Columnist Jeff Haney: Titans draw early action in playoff wagering

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

Jeff Haney's betting column appears Wednesday. Reach him at 259-4041 or haney@vegas.com

To paraphrase late gamblin' man Jerry Garcia, "Bettors head back to Tennessee, Jed."

The lines for this weekend's NFL wild-card playoff games were posted Sunday night, and the most significant early action was on the Tennessee Titans in their AFC opener Saturday against the Bills.

"They're playing Tennessee with us, and I can see why," said Nick Bogdanovich, sports book director at the Stratosphere. "They're 13-3, they're looking strong, they beat Jacksonville twice -- and Buffalo is shuffling quarterbacks, which is not a good sign this time of year."

The Titans opened a 4-point favorite at the Stratosphere and were bet to 5 by Monday afternoon. The pattern was the same at other local properties including The Mirage, which opened the Titans minus 3 1/2 and moved the line all the way to 5 1/2.

There were no other early line movements at the Stratosphere, which lists the Redskins minus 5 1/2 over the Lions in Saturday's NFC game. In Sunday's games, the Vikings are 7-point favorites over the Cowboys and the Seahawks are 3 1/2 over the Dolphins.

"Tennessee-Buffalo is looking like the marquee matchup of the weekend," Bogdanovich said. "When you look at the Lions, Dolphins and Seahawks, they've all been struggling."

Bogdanovich said the Dallas-Minnesota game figures to have some appeal as well, thanks largely to bettors' eternal fascination with the Cowboys.

"That's also a good matchup," he said. "Minnesota has been coming on, and Dallas is ... Dallas."

* BOWL NOTES: Bogdanovich reported that the bulk of the money in Tuesday night's Sugar Bowl was on Virginia Tech, which indicates a solid win for the house as Florida State won and covered, 46-29.

"(The betting) was one-sided," Bogdanovich said. "We opened Virginia Tech a 6 1/2-point underdog and they bet them to (as low as) 5."

Gamblers fared better in last Saturday's Orange Bowl, another heavily bet bowl game. Michigan, a small underdog, got past Alabama in overtime, 35-34.

"I don't know if it was because it was close to a pick 'em, or because it was the last game on New Year's Day, but we got a lot of action on that one," Bogdanovich said. "They were mostly on Michigan, so the result wasn't good (for the house)." ...

Florida State fans exulted Tuesday when commentator Lee Corso of ESPN's College GameDay donned an FSU hat, signaling he liked the Seminoles to win. Corso is now 12-0 this season when he predicts the winner on location. The straight-up winner, that is. ...

Underdogs went 16-7 against the spread in this season's bowl games, including an 11-4 mark in December -- a record that extends the underdogs' recent hot streak in the early bowls.

In the totals department, there were 17 unders and six overs. Unders went 13-2 in December bowls. There were three bowl games with totals posted in the 60s, and all three went under.

* BIG (EASY) BETTORS: In the days leading up to the Sugar Bowl, at least a couple of Virginia Tech players found their way to Harrah's new casino at the foot of Canal Street in New Orleans. Senior running back Andre Kendrick admitted to dropping a bundle shooting dice. "I crapped out," Kendrick told the LA Times.

Tech defensive end John Engelberger told the Sun's Steve Guiremand he played blackjack "strictly by the book." Yo, John: If you're only playing basic strategy, even perfectly, any casino -- even some of this city's most notoriously paranoid houses -- will take your action all day and night. That should tell you something. ...

And in what Howard Cosell would have called "an unholy alliance," the NCAA and Indian gaming teamed up last week to present a college basketball tournament called the Oneida Bingo & Casino Classic.

* SUPER BOWL BETTING: The Super Bowl is a pick 'em at Caesars Palace, which opened the NFC a 2-point favorite last January and saw the line swing to as far as AFC minus 3. Caesars keeps the game on the board all year.

The total on the game is 48 1/2, down from an opening number of 53. St. Louis, the favorite to represent the NFC on Jan. 30 at the Georgia Dome, has scored an average of 32.9 points a game. AFC favorites Indianapolis and Jacksonville have scored 26.4 and 24.8 points a game, respectively.

* COLLEGE BASKETS: UNLV didn't come close to covering the three-touchdown spread on the offshore line in its 106-66 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. Wagering on the Rebels is not permitted in Nevada. ...

The Bearcats look powerful both straight-up (12-1) and against the spread (8-3) this season, with their only loss coming to 8-point underdog Xavier on Dec. 18.

That defeat was particularly surprising at the time, considering Xavier lost its three best players to graduation and traditionally, college basketball teams with only two returning starters are poor bets early in the season. (Then again, another school of thought will almost automatically take the underdog in an early-season matchup of crosstown rivals, especially if the favorite is ranked in the Top 25.)

Since then, it's become clear that Xavier may be undervalued heading into its Atlantic 10 schedule. Two nice surprises for the Musketeers have been Darnell Williams (12.2 points a game), back in form after missing a year due to a torn ACL, and new starting point guard Maurice McAfee (13.9 points, 3.9 assists). Xavier is 9-3 overall, 6-4 against the number.

* FIGHT GAME: Boxing is going through a slow stretch, but a line can be found on Saturday's bantamweight bout between former champion Johnny Tapia and Jorge Elecier Julio. The Mirage has Tapia a minus 290 favorite with Julio plus 230.

In Las Vegas' first major fight of 2000, Erik Morales is a minus 290 favorite against Marco Antonio Barrera Feb. 19 at Mandalay Bay for the super bantamweight world championship.

* DERBY WAGERING: In addition to early-bird betting on a select group of newly minted 3-year-olds (all thoroughbreds celebrate their "birthday" on Jan. 1), the Excalibur is also accepting wagers on the winning jockey and trainer for the 2000 Kentucky Derby.

Favorites among jockeys (with opening line) include Jerry Bailey (6-1), Pat Day (8-1), Chris McCarron (8-1) and defending champ Chris Antley (10-1). Gary Stevens was the top choice at 4-1 before he surprised the racing world with his recent retirement.

Top choices among trainers are Bob Baffert (3-1), D. Wayne Lukas (4-1) and Nick Zito (8-1).