Ear to the gridiron: College football betting news and notes

This week, we’ll take a look at three teams coming off a bye following a disappointing performance. All three are stepping up in class this week, two home dogs and a double-digit road underdog.

Tiger Tales

Clemson suffered a true heartbreaker prior to their bye week, blowing a 17-point lead at Auburn and losing the game on a missed field goal in overtime.

But head coach Dabo Swinney was quite pleased with his team’s collective reaction to the defeat and their subsequent hard work during their bye week. However, handful of players still sounded disappointed following the road loss.

“It was tough to deal with. But it was something where we learned what we needed to do to improve. (In practice) we got a lot of things corrected that we needed to,” left tackle Chris Hairston said to the media.

Quarterback Kyle Parker took time off last week to rest his ailing shoulder. When he returned to practice this week, he sounded quite upbeat.

“I felt good. I thought I threw the ball well, especially coming back. My arm actually feels really fresh,” Parker said.

Last year, Clemson used its bye week to overcome a 2-3 start and begin a six-game winning streak that resulted in an ACC Atlantic Division title. Swinney says there wasn’t as much soul searching during this bye week.

“I do think we have the personnel and the chemistry on this team to really be a good football team. What we got to do know is try and create some momentum,” he told reporters.

Clemson is currently listed as a 3-point home underdog to the Miami Hurricanes Saturday. The total is set at 50.5.

Zook’s Crooks

Illinois has enjoyed quite a bit of success against Ohio State in recent years, including a shocking upset in Columbus in 2007 that propelled the Illini all the way to the Rose Bowl.

But since that trip to the Rose Bowl, the Illini are just 7-17 SU against FBS foes while compiling a 4-12 ATS mark in their last 16 lined games. They were outgained by Northern Illinois at home before the bye, barely escaping with a six-point win against a MAC foe.

The Illini have been besieged with some off-field distractions after starting offensive lineman Hugh Thornton was arrested following a fight at a local bar and pass rush specialist Michael Buchanon was arrested on a drunken driving charge. Zook didn’t sound too concerned about his team turning into a bunch of criminals.

“I don’t worry about discipline. (Players) understand what’s right and what’s wrong,” he said.

Illinois is not shirking their challenge on Saturday. Redshirt frosh QB Nathan Scheelhaase told reporters, “You don’t wake up every day and say 'I’m going to play against the second-best team in the country.’ You talk about that opportunity with the team doing it (beating the Buckeyes) three years ago, it’s still fresh with any Illinois fans that you talk to.”

For the Illini to hang tough with the Buckeyes, they’ll have to run the football effectively. Scheelhaase has not shown any ability to throw downfield just yet, completing a modest 54 percent of his throws for 380 yards through three games. But Illinois enters this game as the No. 18 rushing team in the country, averaging more than 220 yards on the ground per game.

Illini running back Mikel LeShoure hopes to follow in the footsteps of Illinois backs Rashard Mendenhall and Pierre Thomas, both of whom have enjoyed success at the NFL level in recent years.

“I told him, ‘Hey, Mikel. Go win this game.’ He played with an edge and will to get it done,” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said of LeShoure’s dominance in the win against Northern Illinois. “One thing I want him to do is when he’s out there one-on-one, he’s got to score. When you’re running more than passing, we’ve got to get more big plays in the running game.”

Illinois is currently listed as a 17-point home underdog to the No. 2 Buckeyes Saturday, as Ohio State leaves Columbus for their first road tilt of the season. The total is set at 50.5.

Rusty Huskies?

Washington got thoroughly embarrassed by Nebraska at home prior to their bye week in an ugly 56-21 defeat.

Following some time off for the players, the Huskies were back at practice Monday. Head coach Steve Sarkisian said, “It’s good to be back in game week. I thought the bye week came at a perfect time for us from both a mental standpoint but a physical standpoint.”

Things won’t get much easier for the Huskies this Saturday, facing another Top-20 team in USC, this time on the highway. To make matters even worse for the Huskies, USC is in serious revenge mode after Washington upset the Trojans16-13 in Seattle last year, despite being outgained by nearly 200 yards on the ground in the contest.

“I think last year, against SC, it validated a lot of the things we were trying to do. It showed that we were just out there talking about it but what we were doing was right,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian didn’t sound too worried about his quarterback, Jake Locker, who suffered through the worst game of his collegiate career against the Cornhuskers.

“He came back with a great week of work. He wanted to practice on Monday, which is traditionally a day off for the quarterback. We got back to fundamentals with him - getting his footwork right. We got him really believing. In that game, I might have tried too hard to attack Nebraska, instead of going to the things that really work well for us.”

Sarkisian’s players talked about the intimidation factor when playing USC at Memorial Coliseum in LA. Linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis

“We're not gonna lay down just because they have that logo on their helmets. We're gonna show that we're here to fight from the beginning. I absolutely think we can compete and pull the upset,” linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis said.

Washington is currently listed as a 10-point underdog at USC Saturday. The total is posted at 60.5.