Although the Clemson Tigers have won two of the last three College Football National Championships they’ve received very little respect from the mainstream sports media this year. Now they’re getting even less respect from the mainstream betting public. Sportsbooks worldwide are reporting a lopsided amount of action on LSU. ‘One sided’ action is not uncommon in sports betting but the indication is that the amount of action on LSU has reached historical proportions.
Sports betting is a worldwide business but the majority of the action on the college football championship game will be at books based in North America and those located elsewhere with a predominantly North American clientele. This segment of the bookmaking industry is all reporting the same thing–that they have been completely inundated with LSU money. Many sportsbooks are reporting 80 to 90% of action on LSU with–as of yet–very little takeback on underdog Clemson.
There has been so much action on LSU that it has reached historic proportions. So what has happened to make the ‘squares’ so enamored with LSU? Pretty simple, really. The mainstream sports media has gone out of their way this year to minimize and dismiss Clemson. They got the perfect opportunity to render them all but irrelevant when the Tigers had their narrow escape against North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The mainstream media jumped first on the Ohio State bandwagon which allowed them to denigrate not only Clemson but another thing that the national sporting press despises–the dominance of the SEC.
Since the casual football fan and recreational sports bettors get most of their information from the mainstream sports media they long ago took the bait. If the ESPN’s of the world had their way they would have just moved directly to the National Championship game between Ohio State and LSU. Unfortunately for them, there were two semifinal games to be played. LSU took care of business against a completely outclassed Oklahoma team to earn their spot in the championship game. Clemson flipped the script, however, by taking Ohio State’s best shot and emerging victorious. Along the way they got help from the unfocused and undisciplined play of the Buckeyes which pretty much gifted Clemson the game on a silver platter.
That’s really the only logical explanation for the lopsided amount of action on LSU. Clemson went 14-0 SU this year but also 11-3 ATS. Their impressive pointspread record not only validates the concept that they were undervalued this year but also their ability to dominate lesser opponents. Even so, the money keeps coming in on LSU with bookmakers suggesting the game ranks with the Denver vs. Seattle Super Bowl and the Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather fight for one sided action. Worth noting that in the previous two examples, the ‘public’ pounded the Denver Broncos and Conor McGregor. The ‘sharps’ were all over Seattle and Mayweather. Don’t be surprised to see the same thing happen on Monday night.
