It’s a light slate of games on the Week 14 college football schedule as the regular season comes to an end for every team except Army and Navy. But it’s also championship week and all 10 FBS conferences will crown their 2018 titleist over the weekend. With league championships, bowl game implications and College Football Playoff positioning at stake, this is certainly the most important week of the season. We haven’t witnessed any significant movement on the early lines as bettors are likely waiting until closer to game time to place a wager, though the spread for the ACC Championship bout between Clemson and Pittsburgh has bounced a field goal in favor of the undefeated Tigers.
There will be a few other games on tap this week, makeups from games that were postponed or cancelled earlier in the season. South Carolina and Akron will each play a 12th game when they hook up in Columbia. The Gamecocks opened at -28 against the 4-7 Zips and the line was wagered to -29.5. Cal and Stanford will fight for bragging rights in the Bay Area with the annual playing of the Big Game, which got smoked out two weeks ago. Most of the attention, however, will be focused on the conference championships with Alabama looking to secure the No. 1 seed in the CFP while Ohio State and Oklahoma get one last chance to state their case for inclusion in the playoff.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest movers on line in early Week 14 betting action at BookMaker.eu.
Week 14 Major Line Moves
Clemson vs. Pittsburgh
Opening Line: Clemson -24.5
Current Line: Clemson -27.5
Can anyone keep up with Clemson? The Tigers played their worst game defensively last week against South Carolina, and still won by three touchdowns. That’s because Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and the offense exploded for 744 total yards and reached the half-century mark in points for the fourth time in the 56-35 win. Lawrence has been phenomenal since taking over as the starter early in the season with nearly 2,500 passing yards and an ACC-best 22 touchdown passes. Etienne has over 1,300 rushing yards and the Tigers average 540 total yards and 45.7 points to rank among the top-5 nationally in both categories. They opened at -24.5 and still got over 70 percent of the early action moving the line up higher. It’s hard to see Pitt winning this game and covering the line is going to be a chore. But we didn’t expect the Panthers to stroll into Clemson two years ago as 21.5-point dogs and pull off the upset, so anything’s possible.
Memphis vs. UCF
Opening Line: UCF -4.5
Current Line: UCF -3.5
How much does McKenzie Milton mean to the Knights? That’s an easy one, how about 1-point on the spread for the American Athletic Conference title game matchup with Memphis. UCF opened at -4.5 and with Memphis backers feeling confident now that Milton isn’t there to dog their team the Tigers are getting some action. These teams have a current history but it all involved Milton. They’ve played three times since the start of the 2017 campaign and UCF has won them all, though they’ve been close. The Knights won an epic double-overtime game, 62-55, in last year’s AAC title game and overcame a 16-point deficit earlier this season to eke out a 1-point win. Memphis is riding a four-game win streak and slaughtered Houston last week to advance, so the Tigers have to feel good about their chances.
Stanford at Cal
Opening Line: Stanford -2
Current Line: Stanford -3
They aren’t playing for a conference championship, but this game may mean more to the players and coaches involved than anything else. The oldest rivalry in the western part of the U.S. is known as the Big Game and it’s been played since 1892. Stanford has enjoyed a huge amount of success over the last decade and the Cardinal has owned the series with eight consecutive victories. Though the teams have the same record entering the game, Stanford is getting over 60 percent of the action, pushing the opening line of -2 up a point to -3 and that’s a significant move to a key number.
NCAA Football Odds
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