Caleb Williams’ Rushing Yards Prop Might Be The Worst Bad Beat Of The Year

Sports betting has become a prominent point of discussion on most every network now that betting is legal in more than half of the country and every league (and sports TV network) has official partnerships with sportsbooks.

While the sports betting boom has introduced new segments and thrust lines and totals into everyone’s faces, there is still no one who does it better than Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve on their midnight SportsCenter. For years, SVP has waded into the sports betting space, as he did Winners on his radio show long before he had his own edition of SC. That said, when Van Pelt took over his own hour, he and those working on the show had the foresight to recognize that the thing that unites all bettors is the pain of seeing a sure winner turn into a loss.

Bad Beats is the best segment of any sports show on television, as every Monday night we get to see the most painful betting moments of the week that was in sports. While bad beats can happen anywhere in the sports world, college football and college basketball are at the soul of the show and, typically, produce the most outrageous losses. This week featured what I would argue is the worst beat of the year as SVP and Stanford Steve made history by diving into the world of props for a beat so heinous that it deserved Part 2 status with Caleb Williams rushing yards prop of 32 in the Pac-12 title game.

In the words of Stanford Steve: Roll tape (jump to the 4:30 mark for the start of Part Two).

To go from 73 rushing yards in the first quarter to 21 by way of sacks is one of the worst things I have ever seen from a betting perspective. Williams injured his hamstring which kept him from scrambling most of the game after that 59-yard rush, but even so, there’s not a world where that particular bet should have a chance to lose. And yet, here we are. The sacks at the very end with the game already decided are particularly painful, both from the perspective of this prop bet but also knowing Williams is back there as a sitting duck with a hamstring injury and USC just kept trying to throw deep while Utah teed off on the Heisman favorite.