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By David Jones/PennLive columnist

I compiled this list a few years back using the incomparable Phil Steele's College Football Preview. But I didn't include the big losers that time. And the big winners have shuffled considerably since last glance. So, here's the updated and expanded version, again using the comprehensive point-spread info sifted from my complete collection of Steele annuals all the way back to the 1995 inaugural edition.

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For the purposes of these rankings, I've used only data for the past 10 seasons of major-college football (2008-17). During that period, 8 additional schools have applied for and begun playing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). I did not include them because of their smaller sample size of Vegas spreads. Had I done so, South Alabama, Old Dominion and Charlotte would have made the bottom 10 in cover percentage. Only the 120 schools, then, that have been playing full-fledged FBS football for at least 10 seasons are eligible for these rankings.

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THE BIGGEST LOSERS

I'll begin with the biggest losers, starting from #111 and descend to the absolute worst at #120. I've included cover percentage and overall record against the spread (ATS) in parentheses.



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#111 New Mexico State .433 (50-66-4)

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This is actually quite a bit higher than the Aggies were a couple of years ago. They've not only been winners against the spread the past two seasons (14-11) but had an outright winning season for the first time in 15 years in 2017 as well as their fourth-ever bowl and first since 1960. The opener at Arizona State (37-31), while not as close as the final score, showed the Aggies had some fight for the first time in forever. Doug Martin deserves some sort of special commendation.

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AP/Mark J. Terrill

#112 Arizona .430 (54-72-3)

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Rich Rodriguez brought with him from Michigan a penchant for under-performance against the spread and now is out the door in favor of Kevin Sumlin. After his Wolverines teams went 11-26 (2008-10), his Arizona clubs went 32-45-1 (2012-17). That'll get you fired. So will going 8-18-1 ATS vs. Pac-12 opponents the past three seasons.

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#113 West Virginia .429 (54-72-1)

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Dana Holgorsen probably isn't going anywhere soon because West Virginia knows it can't do a hell of a lot better. But few coaches have performed worse relative to bettor expectations recently. The onetime Mike Leach receivers coach at Texas Tech is 37-51 ATS in 6 years at WVU and this is certainly a place where the fans notice that. The Mountaineers have been whipped outright 6 straight times by recent Big 12 heavyweights Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and failed to cover in any of those.

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#114 Kentucky .427 (51-69-3)

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Kentucky is one of those shadow jobs -- in the shadow of basketball -- like Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Maryland and North Carolina. Someone like Mark Stoops can survive 5 years at a place like UK where he wouldn't someplace else. On the other hand, it's tough getting over the hump. On the other, you get some leeway because nobody really cares that much once November rolls around. Stoops is trying to be the first Kentucky coach in four decades, since Fran Curci, to manage a winning SEC record here. He's come close the last two seasons (4-4 in each). But a 4-9 ATS last year and 3-5 ATS in the SEC didn't help him much.

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AP/Karl DeBlaker

#115 East Carolina .422 (53-73-2)

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This is a bad football team, disorganized and sloppy on defense in particular. When you relinquish >50 in half your games, you're not just going to lose, your bettors are going to lose quickly. The Pirates did that last season. Their defense averaged an allowance of 45 points, worst of all 129 FBS teams. In these days of ample scoring, that takes some doing. ECU's record ATS the past 4 seasons is 16-32-1 which is close to the worst in FBS during that period.

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#116 Illinois .421 (51-70)

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The Illini are 14-22 ATS the last 3 seasons (worst in the Big Ten) and have had just one winning season ATS in the past 10 (2010). Lately, the major problem has been offense. Under longtime NFL defensive specialist Lovie Smith, Illinois has been about as bad an offensive team as the league has seen since 2004 Penn State. And that's bad, folks. You have a better chance of covering with a bad offense than a bad defense. But never scoring >24 points for an entire season is a difficult feat.

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#117 Michigan .421 (52-72-2)

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Jim Harbaugh was supposed to fix all this and he hasn't. For a solid decade under Rich Rodriguez, Brady Hoke and now Sharkface, Michigan football has consistently under-performed against the Vegas line. Last year was Harbaugh's worst of his three (5-8 ATS) including the 29-point beat-down at Penn State (-9) after climbing to within a point late in the first half, and that ugly come-from-ahead loss to South Carolina (+8) in the Outback Bowl.

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#118 Akron .415 (51-69-3)

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The Zips have managed one winning season both outright and ATS in the past decade and it was the same one and the same record -- 8-5 in 2015. It's hard to decipher exactly why bettors would expect anything in particular out of Akron football. Maybe because of its name coach -- Terry Bowden. The Zips did sneak into the MAC title game where they were bounced by Toledo, then got embarrassed 50-3 by Florida Atlantic and its shameless leader Lane Kiffin in a de facto road game at the Boca Raton Bowl.

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#119 UTEP .414 (48-69-5)

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The Miners were not merely the worst team in college football team last year (0-12), they were the most anemic on offense in quite some time. In no game did UTEP top 21 points and its scoring average of 11.8 was worst of all 129 FBS schools. Former Steelers OL coach and longtime UTEP assistant Sean Kugler turned a temporary minor miracle here in 2014 by getting the Miners to a bowl, but they were in only one game last season and went 2-9-1 ATS. Nothing's easy in El Paso.

