America supposedly loves underdogs, yet the betting public generally gravitates toward favorites.
It's time to take a closer look at the dogs.
The ATS success of the Top 10 teams in college football last year was well-publicized; parylaying Alabama, Stanford, and LSU was a Sportsbook more often than not. However, even with the elite teams' success against the spread, the best bet in college football was home underdogs.
Home underdogs covered just over 53 percent last season, but some home dogs are better than others.
With just weeks to go before the season kicks off, here are some quick nuggets about the best and worst home dogs.
--Tennessee is 1-6 against the spread as a home dog under coach Derek Dooley. At Sportsbooks, the Volunteers are listed as home dogs against Florida (-3.5) on Sept. 15 and vs. Alabama (-13) on Oct. 20.
-- Oklahoma has been a home underdog only twice in Bob Stoops' 13 seasons. The Sooners covered both times: vs. Texas A&M (-3.5) in 1999 and vs. Nebraska (-2) in 2000. In comparison, Nick Saban has been a home underdog 20 times.
-- Wake Forest is 17-9 ATS as a home dog under Jim Grobe.
-- NC State is 10-5-1 ATS as a home dog under Tom O'Brien.
--While at Temple, Al Golden’s Owls went 8-2-1 ATS as a home dog. Will that trend continue at Miami? The Hurricanes were not home underdogs last season, Golden’s first.
-- UNLV is 43-72-3 ATS in the last 10 years, but a healthy 20-11-1 ATS as a home dog in that time frame.
-- Army is 10-22-1 ATS as a home dog in the last 10 seasons.
-- Western Michigan is 3-13-1 ATS as a home dog in the last 10 seasons.
-- Northern Illinois is 9-0 ATS as a home dog in the last 10 seasons.
-- Florida International is 8-2 ATS as a home dog in Mario Cristobal's five seasons.
