Sportsbooks have had to adjust their sports betting odds on South Florida in college football betting since starting quarterback Matt Grothe got hurt. The Bulls star quarterback suffered a torn left ACL in Saturday’s win over Charleston Southern and is out for the online sports betting season. His loss is huge and will affect the odds at the offshore sportsbook.
Sportsbooks had the Bulls as one of the college football betting contenders in the Big East this season. Grothe had started 41 straight games for the Bulls and was a major factor on the betting line at sportsbooks. He is the Big East Conference all-time leader in total offense with 10,875 yards as sports betting stats show. This online sports betting season he was everything for the Bulls on offense as he accounted for almost half of their total yards, throwing for 512 yards and running for 121 yards as offshore sportsbook notes. “It’s tough losing a player and leader of Matt’s caliber,” South Florida offensive coordinator Mike Canales said.
Sportsbooks have the Bulls as an underdog against Florida State in their next game. South Florida will look to redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels who was 10-of-13 for 149 yards and one TD in place of Grothe. Florida State is more than a two touchdown favorite in the game at the sportsbooks. With Grothe in the lineup the line would have been much closer to one TD at the sportsbooks.
South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt knows that the team must move forward without Grothe. “They understand we move forward,” Leavitt said. “The players are great. They love Matt to death, and Matt knows that. Injuries are part of the deal. We’ve had a bunch of them the last number of years. I understand Matt is a little unusual, being a quarterback, most important position on the team and all those kinds of things, but we’ll move forward.”
Sportsbooks will have to take a wait and see approach with the Bulls under new quarterback Daniels. Leavitt seemed confident though in his redshirt freshman. “We’re excited about him,” Leavitt said. What will happen with South Florida in offshore sportsbook odds is that they will be undervalued. The injury to Grothe has been taken into consideration and the Bulls might actually be a bargain for a week or so until the offshore sportsbook oddsmakers get a handle on how South Florida reacts to losing their star quarterback.