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When betting lines for this week in college football were released on Sunday, Florida was a 10-point underdog to Florida State.
Florida State opens as a 10 point favorite over Florida. #Gators
— Richard Johnson (@RagjUF) November 23, 2014
That has changed, and in a hurry.
It's still Monday but current bet splits from @BetCRISIntl show that 94% of early action for #UFvsFSU on the dogged Gators (+10.5 to +7)
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) November 24, 2014
It's not just BetCRIS (which I've honestly never heard of) that has lowered its line. The same is true for BetOnline, which apparently had Florida at +10 on Sunday, and now has the Gators getting seven and a half points.
Given that home field is a factor in this betting, it seems that sports books may see Florida as only a handful of points, three or four, worse than the Seminoles, who have one win by more than 11 points in their last five games, and are coming off two straight single-possession squeakers against Miami and Boston College.
"Overwhelming, historical favorite" FSU was favored by two touchdowns in all 12 regular season games in preseason lines, the first team since at least 1980 to be so esteemed by oddsmakers. But those lines have fallen repeatedly since. One reason for that: The Seminoles' performance against the spread, which is, at 3-8-0, tied for second-worse in the nation (with Alabama, amusingly!), and has likely lost a lot of confident partisan bettors some money.
Florida, for its part, is just 5-5-0 against the spread, but 3-1 both overall and against the spread away from The Swamp, having beaten Tennessee and Georgia as underdogs, covered against Vanderbilt, and failed to cover at Alabama.