News of Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s positive COVID-19 test caused a ripple effect across betting odds involving the Tigers and the Heisman Trophy frontrunner.
Lawrence will miss at least this week’s game against Boston College, which led to SportsBetting.com shortening the Tigers’ odds for Saturday’s game to -24.5. The Eagles had been as much as 30.5-point underdogs at the sportsbook this week, but the spread had been bet down to 23.5 by midday Friday.
The Tigers were also bet down to -24 at DraftKings and PointsBet and -23.5 at FanDuel, where the over/under on the game is now 56.5.
Before the Lawrence news broke on Thursday night, 75 percent of the handle and 84 percent of the total bets at DraftKings were on Clemson -32.5. With the line shortened to 24 on Friday, the shift became 84 percent of the handle and 40 percent of the total bets were on Boston College.
SportsBetting.com was one of several books to temporarily remove odds involving Clemson. When they reopened, the Tigers’ remained the national title favorites, but their odds lengthened from +120 to +150.
Clemson is +180 at FanDuel, narrowly ahead of Ohio State at +200, while PointsBet was offering the Tigers at +150 and the Buckeyes at +275 ahead of Alabama (+325).
CFP title odds (SportsBetting.com)
Sportsbook.com‘s Heisman Trophy odds remained closed Friday. Lawrence had been a -130 favorite, but the book said the odds “will remain closed until his playing status becomes clearer.”
Lawrence remained a -105 favorite at FanDuel, followed by Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields (+260) and Alabama quarterback Mac Jones (+360). No other player is lower than +2400 at the book (Alabama running back Najee Harris).