Vegas Likes Baylor over SMU by Double Digits

I've been waiting a little while for the more reliable lines to come out for the first Baylor game of the season next Sunday, and now we have them courtesy of VegasInsider. Baylor opened at either -11 (meaning they are favored by 11) or -10.5 with most books, probably a pretty fair line at this point considering what we know (or more importantly, don't know) about both teams. The early action seems to be on the SMU side, pushing the spread down to a uniform 10 points now across the board. That line is almost certain to continue to move in the next 11 days in one direction or another. As weird as it sounds, I'd expect it to bottom out at -9 this weekend before climbing again as action moves back across to Baylor's side. Only one book has an O/U for points set at 60.

This isn't a gambling blog, so I won't try to tell you how or what to bet (not least because sports gambling is illegal in the vast majority of the country). Vegas is typically very good at what it does, however, so it's generally worth paying attention to betting spreads to find out how "the industry" feels about a game. That's why, going forward, I'll post info about spreads periodically. I'm not suggesting you break the law in any way.