The beginning of the season may not have gone by the book for Illinois, but after college football’s week 1, the Fighting Illini beat the spread by the most points in college football.
Illinois fired head coach Tim Beckman days before the season’s start. Then, the opening game against Kent State was postponed from Friday to Saturday. None of it bothered Illinois. The Fighting Illini went into the game as a 13-point favorite, and exited the contest Saturday winning by 49 points, good enough for a plus-36 win against the spread.
That number represented the best margin of victory against the spread by two points over Mississippi, which won the game straight up by 73 points, and against the spread by 34 points.
On the opposite end of Illinois was Washington State, which some books provided a spread during the loss against FCS Portland State. The Cougars entered the game as 30-point favorites, and exited the contest losing by seven, good enough for a minus-37 point difference against the spread. That number was just one point worse than Kent State at minus-36.
Here’s how each conference concluded the weekend.
ACC, 10-3 ATS
Duke turned in the best performance against the spread during the weekend against Tulane. The Blue Devils won by 30 points straight up and by 23 points against the spread.
Pittsburgh was the biggest disappointment against the spread, winning by eight points straight up against Youngstown State, which equaled a minus-7 number against the spread.
Big 12, 3-6-1 ATS
West Virginia turned away Georgia Southern with a solid defensive performance, winning by 44 points straight up, good enough for a plus-28 points against the spread.
Despite going 8-2 straight up, Big 12 teams struggled to cover the spread. Texas suffered the biggest loss. The Longhorns lost by 35 points against Notre Dame. That led to a minus-26.5 total against the spread.
Big 10, 6-7 ATS
The week wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful either. As mentioned earlier, Illinois turned in the best performance winning by 36 points against the spread. Northwestern also was a big story nationally and was plus-20 against the spread in its win against Stanford.
Penn State could be the biggest disappointment of the day. The Nittany Lions had such an easy schedule en route to traveling to Ohio State in October, that anything other than being 6-0 would have been a surprise. Penn State ended the loss against Temple with a minus-23 against the spread.
Pac-12, 4-8 ATS
USC had the late game on Saturday and made the most of a home game against Arkansas State. The Trojans won by 49 points straight up, good enough for a plus-22 against the spread.
Washington State took home the worst number against the spread, but Arizona also didn’t impress. The Wildcats won the game against UTSA by 10 points, but it was a minus-22.5 against the spread.
SEC, 9-4 ATS
Mississippi dominated against FCS Tennessee Martin. The Rebels won by 76 points and 34 points against the spread.
The SEC had a good day, going 12-1 straight up. Even in its losses against the spread, it wasn’t bad. Kentucky and Auburn featured the worst return against the spread, with a minus-10.
