South Alabama Blowout Results in Voided Bets and Unique Settlements

On Thursday night, South Alabama showcased a stunning performance against Northwestern State, achieving a remarkable victory with a final score of 87-10. This game not only marked a decisive win but also set a new school scoring record.

The dominance exhibited by South Alabama led to an unusual situation where the coaches from both teams reached a consensus to shorten the fourth quarter by six minutes, resulting in a total of only 54 minutes of play.

This decision had significant implications for the sports betting outcomes associated with the match. Most college football sportsbooks require a minimum of 55 minutes of game time for bets to be considered valid, although there are exceptions based on interpretation.

DraftKings’ guidelines specify that for bets to have action, there must be five minutes or less of scheduled game time remaining, unless the outcome of a specific market has already been unequivocally determined. In this case, the total over/under was set at 59.5, as indicated by ESPN BET odds, meaning the betting outcomes were already resolved regardless of the last minutes of the match.

As a result, DraftKings classified the over bets as winners and under bets as losers. BetMGM similarly confirmed that they settled total bets in the same fashion. However, Caesars, ESPN BET, and FanDuel did not provide immediate comments regarding the outcome.

For the spread, which had been set at South Alabama -36.5, DraftKings voided all bets in line with their house rules. Nevertheless, the sportsbook announced that they would award cash payouts on Friday for any wagers on South Alabama’s full game and second half spreads as if those were winning bets. Bets placed on the first half and third quarter would remain unchanged.

In the case of BetMGM, all full game wagers on Northwestern State were voided per house rules, but South Alabama betting tickets were deemed as winners due to the game’s score being declared an official result by the governing body.

The NCAA’s official football regulations allow for the playing time of any remaining periods to be shortened by mutual agreement between the head coaches and the referee at any point during the game. This flexibility gives the coaches and officials the authority to adjust the game length in scenarios of overwhelming leads, although there is no established guideline regarding the duration of such reductions.

Instances of games being shortened due to significant score disparities have occurred at least three times earlier this season, each of which was handled differently by the respective coaches and referees.

For example, in a match on August 29, Arkansas achieved a commanding 70-0 victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The two teams agreed to play 10-minute quarters in the second half, reducing the total game time to just 50 minutes. This event was treated similarly to Thursday night’s game by both BetMGM and DraftKings.

In another instance on September 7, Georgia maintained a tight grip on the game against Tennessee Tech, winning 48-3. For this match, the coaches and officials decided to reduce only the fourth quarter by five minutes, resulting in precisely 55 minutes of total game time, thus validating all betting actions for that event.