Vegas Releasing More Odds on Boston College Football Success

One month separates Boston College from their opening game at Gillette Stadium against the Massachusetts Minutemen.  And while preparations are being made at Alumni Stadium for the team to be ready, it's time for all of us to prepare our expectations for what might happen.

The first gambling lines are out for conference futures, and with it come the betting lines of Week 1.  Boston College has opened as 14.5 point favorites of UMass with an over/under of 48.5.  That means the gambling world is currently predicting a final score line of 31.5-17.  If BC wins 31-17, the gamblers win on all fronts.  If BC wins 32-17, the gamblers lose on all fronts.

Of course these are only first lines and a lot can happen in the next month.  If substantial action goes on BC with the points, the line will increase, whereas action on UMass will cause the line to decrease.  What we can all hope for is that Minutemen fans will bet heavily on their team beating a 14.5 point spread, causing the spread to come down.  If the line were to hit 10 points, I'd empty pretty much every penny I had into the Eagles beating the spread.

Remember that this is in no way an indication of the final score or what experts think what will happen; this is only a measurement of how fans are betting in their analysis of the game.

Along with the first lines of Week 1, the first gambling futures of 2014 are out in favor of who will win conference championships.  It's not really a shock to the ACC, but Florida State is the heavy favorite with smart money right now. The Seminoles are 4/11 favorites to win the league, and they're 1/6 favorites to win the Atlantic Division.  That means it would take an $11 bet to turn back a $15 return if FSU won the league, a yield of $4 on the original bet.  As for the division, betters would need to put down $6 in order to get a return of $7, a yield of a single buck.

As for the Eagles, BC is a longshot to win the league at 200/1, tied for last place with Wake Forest.  But they're remarkably better suited to make the conference championship game at 33/1.  That doesn't make a ton of sense, especially since they have the same odds to win the Atlantic Division as Syracuse.  But the Orange are 66/1 odds to win the league, and NC State, who has worse odds to win the division at 40/1, are better odds to win the league at 100/1.

Again, none of this is how experts think, but this how much the action is being laid on the Eagles.  Should action continue to avoid the Eagles in either aspect, the odds will simply become longer.

What do you think of the first odds for the Eagles?