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Doug Greenberg, ESPN
South Alabama crushed Northwestern State 87-10 on Thursday night, with USA setting a school scoring record. The onslaught was so bad that the coaches of both teams agreed to shorten the fourth quarter by six minutes, resulting in only 54 minutes of play.
This ended up being key for the sports betting results. College football sportsbook house rules usually require 55 minutes of play for most action to be considered valid, though there is leeway for interpretation.
DraftKings’ house rules state, “There must be 5 minutes or less of scheduled game time left for bets to have action unless the specific market outcome is already unconditionally determined.” The last part is crucial, as over and under bets on the total (in this case set at 59.5, per ESPN BET odds) can be deemed “unconditional” — in other words, they would have hit regardless of anything that could have happened in the final minutes of the game.
As a result, DraftKings graded overs and unders as winners and losers, respectively. BetMGM confirmed that it settled total bets in the same manner. Caesars, ESPN BET and FanDuel did not immediately respond to inquiries for this story.
For the point spread (set at South Alabama -36.5), DraftKings graded all bets as void in accordance with its rules. However, the book said it is awarding cash payouts Friday for any wagers on USA’s full-game and second-half spreads as if they were winners. First-half and third-quarter wagers stand as is.
BetMGM voided all full-game wagers on Northwestern State, in accordance with house rules, but graded South Alabama bets as winners, calling the final score an “official result” as “declared by the official governing body,” per the book’s house rules.
The NCAA’s official football rulebook says, “Any time during the game, the playing time of any remaining period or periods may be shortened by mutual agreement of the opposing head coaches and the referee.” Essentially, coaches and officials have freedom to cut off games in a blowout situation, though there is no standard for how much they should be shortened by.
These circumstances have occurred at least three times this season, with each one handled differently by head coaches and referees.
On Aug. 29, Arkansas defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 70-0, with the teams deciding to play 10-minute quarters in the second half, leading to just 50 minutes of game time. BetMGM and DraftKings applied the same rulings as they did for Thursday’s game.
On Sept. 7, Georgia steamrolled Tennessee Tech 48-3. In that case, the coaches and officials decided to shorten the fourth quarter by five minutes, making for exactly 55 minutes of play and thus validating all action for that contest.
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