College football line movement: Tennessee getting major love
We're already in Week 10 of the college football season. You know the regular season is winding down when we get college football games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The mid-week football is beautiful, but it's also bittersweet.
There's not much on this week's schedule in terms of marquee games. Nevertheless, it's college football and any single game could have a major impact. The committee released its rankings on Tuesday and now it's a dogfight the rest of the way to get into the top four seeds. Which games have seen early week line movement?
Tennessee getting major love
The Tennessee Volunteers are coming off their bye week, and prior to that, they lost back-to-back games against Ole Miss and Alabama. They opened the week as 3-point road underdogs against Kentucky.
The Wildcats opened their season with a 6-0 record, but they too have lost back-to-back games. The Wildcats have lost to Georgia and Mississippi State in their last two games.
After opening as a field-goal underdog, Tennessee has received major support and has pushed this line down all the way to a pick'em.
Tennessee's offense has been good under first year head coach Josh Heupel. They rank 22nd in points-per game and 13th in total yards per game. This will come down to a classic strength-versus-strength matchup, as Kentucky is built around its defense. The question is whether Kentucky's offense will be able to do enough.
Miami, Wisconsin and Ohio State getting love as favorites
Three popular programs entered the week as favorites, and they've become bigger favorites as the week has gone on.
The Miami Hurricanes opened as 9.5-point favorites against Georgia Tech. The Hurricanes are now 10.5-point favorites. Miami has been a different team under quarterback Tyler Van Dyke. They won outright as 9-point underdogs against Pittsburgh last week.
Wisconsin has also turned their season around after a very underwhelming start. After losing three of their first four games, they've outscored Illinois, Army, Purdue and Iowa by a combined score of 101-34. They're currently 13.5-point favorites against Rutgers after opening as 12-point favorites. It's hard to envision Rutgers scoring much in this one.
Ohio State beat Penn State last weekend, but never threatened to cover the 18.5-point spread. They are big favorites again this week, currently sitting as a 15.5-point road favorite against Nebraska. Ohio State is on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs after the committee's first rankings were released.
Mid-week line movement
As mentioned earlier, this is one of the best times of the year because we get football on Tuesday and Wednesday. These standalone games get a lot of betting action, which could cause drastic line movement.
For Wednesday night, we have two games and the totals have seen the most significant movement as people are looking for MACtion fireworks.
The total in Central Michigan-Western Michigan is up to 65.5 points after opening at 62. Western Michigan opened as a 10-point favorite, but the Broncos are now just a 9-point favorite.
It's a similar situation for Northern Illinois-Kent State, where the total is up to 70 points after opening at 67.5. Kent State opened as a 4.5-point favorite, but the Golden Flashes are down to just a 3.5-point favorite.
For Thursday's game, Louisiana is now a 12-point favorite after the line opened with the Ragin' Cajuns as a 10.5-point favorite.
Other notable movements
Charlotte opened as a 4-point favorite against Rice, but currently the 49ers are up to a 6-point favorite.
Old Dominion opened as a 1.5-point favorite, but the current line is up to 3-points against Florida International.
The UTSA Roadrunners sit at 8-0, but they're just 11-point favorites against UTEP after the line opened at 12.5-points.
The total in Michigan State-Purdue is up to 54-points, after the original number was just 51.5-points.
Despite Clemson's offensive issues, the total for their game against Louisville has risen two points to the current number of 47.5-points.
