What We Learned as College Football Bettors in Week 6

Another week has come and gone in the college football season, and with it comes a few things that we can learn from heading into Week 7. It feels weird to say that despite seven weeks in, teams and players are still surprising me. 

For every team that's excelled and every player whose stats are better than expected, there are those who have stumbled along the way. Some, even fallen off completely. 

Wwithout further ado, let's take a quick gander at some of the top lessons learned from Week 6 of college football betting. All odds are via WynnBET Sportsbook. 

Alabama can lose 

Alabama lost their first game of the season as 17.5-point favorites to Texas A&M on the road. This is a sentence that has not been written since the 2019 Iron Bowl when the Crimson Tide lost their last game vs. Auburn. After that game, they went on to beat Michigan and the Citrus Bowl and haven’t looked back. 

That makes the loss to Texas A&M a real head scratcher. Sure, all teams lose. But 'Bama losing to the Aggies? It’s not as if Texas A&M had any momentum coming into this game as they had dropped their previous two to Arkansas and Mississippi State. The offense was playing slow and stale and QB Zach Calzado looked lost. 

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, 'Bam!' They came out and punched Alabama in the mouth a few times early, and despite taking the lead back in the second half, managed to come away with a game winning field goal at the end of regulation. 

While 'Bama is still a strong bet to make a run at the College Football Playoff, this loss definitely set them back a few steps. Turns out gods do bleed. 

Spencer Rattler's Struggles vs. Texas Continue

This season’s Red River Showdown between Texas and Oklahoma saw a bit of drama from the Sooners side of the ball. In a rather shocking move, HC Lincoln Riley decided to bench Spencer Rattler at QB after going 8 for 15 with 111 yards, two sacks and an interception. Rattler also lost a fumble, the first lost by the Sooners all year. Rattler entered the season as the top candidate to win the Heisman Trophy and was rumored to be in contention for the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. 

Backup quarterback Caleb Williams came on and lead OU to the victory. This marks the second year in a row that Rattler was sent to ride the pine during the Red River Showdown.

In a postgame Zoom interview, coach Riley stated that the decision to pull Rattler was due to his turnover issues and not with his overall performance. 

The Big Ten is making a comeback

When I was a kid, Big Ten football was king. Between Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska and Michigan State, the conference had some of the best teams in the nation. Now, however, aside from Ohio State, the Big Ten has rarely fielded a championship caliber team. The SEC took over as the conference of champions as it were and the powerhouses of the Big Ten fell out of favor with fans, and more importantly recruits. 

It seems now that the conference has turned a corner and has a couple of teams that could vie for a title. As it stands, there are five Big Ten teams ranked in the top 10 — (2) Iowa, (6) Ohio State, (7) Penn State, (8) Michigan and (10) Michigan State. The SEC currently has just two, (1) Georgia and (5) Alabama. 

While two of those ranked Big Ten teams do have losses on the year in PSU and OSU, both have looked better than their higher ranked competition. While there is still a lot of football left to play, it is possible we see more than one Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff this season.

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