It doesn't get much bigger than No. 1 Texas at defending College Football champion No. 3 Ohio State, as the two teams with the best odds to win the College Football Playoff at BetMGM — Texas is the favorite at +450 and Ohio State at +525 — square off Saturday at noon.
Public bettors have had all summer to wager on this game, and so far, they're lining up to back the Longhorns at sportsbooks.
The Buckeyes opened as 3-point home favorites against the Longhorns this summer with a total of 50.5, but the line has drifted down to Ohio State -1.5 and the total has dropped three points to 47.5. Every one of the half dozen sportsbooks Yahoo Sports spoke with this week had more wagers and money on Texas to cover.
"It's been one-way traffic on Texas at the moment," Joey Feazel, head college football trader at Caesars Sportsbook, said. "The bigger movement we've seen is on the total, which we opened at 50.5 and is now down to 47.5. Amount of action and hype for the Texas program this season has caused the line movement. Not a lot of sharp action, but a lot of action — and it's on Texas."
Several oddsmakers told Yahoo Sports that the line movement wasn't due to sharp action, but overwhelming money on Texas — both on the spread and moneyline.
"Sharps appear to be staying away from this spread and money line on this one," Jon Richards, COO of Prime Sports, noted. "However, there is some interest in the over from sharp money. Line opened at 50.5 and now sits 47.5."
With Arch Manning, the Heisman favorite at +500 odds, taking his first snaps as a starter for Texas and Buckeyes freshman QB Julian Sayin making his first start, there are plenty of unknowns in this showcase game. Not to mention that Ohio State has a new offensive coordinator in Brian Hartline and defensive coordinator in Matt Patricia.
"For us, it's mostly been Texas action," Ty Gour, a trader at Fanatics Sportsbook, told Yahoo Sports. "Over 60% of the bets on the moneyline are on Texas, along with 70% of the money. More spread money is on [the Longhorns], but the bet count is 55-45. It's not often you see the No. 1 team in the country at plus money, so it's tempting as a bettor."
Indeed, barring significant line movement, Texas will be the first No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll to close as an underdog in Week 1 since 1978, per ESPN research.
The story was the same in Las Vegas, as Casey Degnon, a trader at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, told Yahoo Sports that it was "all Longhorns" and his book had roughly five times as much money and twice as many bets on Texas.
The Longhorns have the most wagers (11.9%) and most total dollars wagered (20.4%) at BetMGM to win the national championship, and also represent the biggest current liability for the sportsbook in that market.
Saturday can't come soon enough.
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