Not only did Howard University become the first college football team to overcome a 45-point spread with their recent 43-40 upset of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, but the Bison may have helped some lucky gamblers to earn thousands on the dollar.
Some offshore betting websites listed Howard as a 600-1 underdog, which means a $100 bet on the Bison could have yielded a $60,000 reward. One reporter even found Howard listed at +71500 on the money line, according to Yahoo!, which is to say that a $100 bet would have netted a $71,400 profit.
Prior to Saturday, college football teams favored by more than 40 points had gone 253-0 since 2005, according to ESPN. And given the fact that Howard was coming off a 2-9 season at a lower rung of NCAA football, the Bison were a particularly unlikely candidate to become the first.
Howard University’s football team was coming off a 2-9 season and had never beaten a team from the NCAA’s top division.
Amazingly, a five-team parlay in which a gambler bet $10 on Howard’s victory, as well as four other specific upsets, would have netted over $2 million, according to For The Win.
Although it was played in Las Vegas, local sports books did not put a line on a game, according to ESPN, and that’s not unusual. Traditionally, Las Vegas bookmakers have avoided putting lines on games between FBS teams, such as UNLV, and teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, college football’s second division which happens to include Howard.
Even for an FCS school, Howard has never been known for its football program. Prior to Saturday, the Bison had never beaten an FBS team and were coming off a dismal season in which coach Gary Harrell was dismissed. In fact, over the last two seasons, Howard had gone just 3-19 while losing one game to Boston College, 76-0.
Now, not only do the Bison have a new coach in former Dallas Cowboys defensive back Mike London, but also a talented quarterback in Caylin Newton, the younger brother of former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP Cam Newton, who currently plays for the Carolina Panthers.
The younger Newton isn’t as big as his older brother (just 5-11 compared to Cam’s 6-5), but he does have speed, which he used to accumulate a remarkable 190 yards and two touchdowns on the ground against UNLV.
Las Vegas sports books didn’t put a line on the game, even though it was played locally, but some offshore websites offered the chance to make $60,000 by picking Howard over UNLV
One reporter for Pro Football Weekly found a listing for Howard at +71500, which means someone who placed a $100 bet on the Bison would make $71,500
‘My dad said don’t get caught up into the big, big schools, because they might not treat you the same,’ Caylin told The Charlotte Observer. ‘Coming to Howard, it’s not a football school right now. It will be, but it’s not right now.’
Back in 2007, Stanford overcame a 39-point spread to shock the University of Southern California, but that particular contest featured two football powerhouses that both played in one of the country’s top conferences, the Pac 10.
Coincidentally, Howard was not the only small school to pull off a big upset over a major university on Saturday.
Liberty overcame a 33-point spread on the road to beat Baylor University, 48-45, making Week 1 of the college football season one of the most unpredictable since tiny Appalachian State stunned Michigan in Ann Arbor 10 years and one day earlier.
Caylin Newton, the younger brother of former NFL MVP Camp Newton, helped Howard to the historic upset by gaining 190 yards on the ground and 140 yards through the air against UNLV