The first college football game of Week 2 features former American Athletic Conferences foes Louisville (now of course in the ACC) and Central Florida (heading to Big 12 next season) on Friday from the awesomely named Bounce House in Orlando. The Knights are 6.5-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook and one betting trend heavily hints that UCF will cover that number.
The Cardinals looked pretty terrible in Week 1. They were 5.5-point favorites at Syracuse and were pounded 31-7. Louisville didn't score in the final three qu arters and turned the ball over three times without a single takeaway. Dual-threat QB Malik Cunningham finished 16 of 22 for 152 yards passing, rushed for 34 yards on 13 carries and was sacked three times. His 30-game streak of compiling at least one rushing or passing touchdown in a game came to an end.
Louisville had won the past three meetings in the series – all at home – while averaging 42.3 points, and had been 7-1 against the Orange since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. The seven points scored matched the lowest for the school under coach Scott Satterfield (whose seat definitely got hotter).
Since 1999, college football teams that lost their first game of the season as an away favorite and went on the road again in Game 2 are just 1-12-1 against the spread, a cover percentage of 7.7. That lone cover was by TCU in 2011. The Frogs lost Week 1 at Baylor 50-48 but then won Week 2 at Air Force 35-19. Straight up, teams in this scenario are 3-11.