When surveying the college football spreads for week, there was an abundance of home underdogs available to assess. I’ve taken the time to detail what I deem to be the three best early betting values in that regard.
Please keep in mind, all college football spreads displayed in this article are courtesy one of the top online betting sites at Bookmaker.
LSU @ #18 Florida 12:00 PM ET
Current Line: Florida +3.0
The Gators were handed their first loss of the season two weeks ago at Tennessee. Florida squandered a 21-0 lead in that contest. As I expected, they were flat last Saturday in a 13-6 win at lowly Vanderbilt.
Now they’ll face bitter SEC rival LSU, and college football point spreads shows them as a home underdog, despite being the rated team of the two. Can you say motivation?
Long time LSU head coach Les Miles was fired two weeks ago following a loss at Auburn. The Tigers responded well last Saturday in a decisive home win over Missouri, and provided interim head coach Ed Orgeron with a successful debut. LSU will face a much tougher opponent this week, and will do so in an extremely difficult environment to play in.
#6 Houston @ Navy 3:00 PM
Current Line: Navy +17.0
This Midshipmen are a far cry from the 11-2 team they were a season ago. Nonetheless, they’re still 3-1, and coming off its first defeat of the season at undefeated Air Force.
Navy has won 12 straight home games, and is 21-3 in its last 24 played in Annapolis. This will also be just the third time they’ve been installed as a home underdog since 2010. The Middies will also be out to revenge a 52-31 loss at Houston last year. Since 10/6/2012, Navy is 6-0 ATS when playing with revenge.
Houston was able to atone for their only loss last season by hammering Connecticut this past Saturday. This is a danger spot for the highly ranked Cougars, especially as a double digit road favorite versus an opponent with a strong home field.
#5 Washington @ Oregon 7:30 PM ET
Current Line: Oregon +9.0
This will be the first time since 2009 that Oregon has been installed as a home underdog. They enter this week on a rare 3-game losing streak. Do you want to know how rare? The last time Oregon lost 3-games in a row was way back in 2007. Two of their 3 losses came by just a 3-point margin. On a positive note, Oregon has defeated Washington 12 straight times, and covered in 11 of those contests. Despite the Ducks recent struggles, beware of the wounded animal.
Washington is feeling its oats after blowing out then #8 Stanford last Friday by a decisive 40-6 score. As a result, they’ve moved up 5 slots in the AP Poll from #10 to #5. It’s been awhile since the Huskies football program has garnered this level of notoriety and success. How they handle it at this point remains to be seen.