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By Max Meyer

There is no doubt that coaches play a big part in every sport. Just how valuable are they to the spread, though? The biggest college football Week 8 spread shift so far at Caesars Sportsbook involves a team that fired its head coach and four assistants on Monday. 

Washington State head coach Nick Rolovich and four of his staff members lost their jobs after not meeting the state’s deadline to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Now Washington State hosts a fellow school with a Cougars moniker on Saturday, as BYU comes to town. BYU opened as a 1-point road favorite in Pullman, and was already up to -2.5 before Rolovich and his assistants were officially dismissed. Since then, the line has gone up even more to BYU -4.5.

“The staff changes are 100% the reason behind that big line move,” said Craig Mucklow, Vice President of Trading for Caesars Sportsbook. “We’ve seen instances in the NFL where a team played without its head coach, like the Cardinals and [Kliff] Kingsbury this past weekend. But when it’s a bunch of people on staff, it’s an even bigger deal. The Saints were without a bunch of assistants earlier this season against the Panthers and they got clobbered. And I think the coaching staffs in college football are more important than in the NFL.”

BYU at Washington State is one of seven Week 8 spreads to move by at least 2.5 points at Caesars Sportsbook. The only other contest to swing by a field goal is Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State. This Sun Belt showdown on Wednesday night had the Ragin’ Cajuns first as 15-point road chalk and now it’s up to -18.

One Week 8 matchup has seen the favorite flip, and it’s a Big 12 battle. Kansas State originally was a slight 1.5-point road favorite against Texas Tech, however the Red Raiders are now laying a point in this conference clash. Another squad that opened as a home underdog that’s getting love from the market is Vanderbilt, as the Commodores have gone from +23 to +20.5 facing Mississippi State.

The other Week 8 spreads that have changed by 2.5 points from their opening number at Caesars Sportsbook are Northwestern at No. 6 Michigan (-21 to -23.5), South Carolina at No. 17 Texas A&M (-18.5 to -21) and Florida Atlantic (-4.5 to -7) at Charlotte. 

Meanwhile for totals, two stand out so far as one has fallen by 4.5 points and another has risen by 3.5.  

No. 2 Cincinnati at Navy now resides at 49 after opening at 53.5, even though the spread has actually increased from Cincinnati -26 to -27.5. On the other end, Colorado State at Utah State has jumped up from 55 to 58.5.

“Cincy is absolutely for real,” Mucklow said. “The sharps have been telling us that for weeks now with how they’ve bet them. Now they’re playing a service academy, and whether it’s Army or Navy or Air Force, they’re going to possess the ball a ton and eat up a lot of the clock. Cincy’s been scoring a lot this year, but it’ll be interesting to see how many points they put up here when they likely won’t have as many possessions.”

Check out Caesars Sportsbook’s biggest spread and total shifts for Week 8 of the college football season below. 