The J-Dub Gambling Challenge 2022: The “Non-Cover Winner” Edition

If you recall from the J-Dub Primer on Gambling, there are some forms of betting in which it’s not so much about whether your team wins…it’s can be about by how much they win. For those of you not familiar, it works like this:

Sides (Point Spreads):

Playing “sides” means you are picking one team to win. The most important component of “sides” betting is the “point spread” This is a device used by “bookies” to keep the action equal on both sides of the bet. In this case, instead simply picking the “favorite” team to win, that team has to win by a certain amount in order for you to cash a winner.

Let’s use the following line as an example:

Anywhere Tech -4
Southern State

In this case, Anywhere Tech is a four-point favorite. You can tell this from the -4 on their line. This means if you bet on Anywhere Tech to win, they would need to win the game by more than 4 points for you to cash a winner. Conversely, if you bet on Southern State, you still cash a winner even if they lose…so long as they lose by less than four points.

Also, some websites always place the “point spread” on the line for the home team, which is usually the team listed last. In that case, the “bookie” would denote Anywhere Tech being a four-point favorite by putting +4 next to Southern State. While that can be confusing, the easiest way to keep it straight is to simply imagine the “point spread” being added or subtracted from the actual scores of the team on which the line is places. Let’s say the final score of the Anywhere Tech – Southern State game was 20-13. Anywhere Tech covered the spread because if you subtracted four points from their score (or added four to Southern State’s total), Anywhere Tech would still be the winner.

Now, if the final score had ended up being 20-16 – meaning Anywhere Tech won by exactly 4 points – its a “tie,” which in gambling terms is called a “push.” When a “push” happens, all bets are returned, but the “bookie” keeps the “juice.”

That was the theme for the pummeling the J-Dub Gambling Challenge bankroll took last week. Thanks to a slate of teams who I picked that won, but didn’t cover the point spread, the bankroll took a haircut to the tune of $423, leaving the season total at a barely-above-water $5.235 from the original 5K.

Maybe this week I’ll stick to over/unders. Hell, who am I kidding? Even my cat has fifty bucks on “I won’t.”

LEGAL DISCLAIMER (mandated by our very own Small Town Pizza Lawyer):

Thanks to the Supreme Court, gambling is no longer illegal at Bushwood, sir. However, the Supreme Court can’t really help me unless one of them is willing to keep Mrs. J-Dub from braining me with a cast-iron skillet if she found out how many dimes I’m dropping on college football.

That means that as far as she knows, all wagers are mythical in nature and this is in no way, shape, or form a gambling advice column. In other words, if you lose your own “real” money, that’s nobody’s fault but yours, so don’t yell at me when we meet at the plasma center on Monday.

If you think you have a gambling problem, go find the 800 number on your own. I’m not a goddamn public service announcement.

---

The Standard Plays

• Syracuse at Clemson (-13.5) O/U 50.5 $50 Syracuse, $50 Over
• Cincinnati (-3.5) at Southern Methodist O/U 60.5 $75 Cincinnati
• Baylor(-10) at Kansas O/U 55.5 $75 Kansas, $75 Over
• Duke at Miami (FL) (-8.5) O/U 58.5 $100 Miami (FL)
• Texas (-6.5) at Oklahoma State O/U 61.5 $50 Texas, $50 Over
• West Virginia at Texas Tech (-5) O/U 65.5 $150 Texas Tech
• Mississippi at Louisiana State (-2.5) 67.5 $50 Mississippi, $50 Under
• Boston College at Wake Forest (-20.5) O/U 60 $25 Wake Forest, $25 Over
• Northwestern at Maryland (-14) O/U 51.5 $100 Maryland
• Mississippi State at Alabama (-20.5) O/U 60.5 $150 Over
• Arizona State at Stanford (-2.5) O/U 53 $100 Arizona State, $100 Under
• Texas A&M (-3.5) at South Carolina O/U 44.5 $250 Texas A&M
• Kansas State at Texas Christian (-3.5) O/U 54.5 $50 Kansas State
• Pittsburgh at Louisville (-3.5) O/U 55 $50 Pittsburgh
• Washington (-6.5) at California O/U 56.5 $125 Washington

The Almost Always Punitive Purdue Bet

Since I live in the heart of Big Ten country, almost literally in the shadow of Ross-Ade stadium, those around me who know I’m a gambler will invariably ask me about the Boilermakers, so I might as well bet on them…

Purdue at Wisconsin (-2.5) O/U 51.5 $250 Purdue

The Dubsism College Football Heavyweight Champ Bet:

We went back to the very first college football game in 1869, and the premise is simple…you’re the champ until somebody beats you. The current champion is the Oregon Ducks

UCLA at Oregon (-6.5) O/U 69.5 $50 Oregon, $50 Over

J-Dub’s Payday of the Week:

It’s like the game says…the idea is to hang on to your cash. That means this is the “big play” of the week; the one that should make today “Payday.”

Minnesota at Penn State (-3.5) O/U 44.5 $1,000 Penn State

---

Got a question, comment, or just want to yell at us? Hit us up at  dubsism@yahoo.com, @Dubsism on Twitter, or on our Pinterest,  Tumblr,, Snapchat or Facebook pages, and be sure to bookmark Dubsism.com so you don’t miss anything from the most interesting independent sports blog on the web.