College football Week 2 is here, and I couldn’t be more pumped.
This means the next few days will be exciting for fans who love football and for bettors looking for fun ways to wager a few bucks.
I’ve already given you my best bets for Week 2 games, but now it’s time to have a little fun with my “Bear Bytes.”
These little “bytes,” as I call them, are just nuggets that give you some entertaining talking points to pull from as you watch the football festivities with friends and family or banter with your coworkers at the water cooler.
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Here are the biggest nuggets that stuck out to me while doing my research.
Iowa State has scored more than 17 points once in the last eight meetings. This game has gone under in five straight, 10 of 11 and 16 of 18 meetings — including the last two years when the totals were 35 and 39 points.
Beginning with the 2009 BCS Championship Game, Texas has faced 29 top 10 opponents. It has been favored in just three of them. Not only has Texas failed to cover those three, it also lost all three outright, including last year’s CFP semifinal against Washington and in 2022 against TCU. Incredibly, since 1997, Texas has been favored in 14 games versus top 10 opponents. The Longhorns are 3-11 outright and 1-13 against the spread (ATS) in those games.
Is No. 10 Michigan or No. 3 Texas in a more must-win situation?
Northern Illinois @ Notre Dame
Since losing outright in his first instance as a 20-point favorite and failing to cover in his second instance, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has seen his team cover six of seven games in which the Irish were 20-point favorites, with six of the seven wins coming by at least 33 points.
In four of the last five years — 2021 the exception — Kansas State has lost a game as a double-digit favorite. The Wildcats are a 10-point favorite at Tulane on Saturday.
In three games against South Carolina since Shane Beamer became head coach, Kentucky has scored 14, 14 and 16 points against the Gamecocks.
In 13 games since Deion Sanders became head coach, underdogs have gone 9-3-1 ATS. Nebraska is 3-11 in its last 14 games as a favorite (2-4 under head coach Matt Rhule).
Dating back to 2017, App State has played eight games against Power 4 teams. It has covered seven of them, with the only non-cover coming against UNC two years ago when the Mountaineers were favored. Each of those eight games was decided by seven points or fewer. App State has covered each of the last seven games in which it has been an underdog against Power 4 teams and won three of the last five outright, including as an 18-point ‘dog at Texas A&M in 2022.
NC State has won each of its last four regular season games outright as an underdog, including two as an underdog of greater than a touchdown (+9 vs UNC and +10 vs Clemson last year).
Boise State has lost six straight games versus Power 4 teams, covering only once in that span. The last four games against the Pac-12 have all been losses by at least 13 points, with two coming by at least 31 points.
Chris “The Bear” Fallica has covered sports for nearly three decades. While college football has been his focus, he also enjoys the NFL, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, MLB, NHL and Horse Racing, with an “occasional” wager on such events. Chris recently won the inaugural Circa Football Invitational and finished in the Top 10 of the Golden Nugget Football Contest. He’s a multiple-time qualifier for the NHC Handicapping Championship. Remember, “The less you bet, the more you lose when you win!” Follow him on Twitter @chrisfallica.
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