Did you place a bet this weekend? Did you lose? Did it feel like there were unnatural forces conspiring against you? There probably were. Each week Director of Gaming Services Josh Goodson lets you know where you probably got cheated by a bunch of wise guys in “This Week in Point Shaving”
To begin this week’s point-shaving column, I’d like to pose two questions:
Would you rather lose a bet on the last play of a game that was close throughout?
This week I give you two scenarios and let you pick.
The first one was in Death Valley Saturday night. The Clemson Tigers closed anywhere from a 2-3 point favorite. Leading the entire game, and even 21-3 going to the 4th quarter, would not be enough. Losing your Clemson bet probably stings, but let’s face it, Notre Dame is a capable team. Clemson tried their best to lose the game in the 4th quarter, giving up a TD to ND with 7 seconds left. That TD made it 24-22. A failed 2 point conversion later, and Clemson hangs on for the 2 point win. If you got in early on Clemson -2 you take your push. If you had Clemson -3 let’s hope you were also a Tigers fan and could at least enjoy the win. But when you bet on Clemson you know dumb can happen occasionally. “Clemson-ing” in Vegas is still alive and well.
The second scenario takes us to Boise, Idaho. The final score of this game, 55-0, may mean nothing to most people. However when a game has an over/under of 56.5, it does make you start digging in the box score to see if anything dumb happened late to prevent it from going over. Dumb indeed happened the ENTIRE second half. Boise went to halftime up 49-0!! So if you are sitting on the over of 56.5 in this game, you are probably sitting pretty. I mean you need 8 points. That’s one TD with a 2 pt conversion, 3 field goals, 4 safeties. Whatever, it’s 8 points and you have 30 minutes to do it. Hell 49 was scored in the first half, what’s 8 points. Well evidently that is a lot to ask. In fact Boise scores a FG on their opening 2nd quarter drive to make it 52-0 with 10 min to go! A TD will get you there. Or two field goals. You get it.
Here is the last 12 drives of game: Downs, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Fumble, FG, INT, Punt, Downs, End of Game. Final score ends up being 52-0. Your over of 56.5 laughs at you.
If you ask me the second scenario would probably be the worst. You decide.
