Bettors win on games, lose on Heisman

By Richard Gardner, Bodog Sportsbook Manager

Not many games can match Army-Navy in terms of tradition and it stood alone as the only NCAA game on Saturday after being moved back a week this year. But as far as our college football odds go, we didn’t really see a huge handle on the game despite that observation.

The NCAA betting line closed at Army +16 and the Black Knights covered, giving us a small win. We also got a small victory on the under, but overall it was an small handle on the game. Not very surprising considering most fans don’t see these teams all year.

We did see a very good handle on the Heisman Trophy race, no doubt more so than in past years because there didn’t appear to be a clear-cut winner.

RB Mark Ingram ultimately took the Heisman becoming the first player in Alabama history to capture the trophy. Listed as a -550 favorite, Ingram’s win was good for the book since bettors were all over Texas QB Colt McCoy.

Stanford’s Toby Gerhart didn’t draw a ton of support at +400 but obviously would have been great value for the players if he was able to get just a few more votes to overtake Ingram in what turned out to be the closest finish in the 75 years of the Heisman Trophy.

Ingram certainly will likely be our favorite for next year’s Heisman, although not overwhelmingly so.

We will post our 2010 Heisman odds in late January after we find out which eligible sophomores and juniors declare for the draft. For example, Jimmy Clausen would likely have been the second-favorite for next year behind Ingram had he decided to return to Notre Dame for his senior year.

As things stand now, players behind Ingram will likely be Ohio State’s Terrell Pryor and Oregon’s Jeremiah Masoli (a strong showing in the Rose Bowl could give Pryor or Masoli a potential head start in the Heisman race), Miami’s Jacory Harris, Pittsburgh’s Dion Lewis and Boise State’s Kellen Moore.

As for our NFL odds this past weekend, it was a rare week where the favorites dominated, which was good news for the players. Not including Monday’s game, the favorites were 10-5 in Week 14, one of the biggest weeks of the year for chalk bettors.

There were three big decisions on Sunday, and they all favored bettors. The biggest win for the public, both the moneyline and the spread, was the Chargers beating the Cowboys. The Cowboys are clearly not the same team in December, while the Chargers have been a lock in recent Decembers.

The two other big winners for players were the Packers over the Bears and the Eagles over the Giants – this was a double win for the public on the spread and the over.

The Broncos-Colts game was interesting in that it was a breakeven because the handle was split on the Colts -7 and on the Broncos’ moneyline. And the total was at 44, which is right where the game ended.

Moving forward, it should be interesting to see how the public approaches Indianapolis amid reports that Indy may start to rest some key players now that the Colts have clinched home-field through the playoffs.

The biggest winners for the book were the Falcons +10 against the Saints and the Vikings over the Bengals. Players were big on Cincy both on the side and moneyline, and the under in the game was the biggest decision for a total on the day and a win for the book.

Meanwhile, bettors seemed to ignore two games almost entirely: Bills-Chiefs and Ravens-Lions. All the rest of Sunday’s games had two-way action.