Article courtesy of OddsShark.com, lines provider to Sports Talk Radio:
Pitt's college namesake is favored by 31 points, while its pro team is a 3-point underdog to the NFL's worst team.
Football returns to western Pennsylvania — for real in the college ranks and for a final week of pretend in the NFL. In both cases, the lines seem to favor Pitt and the consensus points to each of them covering the number, according to OddsShark.com.
The Steelers visit Carolina, those 2-14 darlings from a year ago, in their final preseason match. These teams meet each August and the Steelers have dominated lately, going 5-1 ATS against the Panthers. The opened as a PK, meaning plenty of Carolina money has gone into this game, most of it after it was announced that Big Ben would not play at all.
Call in the Charlie Batch Factor. He will start and Dennis Dixon will follow him. The Steelers are already turning their attention to a tough Week 1 challenge at Baltimore.
No Bull: Pitt huge chalk vs Buffalo
The line opened at 29 points and fans thought that was a lot to lay against a non-conference foe in Week 1. Then the betting kept pushing the line higher.
Pitt now faces a 31-point spread in its opener against Buffalo, a team that was as bad as its 1-11 ATS mark would indicate in 2010. But that's a lot to lay in a home opener, no?
"Crazy things have happened in Week 1 in the past, especially when you are dealing with a huge spread," says Mike Pickett of OddsShark.com. "And there are more than a dozen huge numbers of 25 points or more this week."
It would be a stunner if the Panthers failed to start 1-0 (one shop was offering +4000 on Buffalo, which is 400/1 odds on a straight-up upset, and it would like sink their BCS odds even lower.
Most sportsbooks in Vegas and online has Pitt at 150/1 to win the national title, but just 7/2 to win the Big East (South Florida and West Virginia are head of them). There are also some fun props on Tino Sunseri (third pick to have the most passing yards in the conference) and Ray Graham (second pick to have the most rushing yards).
Check out the latest football matchup reports, live comparative odds, searchable databases and more.
http://oddsshark.com/nfl/pittsburgh-carolina-odds-september-1-2011
http://oddsshark.com/Stats/GameLog/Football/NFL/24
http://oddsshark.com/ncaaf/big-east-2011-odds-preview