College Football Playoff odds in the first round couldn’t have gone much better for the public betting masses, as straight bets and parlays to the favorites paid out with relative ease.
“The bettors were happy with every single favorite covering. And the action was phenomenal, close to standard NFL games,” Caesars Sports head of football trading Joey Feazel said. “We’re excited to see games this early that actually matter.”
books opened No. 7 Notre Dame as a slim favorite against No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Part of the reasoning behind that: Georgia quarterback Carson Beck won’t be under center.
Beck suffered an elbow injury in the Bulldogs’ 22-19 overtime win vs. Texas in the SEC Championship Game. He had surgery on Monday, so his season is over. Redshirt sophomore Gunner Stockton will lead the Bulldogs against the Fighting Irish.
But where other sportsbooks zigged, Caesars Sports modestly zagged, opening at Georgia -1.5. And the subsequent point-spread movement at other books proved Caesars right, as everyone else fell in line.
