Louisville vs. UCF college football Week 2 odds: Betting trend hugely against Cardinals on Friday
Fairly recent history says Louisville will not cover the spread on Friday night at Central Florida.
loading...
loading...
The first college football game of Week 2 features former American Athletic Conferences foes Louisville (now of course in the ACC) and Central Florida (heading to Big 12 next season) on Friday from the awesomely named Bounce House in Orlando. The Knights are 6.5-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook and one betting trend heavily hints that UCF will cover that number.
The Cardinals looked pretty terrible in Week 1. They were 5.5-point favorites at Syracuse and were pounded 31-7. Louisville didn't score in the final three quarters and turned the ball over three times without a single takeaway. Dual-threat QB Malik Cunningham finished 16 of 22 for 152 yards passing, rushed for 34 yards on 13 carries and was sacked three times. His 30-game streak of compiling at least one rushing or passing touchdown in a game came to an end.
Louisville had won the past three meetings in the series — all at home – while averaging 42.3 points, and had been 7-1 against the Orange since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. The seven points scored matched the lowest for the school under coach Scott Satterfield (whose seat definitely got hotter).
Since 1999, college football teams that lost their first game of the season as an away favorite and went on the road again in Game 2 are just 1-12-1 against the spread, a cover percentage of 7.7. That lone cover was by TCU in 2011. The Frogs lost Week 1 at Baylor 50-48 but then won Week 2 at Air Force 35-19. Straight up, teams in this scenario are 3-11.
Central Florida had no trouble with FCS school South Carolina State in Week 1, rolling 56-10. Ole Miss transfer John Rhys Plumlee, a former receiver, threw for 308 yards and four scores and rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown. The Knights had 605 total yards, the most by an AAC team this season. UCF is one of just eight teams with a 600-yard game so far.
Last year, the Knights visited Louisville and lost 42-35. The Cards' Jaylin Alderman returned an interception 66 yards for the winning touchdown with only 13 seconds remaining. Cunningham threw for a score and rushed for two to lead Louisville.
Which Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Join SportsLine now to get Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jonathan Taylor's huge season, and find out.