Sunday was another great day as we got out of the Tuley’s Takes home office with the NFL conference championship games and covering the National Horseplayers Championship at Bally’s Las Vegas (soon to be rebranded as the Horseshoe) and meeting up with old friends.
Of course, the day was made a lot more enjoyable as the Bengals not only covered as 7- to 7.5-point road underdogs at the Chiefs but upset them 27-24 in OT. Then, the 49ers nearly did the same as 3.5-point road dogs at the Rams; they lost 20-17, but fortunately for our purposes they still covered the spread.
And then there was the NHC, which I’ve covered the finals every year since its inception in 2000. As always, it came down to the last race of the three-day tournament.
You’ll be able to find that story on the VSiN.com/horses page on Monday morning, but for now let’s recap the rest of Sunday’s sports betting action and then try to keep our winning streak going with a best bet for Monday.
Sunday’s recaps
NFL: Rams rallied to beat 49ers 20-17 in NFC Championship Game to advance to the Super Bowl and set up the match with the Bengals. The Rams did NOT cover the consensus closing line as the 49ers covered as 3.5-point road underdogs (though some Rams backers were able to push on -3). The game stayed Under the betting total of 45.5 points. Earlier, the Bengals rallied to beat the Chiefs 27-24 in OT of the AFC Championship Game. The Bengals closed as 7-point road underdogs and + 270 on the money line. The game stayed Under the betting total of 54.5 points despite going to OT.
More NFL: Faves/dogs split 1-1 SU in the conference championship games, but dogs swept 2-0 ATS. Unders also swept 2-0. Faves lead 7-5 SU in the playoff heading to the Super Bowl, but faves/dogs have split 6-6 ATS. Unders have also dominated the playoffs at 8-4 (66.7 percent).
Super Bowl opening line moves: The Rams opened as 3.5-point favorites vs. the Bengals with an Over/Under of 51 at the Westgate SuperBook. When the advance lines for the possible Super Bowl matchups were set last week, most books had the Rams -3.5 though the South Point went to Rams -4. It didn’t take long for nearly all Vegas books to move to Rams -4, though BetMGM held the line at Rams -3.5 and Treasure Island chose to offer the lowest spread on the Rams -3 but jacked up the juice to -125. The Over/Under dipped a little during early wagering and still hadn’t settled as of late Sunday night as it’s ranging from 49.5 to 50.5.
NBA: Faves/dogs split 4-4 SU on Sunday, but dogs led 5-3 ATS as the Spurs (+ 13.5) covered in 115-110 loss at Suns. The upsets were by the Clippers (+ 6.5 at Hornets), Pistons (+ 7.5 vs. Cavaliers), Nuggets (+ 6.5 at Bucks) and Magic (+ 5 vs. Mavericks). Overs went 6-2.
CBB: No. 6 Purdue beat No. 16 Ohio State 81-78, but did NOT cover as a 9-point home favorite. No. 17 Providence beat No. 22 Marquette 65-63, but did NOT cover as a 2.5-point home fave. No. 17 Wisconsin beat Minnesota 66-60, but did NOT cover as a 11.5-point home fave.
NHL: Faves went 5-2 Sunday with the only upsets by the Kings (+ 200 in 4-3 win at Penguins) and Stars (+ 115 in 6-1 rout vs. Bruins). Overs went 4-3.
Monday’s Take
West Virginia + 14 at Baylor: I was bummed on Saturday when I went 0-3 ATS with my CBB plays. After spending most of my day on the NFL title games and the horse racing tournament, I checked the Top 25 scores and was a little bummed that I missed out on the dogs going 3-0 ATS without me having a penny on any of them. However, it did reinforce that we’ve been finding value in fading ranked teams vs. unranked teams and that Saturday’s results were (hopefully) an anomaly. We’ve jumping back on that horse with West Virginia getting two TDs (yes, I know I’m mixing my metaphors and analogies) against Baylor. The Mountaineers stayed within 9 points in their first meeting (a 77-68 Baylor win), so I’m counting on them to stay within single digits again.
Good luck today (and every day!).