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          Bad beats, a Hail Mary and not-so-special teams highlight weekend in betting

          • Jason Fitz
          Nov 13, 2022, 10:44 PM

          Who's ready for another wild weekend of winning or whining? All of us! Who learned our lesson last weekend? None of us! So, with that, the action didn't waste any time making the collective betting community yell with joy or pain.

          Sunday

          Minnesota Vikings at Buffalo Bills

          This game was drunk. Or maybe that was just all of us watching as it went down. Now, I know who most of y'all were rooting for.

          But nothing this season is easy for any of us. The Vikings converted an impossible 4th and 19th while driving down for what was sure to be the go ahead score. At least that's what we all expected until the notably creative play caller Kevin O'Connell went full Madden Goal Line mode with a 4th and goal quarterback sneak that was stuffed immediately. Ball game for the Bills, right? Not so fast. The next play was full chaos, as Josh Allen fumbled the snap trying to sneak OUT of the end zone, which was recovered by Buffalo for the game winning touchdown, right? Again. Not. So. Fast.

          I saw a heck of a play, but I didn't see a fat lady singing. Apparently neither did Allen who promptly drove the Bills down for the game tying field goal and the craziest game of the year gave us free football.

          Just when we were all afraid the game of the year would end in a dreaded tie, Allen found Patrick Peterson in the end zone while trying to win the game. Small problem, though. Peterson is a Viking. Ball game. As we fill buckets with tears, just remember this little nugget.

          5 very emotional buckets.

          Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs

          Everybody say hi Jarrett. Now tell Jarrett it's going to be ok.

          Actually, nevermind. It won't help.

          Jarrett placed a $5 bet to try to win $99,180. Let me say that again... He placed a $5 to win almost A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. The Titans and Broncos played nice, but Harrison Butker kicked Jarrett's butt with this miss that meant nothing to the game but everything to our buddy.

          1 bucket of tears -- because I can only imagine that Jarrett is in too much shock to actually cry any tears. So much for winning the betting lottery.

          Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams

          The battle of the backup quarterbacks between the Cardinals and the Rams is the perfect example of the 'show your math' approach to betting. The logic of taking the under in a game like this makes total sense, given both teams had laughable quarterbacks behind center. No one that followed that logic was laughing after this play, though.

          Now, 38 was a very reasonable number, but leave it to the juggernaut known as Van Jefferson from John Wolford with a whopping 7 seconds left to rip our hearts out.

          3 buckets of why did I bet on backups tears.

          Saturday

          Oklahoma at West Virginia

          Brent Venables is going to be a good coach, right? Oklahoma can beat West Virginia, right?

          The one thing the Sooners made sure of was that they'd give our wallets the beating we didn't know we needed -- and they'd get it done before we even got to halftime of the early action.

          This is exactly why you can't order the celebratory "drinks on me" round until the clock hits zero. This is also why announcers COULD wait until after a kick attempt to tell us that the kicker hasn't missed an extra point all year. A scoop-and-score highlight hitting just as you were confident that the -5 first-half number was about to come true for the Sooners is the ultimate kick in the no-no places to start the chaos of the day.

          2 buckets -- 1 filled with your tears and the other filled with the drink your favorite bartender just bought you to help numb the pain.

          Wright State at Louisville

          That's right, boys and girls, college basketball is back! And while you might be warming up to paying attention, the game isn't warming up when it comes to wild endings. A mere 24 hours after we watched Michigan State blow a double-digit lead to Gonzaga on an aircraft carrier, Wright State made sure we remember that this sport is all about the Cinderellas, and they're ready for their slippers.

          When is a shot not ugly? When it goes in to win the game! It's even prettier when that ugly game winner also pushes the game over (144.5). Louisville might be winless, but all you Wright State money-line and over bettors are undefeated. Both of you.

          1 bucket of "why are you already betting on college basketball" tears.

          Rutgers at Michigan State

          There's nothing better than a Hail Mary, and there's nothing worse than a Hail Mary that doesn't impact the final outcome but does impact everyone who had money on the game. Just when we thought Rutgers versus Michigan State wasn't worth suffering through, the football gods gave us this little nugget.

          Fourth-and-29? No problem. Rutgers +10? Problem. Rutgers takes the L, but Rutgers bettors get the W while also reminding us all that college football is the gift that keeps on giving.

          3 buckets of "I wish this had been a basketball game instead" tears.

          Nebraska at Michigan

          Ne-bad-ska was going to get thrashed by Michigan without a doubt. In fact, a whopping 75% of the money was on Michigan -31. With the game in hand late in the fourth, it feels like the gambling gods whispered that fact into coach Jim Harbaugh's headset, prompting this incredibly worthless field goal attempt late.

          Just watch the replay to see the wild joy from some of the fans in the stands to realize that even people in the stadium were paying attention to their bets instead of the game by that point.

          3 buckets of blowout tears.

          Friday Night-Mare Lights

          Colorado at USC

          Colorado is not good at football. Breaking news. Sports betting might not be legal in California, but style is, and USC was going for all the style points late in its Saturday night slaughter of the Buffaloes.

          Sixty percent of the tickets and 55% of the money were on USC -34. So Lincoln Riley ensured that Christmas came early for everyone by pushing in a wildly unnecessary touchdown to make sure the College Football Playoff committee AND the betting community had something to cheer about.

          1 bucket of Pac-12 after dark tears