Saw a tweet that weather canceled the FSU/Savannah State game. 55-0 early in the third qtr.
What was the spread?
FSU is now playing their third-string quarterback. He’s passed for a touchdown, but at least they’re trying to be sporting about it.
I think it was still 69.5. They only needed 15 more to cover; I think they would have done it.
Do bookies honor bets on cancelled games or is that a push?
No, game was called due to lightning. All bets off. FSU officially wins but all bets are cancelled by Vegas and bookies.
Wait, I see now that they’re calling the game as “officially” ended, as opposed to “cancelled.”
That’s only because they knew they still would have covered. They were playing the equivalent of an average high school team. If the spread was 100, FSU might have left in its 2nd string QB a bit longer. 
Ah. I saw that (was watching the game), but didn’t realize the bets would be cancelled.
Shows you how often I bet. 
Aw, shoot. It was the right decision, of course, but still a disappointment. I was looking forward to all the postgame hand-wringing and raging debate.
Completely with Snarky Kong. Every time I’ve seen a “ridiculous” or “insulting” spread in football, it turned out to be justified in the end. The fact is, unlike, say, hockey, where a huge underdog can at least hope for a lucky breakaway or rebound to prevent a total massacre, if a football team can’t move the ball on offense and can’t stop anyone on defense, it pretty much can’t do anything but get rolled. I doubt anyone on the Savannah State end cared much as long as the check cleared.
As an aside, anyone know why bookies can’t keep at least a nominal fee for pushes or off bets? I certainly don’t want to work for nothing.
It’s just convention. That’s how they’ve always done it in this country. I could never figure out why over/under bets count the overtime scoring. For example, if the over/under on the Knicks-Bulls game is 200, and the game is tied 99-99, I would think that the fair outcome is under. But the convention is to count the overtime points as well, making the outcome ‘over’ if at least 3 points are scored in OT.
No, never.
I actually did win $75 two decades ago by betting a 3 game parley, one of the games being a ~60-70 point spread between Houston (Andre Ware was the QB at the time) vs some poor team (Rice, I think).
I took Houston and they covered.
I keep hearing that this SS/FSU game had the largest point spread in history, but I could have sworn those Houston teams (Ware, Klingler) also received ridiculous spreads like that.
What’s the convention for a ballgame? There’s point total over/under for those, too, right? What about an official game that gets rained out in the 6th, for instance? Is that a push?
Parlaying bets can boost the spread - are you remembering your bets rather than the actual lines?
It was something I did a couple of times, basing the lines off what was published in the newspapers.
But it’s likely possible that I didn’t get all the subtleties of what I was doing. I’ve never cared for gambling, so I haven’t bet on football since then.
The story locally is that at some point during the first delay, it was decided that the 2nd half would operate under a “running clock” (i.e., no stoppage except for timeouts). Once the clock started in the third, it kept running during the 2nd weather delay and time ran out before the game could resume.
I suspect there was a bit of a “let’s find a way to end this farce before somebody gets hurt” going on with a wink-and-a-nod from the officials and the NCAA.
Yes, they become pushes as do the “run line” bets. The money lines stay. Additionally, if either starting pitcher is changed from those listed, over/under and run line bets are erased.
Yes, that’s correct. (And I reported it upthread [post 34] shortly after it was announced.)
Sorry. Missed that. It is interesting to note that several people around here (incl. the beat writer for the local paper) have stated that they never saw any lightning at the stadium.
With that said, there was lightning here (10 or so miles away) and NCAA rules deal with lightning in the area, not just at the stadium itself.
I think you have a misunderstanding about bookmaking. The betting line is ultimately a number so that bookmakers make equal money on both sides of the line. They make their money on the vig.
As an Okie growing up in the Switzer era I can tell you it wasn’t uncommon to hear Barry Switzter say “we’re going to hang half a hundred on 'em!”