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College football Week 4: Betting insights from oddsmakers

Here is what bookmakers are saying about the four games this weekend taking place between ranked teams

Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy waves to the crowd following the college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Arkansas Razorbacks at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Sept., 7, 2024.
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Week 3 of the college football season brought some fascinating results from a betting perspective, as No. 14 Kansas State (-9.5) crushed No. 20 Arizona 31-7, No. 1 Georgia held on to beat Kentucky 13-12 as a 21.5-point favorite and No. 6 Missouri (-14.5) beat No. 24 Boston College 27-21 in a fun game.

Week 4 brings several interesting matchups, starting with No. 24 Illinois visiting No. 22 Nebraska (-8) on Friday night. No. 11 USC is a 5.5-point road favorite at The Big House against No. 18 Michigan, and No. 6 Tennessee is a 7-point favorite in Norman against No. 15 Oklahoma.

Two bookmakers – Thomas Gable, the sportsbook director at The Borgata in Atlantic City, and Seamus Magee, a trader at BetMGM sports – have updates on the betting action, including where the public and respected money has come in on several games.

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Odds listed from DraftKings Sportsbook.

No. 24 Illinois at No. 22 Nebraska (-8, 43)

Gable: Illinois has been somewhat surprising this year; I don’t think people expected much out of them. This game opened -8.5, touched 9, we’re back to 8.5. Total has come down from 43.5 to 42.5. Little more money on Nebraska right now, but I wouldn’t hate someone taking Illinois here with the points.

Magee: It looks like a pretty evenly split game at -8.5, little more Nebraska money on the spread and in some money line parlays. Total hasn’t been bet much.

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No. 11 USC (-5, 44) at No. 18 Michigan

Gable: This is a lot of points for USC. Michigan has struggled, but how good is USC? This is going to go a long ways to answering that question. We opened USC -6.5, and we’re down to -6. We’ve seen the total jump a little higher and come back. We took some early money on the over 45.5, got up to 46 and now it’s back to 45.5. Little bit more money on the Over. I think overall this is going to be a pretty evenly bet game at -6.

Magee:  This has kind of bounced around a little bit. Opened 6.5, got down to 5.5 and then we took some USC bets, so went back to 6. Most of the money has come in on USC. It’s shaping up to be like the Texas-Michigan game where we’re going to need the Wolverines at home.

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No. 12 Utah at No. 14 Oklahoma State (-2, 52.5)

Gable: We saw the move when Cam Rising looked like he was going to play. Utah laying -2.5 on the road right now, total is now sitting 53.5, which has moved up two points from where we opened it. This is a big test for Utah. If the Utes can get through this one, it will go a long way for their College Football Playoff chances. Really big game for them. A well-bet game, but pretty even at -2.5.

Magee: Mostly Utah money coming in. There have been a lot of people staying away from this one. Took some early money on Oklahoma State +2.5, they’re now favored by 2.5. But this can change quickly once we get actual QB news. Money line and spread tickets favor Oklahoma State.

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No. 6 Tennessee (-7, 57) at No. 15 Oklahoma

Gable: We opened Tennessee -7 and quickly moved to -7.5. I think we’ll be bouncing back between those two numbers. Did have some respected money on Oklahoma +7.5, so back down to 7 right now. Total is down a point from where we opened it (58.5 down to 57.5). Seemed like the -7.5 was the point of resistance. At 7, I’d expect public money coming in on Tennessee with the way they’ve looked. Their power rating has been adjusted with the way they’ve played so far. A good test for them and I’m confident the public is going to be all over Tennessee.

Magee: This is one-way traffic on Tennessee, we’ve hardly written any Oklahoma bets. Tennessee OKLAHOMA??? and Michigan will likely be the two biggest needs for us this week.