LSU's clock runout, Texas A&M's late TD among weekend's worst gambling bad beats



Sunday's NFL action featured a lot of clear-cut winners from a betting perspective, but that wasn't the case on Saturday in the world of college football.

Sunday's NFL action featured a lot of clear-cut winners from a betting perspective, but that wasn't the case on Saturday in the world of college football. Those who had action on games in the American Athletic Conference and SEC West learned no bet is ever safe until the final whistle.

Here are the worst bad beats of the weekend, all courtesy of the world of college football.

Saturday

Ole Miss Rebels at Texas A&M Aggies
Line: Texas A&M -13.5

Those who bet Texas A&M in its game last week against Auburn were left in disbelief after the Aggies failed to cover by half a point. This week, it was the Aggies who covered by that same margin after a late score.


The game was tied entering the fourth quarter, but it would ultimately be 15 minutes to forget if you had Ole Miss. Texas A&M scored 10 unanswered points -- with a Rebels' missed 22-yard field goal in between -- and led 31-21 with less than five minutes left. Ole Miss responded with a successful field goal attempt to cut the deficit down to 31-24 with 1:51 left.

After a failed onside kick, Texas A&M got the ball back in Rebels' territory and those who took the underdog unfortunately know what happened next. Trayveon Williams went 46 yards to the house to put the Aggies up 14 after the extra point. Ole Miss gave bettors one last glimmer of hope, but ultimately turned it over on downs at the Texas A&M 18-yard line and failed to cover by half a point.

Final score: Texas A&M 38, Ole Miss 24 (Texas A&M covered)

SMU Mustangs at UConn Huskies
Line: SMU -17

Saturday's crowd at Rentschiler Field proved it's officially basketball season for UConn fans, while those who bet SMU might also be switching their focus to hoops after the Mustangs allowed a late touchdown in this high-scoring affair.

In a game with virtually no defense, the 17-point spread came down to one final UConn drive as SMU led 62-44. A shanked punt of 23 yards set the Huskies up at the Mustangs' 40-yard line with 1:56 left. Those who bet SMU had to be in agony on UConn's final drive; the Huskies slowly worked their way to the end zone and capped off a nine-play drive with a 14-yard touchdown from David Pindell to Hergy Mayala with 36 seconds left.

SMU, which had led 31-10 at halftime, ended up allowing 40 points in the second half to the now 1-9 UConn Huskies.

Final score: SMU 62, UConn 50 (UConn covered)

Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Memphis Tigers
Line: Over/under 66

Another American Athletic Conference game and another late score that doomed some unlucky bettors.

Memphis led 27-0 at halftime, with Tulsa unable to do anything offensively. The Golden Hurricane ran just one play in Tigers' territory the entire half -- and it resulted in a lost fumble. The second half, however, was a different story. The teams combined for five touchdowns in a span of 10 minutes, 11 seconds to make the score 47-14 Memphis. With more 12 minutes left in the game at that point, bets on the under were in serious jeopardy -- but those on the under would be given false hope.

The score remained the same for almost the entire quarter before Corey Taylor's two-yard touchdown run for Tulsa sent the total over with just 11 seconds left.

Final score: Memphis 47, Tulsa 21 (total went over)

LSU Tigers at Arkansas Razorbacks
Line: LSU -13

While it had looked like those on Ole Miss took the worst bad beat of the day, another SEC West game stole the show in that regard.

LSU looked to be the right side throughout the game, but it turned out to be a weird final quarter in Fayetteville. The Tigers led 24-3 with less than 13 minutes left, and the way the game was playing out, the thought of Arkansas scoring two more times seemed pretty much impossible. Well, apparently no one told Arkansas' offense.

After being unable to move the ball all game, the Razorbacks put together touchdown drives of 76 and 75 yards and cut the deficit to 24-17 with 5:27 left. LSU made sure there would be no upset, as it started to run out the clock with first downs. In what had to be incredibly frustrating for those who bet LSU -13, Nick Brossette appeared to go down intentionally on multiple occasions as the game ended with the Tigers at the Arkansas 1-yard line.

Final score: LSU 24, Arkansas 17 (Arkansas covered)

UNLV Rebels at San Diego State Aztecs
Line: Over/under 52


This was the last college football game to go final on Saturday night, and it certainly provided some late drama for bettors. While UNLV winning outright as 24-point underdogs was a shocker, what went down in the final minute brought misery to those who thought they had pulled out a win.

With the Rebels leading 27-24, Lexington Thomas broke free for a 61-yard touchdown that appeared to push the total over with 59 seconds left. While UNLV was celebrating the score, a late flag was thrown for holding -- a really late flag, in fact. Regardless, the touchdown was taken off the board and the total ended up going under.

Final score: UNLV 27, San Diego State 24 (total goes under)

This article is a reprint from ESPN.com.  To view the original story and comment, click here. 


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