Weekend Picks

Last Week: 2 for 5
YTD: 4 for 10

Iowa State -1 1/2 N. Illinois
N.C. State +1 1/2 Ohio State
Notre Dame -2 1/2 Michigan State
Rice +1 1/2 Hawaii
Washington State -23 1/2 Idaho

For those of you who don’t know what this is: It’s college football. I try to pick five games every week by the spread. My goal is to pick 3 winners, on average, per week.

The spread is what the Las Vegas handicappers determine the margin of victory will be. For instance, they think Notre Dame will beat Michigan by 2 1/2 points. If you wanted to bet Notre Dame, they would have to win by 3 points in order for you to win the bet. If you bet Michigan, they would have to lose the game by less than 3 points (or win the game) for you to win your bet. If the margin of victory is exactly the spread, then the bet is off – it’s called a push. All my points are 1/2 points so that I never have pushes. If I were betting in Vegas, I could not, of course, change the spread. But since I do it just for fun, I make sure there can be no pushes.

I’m picking the teams on the left, the spread is in the middle, and their opponent is on the right. So for my first pick to be a winner, Iowa State has to beat N. Illinois by 2 or more.

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2 thoughts on “Weekend Picks

  1. just a slight correction regarding spreads;

    the oddsmakers set the spread in an attempt to get the same amount of money on each team…they make a vigorish (“vig”) on each bet…if the spread is set and too much money is being bet on one side, they’ll adjust the points in order to get more bets on the other side

    many “sports guys” (TV, radio, newspaper) state what you said…”the oddsmakers think that one team will win by 3 points or so…what they’re really saying is if i set the points at 3, then the bets will be split

    Mike


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