Pac-12 picks, Week 2: Don’t fade the Buffs (or the Huskies, or the Trojans, or …)
The Conference of Champions (against the spread in Week 1).
It turns out that if you’re going to bet on Pac-12 football, you would be wise to bet on Pac-12 football.
At least, that was the case in Week 1, when the league went 8-2 against the spread in matchups with posted betting lines, and 8-1 in non-FCS games — and that one non-cover was UCLA, which fell a half-point shy of covering the 14.5-point spread against Coastal Carolina. (Arizona State also came up well short of covering a 29.5-point spread against Southern Utah, but you really had to go looking for a line on that game.)
Otherwise, Pac-12 teams covered multi-touchdown spreads with aplomb. USC easily covered 38.5 against Nevada (66-14). Oregon State stiff-armed the 16.5 against San Jose State (42-17). Washington made mincemeat of a 14.5-point spread against Boise State (56-19), and Washington State proved my suspicion that 11.5 points weren’t nearly enough at Colorado State (50-24).
And of course Colorado, the league’s lone underdog, not only covered 20.5 at TCU but won straight up with the whole country watching.
My record was less stellar: 4-6 against the spread (with two FCS games off the board), and 11-1 straight up. I thought Boise State would hang around. I thought Nevada could tack on a couple cheap touchdowns. I thought Cam Rising’s absence would be a bigger deal for Utah. I did not foresee Colorado throwing for half-a-thousand yards.
Even with greater competition on the Week 2 schedule, I’m suddenly wary of picking against the Pac-12 in its second week of nonconference play.
All games Saturday. All lines courtesy of BetMGM. Some picks good, some picks bad. You decide which are which.