Wake Forrest Demon Deacons Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

Wake Forrest was coming off a 2003 season in which they dropped seven of their final ten games against the odds and this came after a 2002 season in which they ended up as Seattle Bowl champions by beating Oregon. Combined with their first two games of 2003 Wake had beaten the sports betting line seven out of ten times and just as many sports bettors were beginning to believe in them, the inevitable market correction occurred. By the close of the 2003 season the Deacs were again scoffed at by the general sports betting public and even serious members of the sports handicapping community found little value in having them on their list of football picks.

With the support of the general public nuked entering 2004, Wake Forest again had the potential to be a “sleeper” team and offer value to bargain hunting sports bettors. While the Deacs received little attention at online sports betting blogs, the more prudent members of the sports handicapping community believed that Wake could offer some favorable spots against the odds.

Wake Forest proved to be an excellent value against “name brand” team Clemson to open 2004 as they lost 30-37 as 11.5-point road dogs. They were clearly overvalued in their next game, however, beating East Carolina at home 31-17 as 15.5-point chalks. Wake next clobbered North Carolina A&T in a non-lined game to improve to 2-1 straight up with well-respected Big East contender Boston College coming to visit.

Many veterans at sports handicapping felt that the pick’em line in the BC/Wake matchup was bizarre, that something just didn’t feel write about it and many online sports betting blogs called this game a trap. Wake won 17-14, which began a streak of three wins in their next four games against the odds.

Standing at 4-2 against the sports betting line, Wake Forest began to receive attention again from the general sports betting public, who seemed to overlook that fact that Wake was never favored in the four games that they covered. Wake was to end up being installed as chalks in three of their final four games by the sports betting odds makers and failed to beat the line in any of those four games, demonstrating again the importance of not being a reactive sports bettor.