Top 10 betting bad beats of 2018

Pain shared is pain lessened.

Maybe that’s why most sports bettors will readily share their bad beat stories.

We’ve put together a list of 10 of the worst bad beats of the year with less than two weeks remaining.

10. Duquesne (+5½) over Penn State

This one took place Wednesday. It was the least wonderful time of the year if you bet on the Dukes.

The score was tied at 67 with 5.4 seconds left when Penn State forward Lamar Stevens was fouled on a drive to the basket. At that point, a bet on Duquesne looked like a lock, as long as the game didn’t go into overtime. But Dukes coach Keith Dambrot lost his mind over the call and had to be restrained by his players. He was assessed two technicals and ejected, giving the Nittany Lions six free throws and a chance to cover. Rasir Bolton and Stevens made all six shots, and Penn State prevailed 73-67.

As a holiday bonus bad beat for under bettors, the extra free throws pushed the game over the total of 138½.

9. Louisiana State (-13) over Arkansas

After allowing the Razorbacks to score a touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-17, the Tigers tormented their backers in the final minutes by twice going down intentionally rather than scoring as they ran out the final 5:10.

Nick Brossette ran for 6 yards before going down at the 1 with 50 seconds left.

8. Michigan (-4½) over Florida State

With a trip to the Final Four on the line, Wolverines bettors were as frustrated as Seminoles fans when Florida State inexplicably chose not to foul Duncan Robinson when it trailed by four points with 11 seconds left.

7. Dolphins (+6) over Bengals

Cincinnati outscored the Dolphins 24-0 in the fourth quarter, helped by two fluke defensive TDs, en route to a 27-17 win.

Ryan Tannehill tried to throw the ball at the feet of Durham Smythe to avoid a sack. But the ball bounced off Smythe’s helmet and went directly to Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson, who tied the score at 17 on a 22-yard interception return.

After Miami held Cincinnati to a field goal, Tannehill fumbled after getting hit by Carlos Dunlap and the ball flew straight to Sam Hubbard, who scored on a 19-yard return with 2:37 left.

6. Rams (-7½) over Packers (Under 57)

The Rams led 29-27 with less than a minute left when Todd Gurley had a clear path to the end zone to seal their win and likely cover. But he suddenly slammed on the brakes at the 4-yard line, letting Los Angeles run out the clock. The decision also burned over bettors and Gurley’s fantasy football owners.

“Man, forget fantasy,” Gurley said with a grin. “Forget Vegas. We got the win, so that’s all that matters.”

5. Kansas (-4½) over Seton Hall, (-5) over Clemson

The Jayhawks burned their backers in back-to-back games in the NCAA Tournament. In the second round, Devonte’ Graham hit two free throws to put Kansas ahead by seven in the final seconds. But Seton Hall’s Myles Powell nailed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer for the backdoor cover in an 83-79 loss.

In the Sweet 16, Clemson cut a 20-point second-half lead to four with 4.5 seconds left but wasn’t able to foul as time expired on the Tigers and Kansas bettors.

4. UC Davis (-13½) over Northern Colorado

UC Davis led 49-10 with 9:15 left before Northern Colorado rallied for 26 consecutive points to cover in a 49-36 loss. Northern Colorado scored a TD and 2-point conversion (49-18), got the ball back on a safety (49-20), drove for a TD and 2-point conversion (49-28), recovered an onside kick and scored a TD and 2-point conversion (49-36) to crush the souls of Aggies bettors.

3. Oregon (+3) over Stanford

The Cardinal trailed 24-7 in the second half before cutting the deficit to 31-28 in the final minutes. Oregon could have run out the clock, but it ran the ball instead and Stanford recovered CJ Verdell’s fumble with 51 seconds left. Jet Toner made a 32-yard field goal to send the game into overtime, where Colby Parkinson tipped a TD pass to himself to give the Cardinal a 38-31 lead. Oregon QB Justin Herbert then threw an interception in the end zone.

2. Miami (Ohio)-Bowling Green (Under 55½)

Bowling Green scored two TDs in 91 seconds to make it 31-17 with 4:13 left. The Redhawks could have run out the clock at the Bowling Green 3. But instead, it ran the ball and Davion Johnson scored to make it 38-17 with 34 seconds left. The under still looked good until Falcons QB Grant Loy completed a 40-yard Hail Mary pass to Justin Sawmiller as time expired to push the game over (38-23). Incredibly, a William Hill bettor needed the over to cash a $100 10-team parlay that paid $72,000.

1. Air Force (+3) over Wyoming

The Falcons led by 13 with 4:32 remaining before the Cowboys scored two TDs to take a 28-27 lead with 1:09 left. After an interception, Wyoming was poised to run out the clock when the Falcons ran out of timeouts. But rather than taking a knee, Cowboys running back Xazavian Valladay sprinted for a 27-yard score and 35-27 lead with 45 seconds left. But that wasn’t the worst part. Air Force declined a holding penalty on the play to get the ball back with one last chance to tie.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.