Cowboys' Super Bowl odds spike
— -- Bettors didn't think much about the Dallas Cowboys before the season.
That's changed.
After its upset of defending champion Seattle, Dallas is now 12-1 to win the Super Bowl at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. Only the Seahawks and Green Bay Packers have better odds in the NFC.
For the sports books, it's a great year for a perennial public favorite like the Cowboys to make a run. Betting was so light on Dallas in the offseason that its odds to win the Super Bowl fell significantly. In late January, the SuperBook opened the Cowboys at 30-1 to win it all. By September, after an offseason full of ridicule, Dallas had fallen all the way back to 75-1. Only five teams -- Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Oakland and Jacksonville -- had longer odds to start the season.
Vegas gamblers also bet heavily against the Cowboys in some of the early point spreads that were released in May by the SuperBook. Dallas went from a 1.5-point home underdog to New Orleans in May to a 7-point home 'dog to the Saints in September. The Cowboys destroyed the Saints 38-17 in Week 4.
While the majority of bettors faded the Cowboys, there were still a few wise to the team's potential. The SuperBook took 13 more bets on the over on Dallas' season win total of 8 than it did on the under. And the larger bets on the Cowboys' season win total were on the over, according to SuperBook assistant manager Jeff Sherman.
Dallas was a big as a 10-point underdog to the Seahawks at the Wynn and SuperBook on Sunday. The Cowboys (5-1, 4-2 ATS) dominated with 23 first downs to Seattle's nine. It was the biggest upset of the season, point-spread-wise, and handed the sports books one of their biggest wins of the day.
"We had one of our house players make a decent size bet on the Seahawks minus-9.5," SuperBook football oddsmaker Ed Salmons. "We had a ton of moneyline action on the Seahawks as well."
This week, though, the early action is on the Cowboys, who opened as 3-point home favorites over the New York Giants, but were laying 5 at most shops as of Monday.
Odds and ends
• Auburn's dramatic win over Alabama last season has had a lasting effect on the Crimson Tide. Dating back to last season's Iron Bowl, Alabama is 1-7 ATS. The Crimson Tide squeaked by Arkansas 14-13 Saturday thanks to a blocked extra point, but failed to cover and dropped to 3-11 ATS after a straight-up loss under coach Nick Saban.
• Baylor trailed TCU 58-37 with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter Saturday. At that point, the Bears were 16-1 underdogs to win the game on live betting at the William Hill sports book. According to William Hill spokesman Michael Grodsky, the book took only one bet on Baylor to win at those odds. The Bears scored the final 24 points of the game to win 61-58.
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