Great moments in fixed football games.

UNLV football has a long and storied tradition in fixed football games. Just last year UNLV was whomping the sadly over matched Air Force team. They scored a TD with two minutes to go in the game, nothing suspicious there, it happens. I happened to have the over which thanks to lots of heavy betting had jumped all the way up to 61.5. The TD plus the extra point would have left me a stinkin half point short. But magically and unacountably the UNLV coach decided to go for the two point conversion so that UNLV won 41 to 21. I won the bet for no other reason than the UNLV coach wanted that over to cover! There is no other reason why the the coach would choose to win by 20 points with two minutes to go rather than 19.                             

But that doesn't come close to the infamous UNLV game back on August 31 2002. Vegas put up a terrible number for that game favoring powerhouse Wisconsin by only 3 points over lowly UNLV. Sharps and Cheeseheads alike pounded that game and by kickoff the spread was moved 5 points all the way up to 8. Wisconsin fans filled the stadium and of course they took advantage of legal betting in Vegas and they all had bet heavily on Wisconsin. With 7 minutes to go and Wisconsin up by 20 guess what happened. You can't so I'll tell you. The lights went out. Strangely only at the stadium and just two minutes before the 55 minutes required to make it an official game. The lights just couldn't be fixed (unlike the game) for over 55 minutes so the bets were voided.  It was damned near a full fledged riot as red faced badger fans tried to cash their voided tickets.

Now I'm not one to believe in conspiracies that involve more than just a coach or a key player that has run up a big gambling debt. I see a lot of that nonsense around here. I think college football is for the most part very clean. But shite happens occasionally. 

"Major sports books would have lost only between $10,000 and $20,000 on the game, according to a Review-Journal article at the time. Their losses would have been offset largely because Badgers fans also pushed the total from 53 to 58 points.

'It surely wouldn't have gone over the total, and I'm sure there was a lot of parlay action on the total," said Ken White, chief oddsmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants."

Straight from the Las Vegas Review Journal, the lights just went out because they went out...nothing fishy

That is a blatant lie and Ill tell you why. Vegas doesn't lose a piddling 10,000 to 20,000 on a sports bet that has heavy action on the wrong side. They lose that much on individual bets. I am not calling you a liar nickeydime but that rag of a newspaper sure is. When a line moves 5 points that means heavy action is on one side of the bet, everybody here knows that. This particular incident was so shady, so infamous it drew the attention of powerful politicians like Senator McCain whom used it to try and outlaw sports gambling. It doesn't surprise me that the vegas PR machine worked hard to cover this whole thing up. Vegas has cleaned up a lot since this happened way back in 2002, that much is true. But that the lights went out just in this stadium was nothing fishy? I've got a bridge to sell you nickeydyme.

AF/UNLV the temp was 8 degrees and snowy and the kicker already had two XPs blocked and missed a chipshot FG, so it makes some sense to go for two because the kicker/snapper/holder obviously couldn't execute in the weather conditions.

I watched the game and it was nasty. You have a good point but it still surprised the crap out of me. Seriously bad coaching manners to go for two, but I sure didn't mind. Usually teams just sit on the ball with that big of a league late in a game but UNLV was definitely still running up the score. Point well taken though, maybe it wasn't a clear case of fixing like I thought it was.

I don't buy virtually any conspiracy theories, but for whatever reason, crappy UNLV plays well ATS at home...all one has to do to not be burned by whatever is going on here, if anything, is to just avoid UNLV at home...

I think the fix theorists are delusional.    either they did not do their homework, or they had bad luck, or both...instead of griping about it, they just need to improve their craft...

nothing beats the UNLV/Hawai'i game when Hawai'i was a 20 point favorite and lost by 20 with crazy money on UNLV ML

The wisky lights out game a fix. Yes

There are way too many fixes by QB's, coaches or refs to name them. I remember a game where the star QB tried to shave as many points as possible but his teammates basically gave him the finger and still let the Over hit.

I mean he had REALLY tried hard. Red zone interceptions, fumbles, everything. I've even witnessed stories in real life where a player was on the take trying to "help a buddy out" who happens to be in a lot of gambling debt. Sometimes the fix is obvious, sometimes it is not. Sometimes it is successful, sometimes it is not. We are not talking billions of dollars per game. Sometimes two teammates will seem to be playing against each other and one would give up and join the blowout because there is more to gain (getting laid, etc) is getting with the groove than laying down to "help that degenerate buddy out".

FYI I am not complaining. I have been on the right side of the fix more often than not.

Hooray...football season is here.  Queue all the MORONS to come out and share their "knowledge" with everyone!!  

good call on the McQueary audible into a bomb ..he was a huge degenerate gambler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eV4No5wvHY

College football is by and large very clean. Fixed international soccer and point shaving in college basketball are relatively common. I really think the mobster days of early Las Vegas are just a memory now. I can't stand it when crabby losers come into covers and blame some idiotic conspiracy on how come they lost. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was much beloved in Las Vegas even though he started out as a lawyer representing the mob. He knew that gambling was a golden goose that needed to be cleaned up. He intervened after the infamous lights out at the Wisky game and he helped to get the mobsters eased out of the spotlight as up front owners of casinos and books in Las Vegas. There no fixed complicated conspiracy theories that make sense. Are there kids on college scholarships that get fronted way more money than they can pay back at casinos? I would think so. I specifically mention college basketball as a sport where point shaving happens quite frequently because statistics has proven it. Thousands of game outcomes have been placed on a bell shaped curve and lo and behold there is a marked dimple right at where the point spread is. What you have is a game where individuals are much more likely to be able to change the game outcome without being too obvious and you have dead broke 21 one year olds who might be stars of their college team but have no shot at playing in the NBA.

Way easier to shave points in hoops than in football.  Agreed.

LOL.....Line got crushed wiht Rebel money because Moniz was seen playing craps at 4 am multiple nights, including the night before (morning of) the game....among other hawaii players.......word spread fast among the locals and there are even allegations  that there was a lot of hawaii player money on the rebels....