College Football?s Most Profitable Teams Thus Far

            Most experts picked the Idaho Vandals to finish at or near the bottom of the WAC standings heading into the season but they have been cashing tickets for their backers all season long.  Idaho is 4-1 straight up but an astounding 5-0 against the spread making them the most profitable team in college football through the first five weeks.  Idaho has been the underdog in all five of their games but they have won all of them except one.  Idaho fell to Washington on the road by a score of 42-23 as 20 point underdogs.  However, they were able to cover the number by just one point.  The Vandals also have impressive wins over Northern Illinois and Colorado State.  Much of their success has been due to the outstanding play of their quarterback, Nathan Enderle.  Enderle has thrown for almost 1,300 yards and 7 touchdowns against just 3 interceptions.  The Vandals are averaging 272 yards a game through the air but do have some balance with an above average rushing attack that has averaged 131 yards per game on the ground.

            Nebraska is tied for second as college football?s most profitable team to beat on as they are a perfect 4-0 ATS.  The Huskers have been beating up on inferior opponents at home but bettors were willing to lay the chalk have come out on top.  Nebraska was favored by 23 points against Florida Atlantic, 21 points against Arkansas State, and 30 points against Louisiana Lafayette.  Their biggest test came against Virginia Tech on the road where Nebraska was listed as 5.5 point underdogs and nearly came out victorious losing 16-15 in a game where they had ample opportunities to win.  Nebraska is winning by an average of 32 points per game.  The defense has been outstanding giving up an average of only 7 points and 284 total yards per game.  They also have been extremely well balanced on offense and Zac Lee has done well quarterbacking the offense.  The schedule gets a lot tougher as the season wears on but right now Nebraska is stuffing wallets.

            Central Florida has been another surprising team this year as they were not expected to be anywhere near contending for the Conference USA title.  The Knights are only 3-2 straight up but perfect on the year in terms of covering the spread.  They were 16.5 point road underdogs in week 2 against Southern Miss but only lost by a touchdown in a very competitive game.  Another impressive showing by Central Florida came on September 26^th when the Knights traveled to play East Carolina as ten point pups.  They lost 19-14 in another game that was much closer than most people expected.  The numbers aren?t very impressive but Central Florida is staying in ball games where they appear to be overmatched and taking care of business in the two games they were favored.  Central Florida is very good up front on defense allowing just 99 yards rushing per game and that appears to be the strongest unit on the team.

Connecticut 3-0

Temple 3-0

Utah State 3-0

Ohio State 4-1

Stanford 4-1

Auburn 4-1

Alabama 4-1