Colorado bettors burned; LSU miracle cover; Georgia Tech stuns at 8-1

The Review-Journal’s Todd Dewey will track the biggest betting storylines every Saturday of the college football season.

Bettors jumped back on the Colorado bandwagon Saturday and backed coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes in a big way as small favorites at Arizona State.

Colorado beat the Sun Devils 27-24 to end an eight-game Pac-12 losing streak. But it failed to cover the spread after closing as a 3½-point favorite at Station Casinos sportsbooks. Buffaloes bettors at other books settled for a push after closing as 3-point favorites.

“It was a good score for us,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “Arizona State was probably the biggest decision of the day. There was some sharp play on Arizona State, but the public was clearly on Colorado.

“I think the lower number kind of caused that.”

The Buffaloes (4-2), coming off a cover as 22½-point home underdogs to USC in a 48-41 loss, took their first lead over Arizona State, 21-17, on Shedeur Sanders’ 9-yard touchdown pass to Javon Antonio early in the fourth quarter.

Colorado led 24-17 in the final minutes when the Sun Devils embarked on a 94-yard TD drive to tie it 24-24 on Trenton Bourquet’s 15-yard TD pass to Troy Omeire with 50 seconds remaining.

That was enough time for Sanders to march the Buffs 50 yards in five plays to set up Alejandro Mata’s game-winning 43-yard field goal. But the win was of little consolation to bettors who wagered on Colorado -3½.

Miracle cover

For every bad beat, there’s a miracle cover.

Missouri led Louisiana State most of the game Saturday as a 6½-point home underdog and was covering the spread the entire game until the final minute.

Missouri trailed LSU 42-39 when it took over at its own 5-yard line with 41 seconds left. Two plays later, Brady Cook threw an interception that Major Burns returned 17 yards for a touchdown to give LSU a 49-39 win and cover.

It was a bad beat for Missouri bettors, but the majority of the money at sportsbooks was on LSU, which rewarded its backers with a miracle cover.

“The guests did well on LSU. That was one of those bad beats on our side of the counter,” Esposito said. “That was a game Missouri was in control of the entire game, only to have it go the other way at the end.

“You could hear by the eruption in the room at the end that they were pretty happy with the outcome.”

Georgia Tech stuns Miami

Miami could have taken a knee to run out the clock against Georgia Tech. But the Hurricanes took a stunning upset loss instead to the Yellow Jackets, who closed as high as 20-point underdogs and paid 8-1 on the money line.

Miami led 20-17 and had the ball at the Georgia Tech 30 in the final minute when, rather than kneel down, it handed the ball to running back Donald Chaney Jr., who fumbled the ball away.

The Yellow Jackets then went 74 yards in four plays in 25 seconds. Haynes King rolled right and hit Christian Leary for a 44-yard TD pass with two seconds left to give Georgia Tech an astonishing 23-20 win.

The Yellow Jackets went ahead 17-10 early in the fourth quarter before the Hurricanes scored the game’s next 10 points.

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