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We are Going to Hit All Five of These Weekend Bets, No Doubt About it
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Welcome to another edition of the weekend bets column. We suffered a flat week after Penn State and Temple burned us, the former scoring too many points and the latter not scoring enough points. It was a good effort by the Nitters for one half before Ohio State took over in the second half, while the Owls got absolutely trounced at home by East Carolina. What the hell was that all about? We need the boys to get it together because this is a 5-4 team with three more chances to become bowl eligible.
Now, we shift our focus to three weekend bets we’re going to hammer. We’re gonna cash and and cash hard!
Sixers vs. Raptors
Bad week for the Sixers, who collapsed in Chicago on Tuesday and then looked dog-tired on the second night of a back-to-back in Cleveland. They got a needed two days off and will host the 4-4 Toronto Raptors at home on Saturday night.
Toronto is on a three-game win streak, but they play in Atlanta on Friday night and then in Philadelphia on Saturday night. As such, there are no odds yet for this game, but considering that the Sixers are back home with two games of rest and the Raps come in on a road/road back-to-back, we SMASH the Sixers moneyline once it becomes available. They’re wearing the throwback black uniforms and they ain’t losing in those.
Flyers vs. Senators
A bit of a revenge game, perhaps, considering the Flyers’ 2-1 loss in Ottawa a few weeks ago was one of their worst performances of the season.
They come in as a -105 home dog, essentially a pick ’em against a Sens team that has lost three of four and had their last three games go to overtime. They’re finishing up a three-game road swing at 1 p.m. in South Philly.
Certainly there’s great value on that Flyers’ moneyline, but if you want to play it safe, look into Trevor Zegras SOG when that prop becomes available. He only had one shot in the Nashville win, but in the previous seven games had two or more shots every single time, so we play the bounce back.
Temple at Army
Rough loss at home last week, but I like the way the Owls have performed in the weeks after Ls. They were hammered by Oklahoma, then came back and covered against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. After the heartbreaker to Navy, they responded by obliterating Charlotte on the road.
Army is a team that plays a lot of close games. In fact, their 5 of their 9 results this year have been settled by a touchdown or less. And it just so happens that Temple is a touchdown road dog this weekend, so we play the Owls +7 and expect a cover.*
*if the Owls don’t cover I renounce betting forever, and dedicate myself to PA casino apps and online slot games
Penn State vs. Indiana
Penn State could have gone out and got their doors blown off after losing Drew Allar for the season. Instead, they almost knocked off Iowa on the road and hung with Ohio State in Columbus for a half, before the Buckeyes blew that game open.
How much does coming home affect their ability to compete with #2 Indiana? The Hoosiers are 9-0 and have won by 10 or more points in eight of those games. The ones that were close were the 20-15 win in Iowa and the 10-point road in Oregon. They only other time they failed to win by at least two scores was the season opener vs. ODU.
So -14.5 feels like a fair spread in Happy Valley, where IU has never won. Not once. The over/under is set at 50.5, which is doable if Indiana wins something like 31-21 or 35-17.
The play, I think, is to follow the pattern from the last two games. It feels like the Nitters come out and keep it close before succumbing to the superior team. So we’re going to ladder the first half alternate spread with Penn State +13.5, +10.5, and +7.5. You can get those numbers for -210, -160, and -110 at bet365.
Colorado at WVU
Big 12 bottom feeders? Let’s do it!
We’ve got an over/under of 53.5 set for this game, and Colorado conceded 53 and 52 points in their last two games against Utah and Arizona. They’re really stinking up the joint lately and sit at 3-6.
WVU is also 3-6, but after treating the first half of the season like a scrimmage, Rich Rodriguez finally found his quarterback in Scotty Fox, who put up 222 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns in a 45-35 road upset of ranked Houston last week. The Mountaineers are back at home and a -6.5 favorite and we’re happy with that number.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com