With Week 1 of the college football season kicking off, weather can certainly play a role in handicapping games. While there aren’t any games with double-digit MPH winds on Friday and Saturday, you do have to worry about extreme heat late in August. With higher temperatures and a greater risk of dehydration and cramps, teams may play with a slower pace and substitute players more in between plays. Additionally, high field temperatures could also impact player performance. As a result, you could see totals drop considerably in games with higher projected temperatures.
Knowing a game’s weather conditions is an important part of college football betting, so let’s check out three Week games where the total has cratered (by at least four points), with the weather being a potential factor.
Playing in 97-degree temperatures, even at night, is never fun. This total has fallen from 55.5 to 51.5 at DraftKings, though another factor could be how poor Fresno State’s offense looked in Week 0 against Kansas. With a new head coach in Matt Entz and a new quarterback in Rice transfer E.J. Warner, Fresno State was only able to put up a measly 7 points last weekend.
Hawaii at Arizona (Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET)
It’s going to be a scorcher in the desert, with projected temperatures of 94 degrees. This total was actually originally bet up from 52.5 to 57.5 before dropping back down five points to its original standing of 52.5. Hawaii starting quarterback Micah Alejado suffered a sprained ankle in Week 0 against Stanford. Even though Hawaii head coach Timmy Chang said that Alejado is expected to play against Arizona, that injury is likely more of a factor for this total swing than the weather.
In a battle between two top-10 teams, it looks like weather will be playing a factor when No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 10 Miami square off. It’s projected to be rainy at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night, as well as 81 degrees with 85% humidity mixed in. There are also expected to be thunderstorms earlier in the day.
Read the full article here