College Football Betting Trends for Week 7: Lincoln Riley's Rare Role as Underdog

The college football season continues with Week 7 action, including several intriguing matchups both up and down the card that will help settle the College Football Playoff picture, but also some Group of Five conferences.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is one of the brightest young minds in the sport, and is in a rare spot as an underdog on Saturday night at Notre Dame. We have the historical trends for Riley as an underdog, and it hasn't been often dating back to his time as Oklahoma's head coach.

Meanwhile, Mike Gundy is fresh off a home upset last week against Kansas, a spot he has thrived as head coach of Oklahoma State, and Craig Bohl takes his upstart Wyoming Cowboys to Air Force for a historically favorable spot for his Poke.

Here are three trends worth monitoring heading into Week 7:

Lincoln Riley as an Underdog

Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and instantly found success in his predecessor's footsteps, making a College Football Playoff contender year in and year out. At USC, he hasn't been in the role of underdog much either.

In the few instances that he has been an underdog, Riley's teams are 4-2 against the spread with two straight-up wins. It's worth noting that three of those games were College Football Playoff matchups, this Saturday of course is not that, as USC travels to Notre Dame as a two-and-a-half point road underdog.

In regular season play, Riley is 3-0 against the spread as an underdog with two wins at Ohio State and Oklahoma State and a one-point loss to Utah.

Riley's teams are typically very talented and game to the role as an underdog. You can read more on our betting breakdown of this marquee matchup here.

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Mike Gundy as a Home Underdog

Last Friday, Oklahoma State came out of a bye week to beat Kansas State as a 10.5-point home underdog. Head coach Mike Gundy committed to a quarterback in Alan Bowman and gave him the keys to the offense in the off week and the team was rejuvenated, beating the defending Big 12 champs.

This shouldn't be a surprise to many as Gundy has been a good bet as a home underdog since becoming the head coach of the Pokes in 2005. It hasn't been often, but Gundy is 10-9-1 against the number as a home dog. You're going to say, "Wait, that's not that good?" But let's zoom in a bit.

Oklahoma State is regularly a high-floor Big 12 program, but the team has struggled against rival Oklahoma in the past, not covering in any game as a home underdog against the Sooners. It's worth noting OU has been the best team in the Big 12 over the better part of a decade, if not longer.

Against the rest of the Big 12, though, Gundy's teams are 10-6-1 ATS as a home dog. The Cowboys have shown out in this spot historically and will face a Kansas team on Saturday that is in the rare spot as a road favorite. Kansas has been a road chalk just 11 times since 2000.

You can check out our betting preview for Kanas vs. Oklahoma State here!

Wyoming's Success against Air Force under Craig Bohl

In college football, looking at the coaches and the development of systems is sometimes a better way to look at trends. Take Wyoming, for example, who has thrived as an underdog under head coach Craig Bohl in his tenure with the program dating back to 2014, especially against Air Force.

The Falcons are a unique team, regularly competing for postseason accolades such as a Mountain West title and bowl games, winning 61% under Calhoun dating back to 2007. However, since Bohl arrived at Wyoming, he has given the Falcons fits.

Since 2014, Wyoming is 6-2 against the spread, going 5-2 as an underdog, going 5-3 straight up.

Wyoming's rush defense is typically at the top of the Mountain West and this season is no different. the team is 52nd overall in terms of rushing success rate allowed nationally, elite for MWC standards.

Air Force is all about the run, rushing it more than any other team in the nation, and looking the part so far, rating seventh in terms of EPA/Play. However, Wyoming's been able to scheme up a sound defense to slow down the Air Force triple option and could do it yet again on Saturday night in Colorado Springs.

With a low total and a double-digit spread, it may be tough for the Falcons to get margin to cover. It's worth noting that service academies are 66-85 against the spread (ATS) as double-digit favorites dating back to 2005, a ghastly 44% mark. This makes sense as triple-option teams typically play slow and low-scoring affairs. With limited possessions, it's hard to win by the necessary points to cover.

Can Bohl cash another ATS ticket against Air Force?

We picked every game against the spread for the Top 25 matchups in Week 7 here

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Track Reed's bets here!