t a bad way to spend your time. You haven’t truly lived until you have been on pins and needles for a mid-week SunBelt game where a final drive is going to determine whether it’s a backdoor cover or a perfect weekend.

Each week this season, we’ll give you a little gambling lesson and your Mid-American Conference odds, all for entertainment purposes, of course.

Lesson #2: The Teaser

We talked last week about the basics of sports gambling like point spreads and parlays. There’s a special kind of parlay we’ll talk about this week where you get to have a small advantage by moving the line. Most sports books online and brick and mortar will offer teasers for the larger sports (basketball, college football, pro football). For our purposes, we’ll be sticking with college football.

First up you need to decide how many points you want and what ties will do. Say you take a 6-point teaser, it means the underdog gets an additional 6 points to the spread, the favorite gets 6 fewer points needed to cover, the over would get 6 fewer points to cover and the under would get 6 more points to cover. So let’s take a look at Buffalo/Temple.

Currently the Owls are 4 point favorites and the over/under is 51. With a 6-point teaser now you can get Buffalo at +10. Or Temple aa 2 point underdog. Think it’s low-scoring? The under is now 45 and the over is now 57. So you see how that can be a beneficial pick.

There is a ton of conversation about whether or not teasers are a good option. For me, it’s one of many tools you can use to build your bankroll especially in a weekend where there are several games where you feel teams on a touchdown or so line won’t necessarily get blown out. The return isn’t as good as a traditional parlay, but gives a little bit of a cushion for the oddities of college football (or pro ball if you choose to go that way). Make sure you look at the payouts in your book and decide whether a push will win or reduce your payout. The odds pay accordingly for those situations.

Let’s go to Week 2...

Week 1 Results

FEARLESS LEADER’S WEEK 1 MAC SELECTIONS
Western Michigan (+5) LOSS
Illinois (-16.5) LOSS
Miami (+2) LOSS
Northern Illinois (-10.5) LOSS
Kentucky (-17) LOSS
Oregon (-33) WIN
Nebraska (-26) CANCELED

Play of the Week: Oregon -33 WIN

1-5. Woof. But at least we got our play of the week to hit. That overall record is not what we do around here and frankly, I’m embarrassed. The good news is that this week we’re bouncing back in a very big way. I think it was Batman who said it is darkest just before the dawn. So get your sunglasses out, people.

Week 2 MACtion Lines

We’ve got eight FBS/FBS matchups this weekend and some juicy lines to exploit. Home dogs make me smile and off number spreads means it’s time for a big week back from last week’s bucket of yuck. 8-0, here we come.

Western Michigan Broncos @ Michigan Wolverines (-28)
Eastern Michigan Eagles @ Purdue Boilermakers (-16)
Kansas Jayhawks @ Central Michigan Chippewas (-4.5)
Ball State Cardinals @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-34.5)
Buffalo Bulls @ Temple Owls (-4)
Maryland Terrapins (-16.5) @ Bowling Green Falcons
Utah Utes (-10) @ Northern Illinois Huskies
Cincinnati Bearcats (-2) @ Miami-Ohio Redhawks

Fearless Leader’s Week 2 Bet-kakke Picks

Michigan (-28)
Purdue (-16)
CMU (-4.5)
Notre Dame (-34.5)
Buffalo (+4)
Bowling Green (+16.5)
Utah (-10)
Miami (+2)

Play of the Week: Buffalo +4

Bonus Picks (because I feel bad about the bad week 1)
Oklahoma State (-32)
TCU (-21)
Stanford (-5)

8-0 in the conference and 3-0 on the bonus picks. I feel it. Let’s get it.