The Texas Longhorns travel to Starkville, MS, this weekend to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs in what could end up being an exciting game in week 9 for both sides. The current spread according to FanDuel.com is Texas -6.5, but there's been some interesting line movement since the injury news came out regarding C.J. Baxter.
Usually, when an injury update to a key player comes out, especially at quarterback, it immediately influences the line due to the importance of the position. It's very rare that a running back, let alone one that's in a timeshare with another player (Tre Wisner) influences spread movement. Though it may just be a coincidence, the spread moved around the same time that Steve Sarkisian released the Baxter news.
The weirdest part about it? The line moved in the favor of Mississippi State.
The spread shifted from Texas -7.5 to Texas -6.5. It's unclear as to why something like this would happen, unless the betting public just happened to log onto their phones and bet on Mississippi State +6.5, which is what would've needed to happen for the line to shift to Texas -6.5. Vegas tries to do everything it can to keep the money "50/50" on both sides of the spread in order to keep it profitable for the sportsbooks.
To make the line "better" for Texas in that spot, it would've shifted to Texas -6.5 to try and get bettors to hop on that side of the line.
There would be no realistic reason to bet on Mississippi State unless college football fans really are in favor of the Bulldogs being able to keep it pretty close this weekend, which would be sad, though possible at this point. If this is the case, then the C.J. Baxter news coinciding with the line movement really would just be a weird coincidence then.