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CFB Week 8 Pros vs. Joes: Public buying Ohio State in season debut

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Before you make your college football bets this weekend, it's worth knowing which side other bettors are backing, especially on games drawing sharp action.

We talked to Jay Rood, Bet.Works' chief risk officer and theScore Bet's head trader, to see how sharps and public bettors are playing the Week 8 slate.

Nebraska @ No. 5 Ohio State (-26, 68), 12 p.m. ET

The Big Ten is back, and Ohio State is already drawing enough public interest to merit concern for sportsbooks entering the weekend.

This game hasn't pulled a ton of action on straight bets, though the Buckeyes are seeing five times as much money in the early going. There's an even bigger advantage in parlays, which is a strong indicator that a flood of public money could be coming on Ohio State.

Rood says he expects this line to creep up to 28 by Saturday, with little buy-back on the road underdog.

"There's not a lot of people in the camp that Nebraska is going to show up and do anything here," Rood said. "That's probably going to be a fairly key game for us early in the morning."

No. 3 Notre Dame (-9.5, 43.5) @ Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m.

Another key game is the ACC bout between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, which has prompted the public to lay a hefty amount on the home underdog.

The Fighting Irish were 10.5-point favorites early in the week before a run of public money pushed this line down to 9.5. The ticket count is nearly split between these two teams, though the average bet is twice as big on the Panthers, who are 0-6-2 against the spread in their last eight games.

"Pittsburgh's been drawing pretty well a lot of the year," Rood said. "No real sharp money on this game, just some bigger public players betting into it."

No. 2 Alabama (-22, 66) @ Tennessee, 3:30 p.m.

Another public favorite this week is Alabama, which is among the most bet teams this week on parlays and a target for bettors against the number, too.

Curiously, bettors are laying the points with the Crimson Tide but also grabbing Tennessee at +1000 on the moneyline, leaving a massive gap between those two outcomes for sportsbooks to clean up. Alabama is 3-6 ATS in its last nine when laying 21 or more but has won 72 consecutive games straight up in that spot.

"Very in the middle on that game, which is nice for us," Rood said. "If it lands anywhere from 0 to 20, we're good."

Baylor @ Texas (-9.5, 61.5), 3:30 p.m.

It's far from the most compelling Big 12 game this week, but bettors are zeroing in on this matchup between two underwhelming in-state foes.

Baylor opened as an 11-point underdog and drew substantial interest at +11 and +10 before the line shortened to 9. From there, it's been all Texas, which is drawing three times as much money in side action despite a 3-1 advantage in tickets for the Bears.

Even with the disparity between money and ticket count, Rood says there isn't any sharp action on either side. If the big bets don't stop on Texas, though, we could see this line return to 10 by kickoff.

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.

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