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#120 Kansas .413 (48-69-3)

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Which brings us to arguably the worst Power Five program in America and certainly the worst against the spread over the past decade. Kansas not only has been horrid straight up but somehow has managed to even duck under its already low expectations. Blame the ugly end to the Mark Mangino regime after that incomprehensible 2007 season (12-1), then the over-hyped arrivals of would-be saviors Turner Gill and then Charlie Weis. Now, David Beaty is somehow getting a 4th season after 3-33 straight up and 12-22-2 ATS.

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The Stanford Tree takes the field at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

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THE BIGGEST WINNERS

Now, we ascend to the big winners, starting at #10 and climbing to the very best team at covering the Vegas line over the past decade. In case you were wondering, a hot streak the past 2 seasons has pushed Penn State into the black at .520 (66-61-1), though still not nearly healthy enough for this list. And I guarantee, other than hardened insider-handicappers, that #1 team will both stun and delight any college football fan, especially the locals. Here we go...

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#10 Oklahoma .564 (74-57-1)

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The Sooners have been a sizzling 25-15 ATS the past 3 seasons including 9-5 last year and 5-1 as home favorites. The lone real aberration was the stunning upset to Iowa State (+31) in Norman, among the largest missed lines in college football last year (38). Heisman winner Baker Mayfield revving the OU offense did not hurt the Sooners the rest of the time as they never failed to score at least 29 points.

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#9 Kansas State .567 (71-54-1)

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Since the legendary Bill Snyder came out of retirement 9 years ago to begin his second tenure in the program he resurrected three decades back, K-State has consistently topped expectations. The Wildcats' record ATS in those 9 seasons is a sparkling 67-47-1.

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#8 Louisiana Tech .567 (72-55)

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The Bulldogs have consistently been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in college football the past decade, both under current coach Skip Holtz and prior to that under Sonny Dykes. The 2012 team averaged 51.5 points a game and covered 11 of 13 outings. Something to remember in December: LaTech has not only won 4 of its past 5 bowl games but covered in 4 of 5, as well.

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#7 Ohio State .575 (76-56-1)

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Though they've not been anything special the past 3 years ATS, the Buckeyes have been a long-term Vegas winner both under Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel before him. OSU's positive record vs the spread a year ago (8-6) was, of course, pocked by the inexplicable 31-point loss at Iowa (+18) -- a 49-point miss on the line that ranks among the largest in Vegas in many years.

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#6 Alabama .576 (79-58-2)

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Show me a great coach against the spread and I'll show you a great coach. But even given that parameter, it's stunning what Nick Saban has done at Bama the past decade. You know how good the Crimson Tide has been in that period -- 5 national titles beginning with the 2009 season. Now consider that even with the loftiest expectations in the game, the Tide still has managed to exceed bettors' confidence, and not by just a little. Alabama's 6-7-1 ATS a year ago was just the second losing season for Tide bettors of the decade.

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#5 Wisconsin .578 (76-55-3)

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It doesn't seem to matter who the coach is in Madison, Bucky usually meets or exceeds bettors' faith. For a quarter century, hrough the tenures of Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen and now Paul Chryst, that ground game-and-defense formula has done 'Sconsin proud. Chryst's 26-14-1 is the best in the B1G the past 3 seasons.

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#4 Duke .585 (70-49-4)

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You cannot name a coach who's done more with less in the last two decades of college football than David Cutcliffe and Vegas stats bear that out. He no less than resurrected Mississippi during his needlessly truncated tenure there and has done the same thing at Duke over the past decade. No active coach in college football has more consistently exceeded bettors' expectations. Only once in his 10 seasons in Durham have his Blue Devils failed to clear a profit for the faithful (2012). Over the past 5 seasons, Duke is a remarkable .631 (40-23-2) ATS.

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#3 Oklahoma State .586 (73-51-4)

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He's a man. He's now much more than 40 (about to turn 51 in a couple of weeks). And even his cattiest detractors must admit, Mike Gundy has been a perfect match for Oklahoma State football as he now approaches his 14th season as head coach in Stillwater. Other than possibly Texas Tech, no team in the Big 12 has been involved in more shootouts than the Cowboys. And, as their record ATS attests, they usually not only win but cover.

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#2 Stanford .590 (77-53-3)

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Two huge seasons for Cardinal bettors (11-2 in 2011; 10-4 in 2015) have powered this record. David Shaw is responsible for both of those, though Jim Harbaugh was a Vegas winner in each of the 3 prior seasons here as well. Stanford has not had a losing season ATS since Harbaugh's rookie year in Palo Alto in 2007,

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#1 Temple .620 (77-47-1)

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Yep, it's true. The Owls are #1 in Vegas among everyone in college football over the past decade and not by just a little, either. Temple bettors bagged at least 7 wins in every season except the final glum year of the abbreviated Steve Addazio tenure (2012). Otherwise, the Owls have been gold. In particular, anyone who doubts what Matt Rhule achieved in his 4 years here as head coach (2013-2016) need only check out these numbers -- a whopping .673 percentage (35-17) ATS including covers in the final 12 games he coached before leaving for Baylor.

EMAIL/TWITTER DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com

Follow @djoneshoop

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