Tuesday was a fun day as we had four bowl games to enjoy in the Tuley’s Takes home office, though we were bummed to have the Holiday Bowl canceled between UCLA and NC State.
We were especially excited as we found the lone winning underdog with Texas Tech routing Mississippi State 34-7 as 10-point underdogs. In our writeup on that game, we mentioned that we also liked Auburn, Louisville and Minnesota as favorites (though Auburn and Louisville ended up closing as short underdogs with both losing). We were disappointed to go just 2-2 in our straight-up pools, but fortunately had much higher points on Texas Tech and Minnesota in our confidence pools.
The fact we gave out Texas Tech made us feel less guilty about not mentioned yesterday that we had a hunch that the Overs would come out hot with the NHL returning from its mini-break. As it turned out, all three games flew Over their totals and they also all hit the First-Period Over.
We’ll touch on that more when we get to our “takes” for Wednesday, but let’s get to the recaps of yesterday’s betting action.
Tuesday’s recaps
CFB: Faves went 3-1 SU and ATS Tuesday with lone upset by Texas Tech ( 10, 300 money line in 34-7 rout of Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl); Houston (closed -1.5 in 17-13 win vs. Auburn in Birmingham Bowl), Air Force (-1 in 31-28 win vs. Louisville in First Responder Bowl) and Minnesota (-6.5 in 18-6 win vs. West Virginia in Guaranteed Rate Bowl) won after closing as faves.
More CFB: Faves improved to 14-6 SU this bowl season with 1 pick-'em (Western Kentucky-Appalachian State) and faves also took 11-9 ATS lead with that 1 PK (faves are 11-4 ATS since an 0-5 start). Unders went 3-1 Tuesday as Overs dipped to 12-9 overall.
CBB: No. 1 Baylor (-39 in 104-68 rout vs Northwestern State), No. 4 Gonzaga (-34 in 93-63 rout vs. North Alabama), No. 17 Texas (-34 in 78-33 rout vs. Incarnate Word) and No. 25 Texas Tech (-29.5 in 75-53 rout vs. Alabama State) all won easily, but only Texas covered!.
NBA: Faves went 6-2 SU but just 4-4 ATS as the Raptors (+ 6 vs. 76ers) and Wizards (+ 8 at Heat) covered in losses. The upsets were by the Nuggets (+ 8 at Warriors) and Pelicans (+ 4.5 vs. Cavaliers). The Bucks (-15), Knicks (-5.5), Lakers (-5.5) and Kings (-5.5) covered as chalk. Overs 6-2.
NHL: Faves and Overs went 3-0 in Tuesday's return as the Lightning (-280 in 5-4 OT win vs. Canadiens), Golden Knights (-135 in 6-3 win at Kings) and Sharks (-215 in 8-7 shootout win vs. Coyotes) won but only VGK covered -1.5 puck line. The 3 games flew Over the Grand Salami (combined goals in all games) of 17.5.
Wednesday’s Takes
Virginia Tech + 3.5 vs. Maryland: Yes, we know Virginia Tech fired its coach and its QB – Braxton Burmeister – is in the transfer portal, but we’ve seen other teams playing for an interim coach do just fine (Texas Tech won with an interim coach just yesterday, though we lost the other day with Nevada). We’ve also seen plenty of teams have backups who do well once given the chance to start and expect that from Hokies QB Connor Blumrick. Overall, we feel we’re getting points with the better overall team and program.
Rangers-Panthers First-Period Over 1.5 -135 with Oilers-Blues First-Period Over 1.5 -145: Let’s stick with the Overs as the NHL continues to come out of its mini-break. We believe you’ll go at least 3-2 if you bet the Overs in Wednesday’s currently scheduled five games, but we’re also going to bet this parlay with FIrst-Period Overs. If it hits, it pays nearly 2-1 at + 194.