Betting Expert: 'Wiseguy Money' Making Illinois vs. Purdue Saturday's Hottest Game

A rush of "wiseguy money" is making Illinois vs. Purdue one of the hottest games to bet this Saturday, driving significant betting action and market shifts

Sep 28, 2024; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer (9) runs during the second quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Not Ohio State-Oregon. Not Texas-Oklahoma. Not Ole Miss-LSU. Not Penn State-USC.

No, out of all of Saturday's college football games, it was Purdue at Illinois (2:30 p.m. CT, FS1) that was sparking the most betting action at SportsBetting.ag.

And not only that, but the spread moved in major fashion well before it was revealed that Boilermakers quarterback Hudson Card was expected to miss the game while in concussion protocol.

SOLD OUT.

Celebrating the rededication of Memorial Stadium with 60,670 famILLy members. #Illini // #HTTO // #famILLy pic.twitter.com/djRUbuYUct

— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) October 9, 2024

"Currently, this game has the highest handle of any of our Saturday games, which is unusual for a non-marquee matchup," sportsbook manager Robert Cooper said. "The spread opened at Illinois minus-18 and ballooned all the way to minus-24 by Wednesday evening."

According to Cooper, 57 percent of the money was on the Illini as well as 62 percent of all bets. The insight is interesting:

"The real kicker here is that we have some dueling sharp syndicates on this game," he said. "One large group came in on Illinois early, which steamed it right away up to minus-22 and then the public followed that lead. Once the spread got to minus-24, we saw another professional service hit Purdue pretty hard. There's a ton of wiseguy money on this matchup."

The line opened at Illinois -15.5, and now it's playing anywhere from -21.5 to up to -23.5 depening on where you're leaning.

The moneyline has rocketed from Illinois -780/Purdue +530 to Illinois coming in between -2000 and -3000, and Purdue at +1000 to +1200.

The total, though, has stayed at a firm 48.5 throughout the week.

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