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01/28/2012 - Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams continuing to jockey for position within the ACC meet in Raleigh tonight, as the 19th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers take on the NC State Wolfpack.
Virginia is an impressive 16-3 this season, but the team is just a game over .500 in conference (3-2). The Cavaliers took care of visiting Boston College with relative ease the last time out, 66-49, but they have alternated wins and losses over their last four bouts. Virginia is 4-1 in true road games this season, giving the team some extra confidence heading into this clash.
NC State took on bitter rival North Carolina on Thursday night, and was beaten back in a 74-55 loss in Chapel Hill. As a result, the Wolfpack enter this contest with a 15-6 overall ledger, and they are 4-2 in ACC action. NC State has won 11 of its first 14 home games of the season, and including this matchup, will play five of its final nine regular-season bouts in Raleigh.
NC State owns an 80-57 lead in the all-time series with Virginia, but the Cavs have won six of the last eight meetings.
Virginia's strength is its ability to play shut-down defense, as the team is allowing a paltry 50.1 ppg to rank among the national leaders in that category. Foes are shooting just 38.7 percent from the field overall, and only 26.9 percent from three-point range. The Cavaliers also control the glass (+7.0 rebounding margin), and are +2.3 in turnover differential. From an offensive standpoint, the team boasts one of the league's top performers in Mike Scott, who hits his total shots 58.1 percent of the time, his free throws at an 81.2 percent clip, and he grabs 8.4 rpg for good measure. Joe Harris (12.3 ppg) is the only other double-digit scorer for Virginia, which puts up 64.4 ppg on 45.7 percent field goal efficiency, which includes a 33.3 percent showing from beyond the arc. Scott was high man once again for the Cavaliers in their recent rout of Boston College, going 7-of-11 from the floor in netting 18 points. Akil Mitchell and Jontel Evans chipped in 10 points apiece for coach Tony Bennett's club, which shot 50.9 percent from the field and turned the ball over only eight times.
NC State took it on the chin in its recent matchup with rival North Carolina, as the team shot just 36.8 percent from the field and only 44.4 percent from the foul line. In contrast, the Tar Heels made good on 48.4 percent of their total shots and dominated the glass to the tune of a 48-26 rebounding advantage. The Wolfpack did manage to hit nine three-pointers in the game, but they committed 17 turnovers and were outscored in the paint, 42-20. Scott Wood was the only player to reach double figures for coach Mark Gottfried's squad, as he tallied 11 points even though he went just 4-of-12 from the floor. Wood is one of five double-digit scorers on the roster for NC State, as he leads the team with 13.2 ppg on the strength of his 44.4 percent (56-of-126) effort from beyond the arc. C.J. Leslie (12.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg), Lorenzo Brown (12.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 7.2 apg), C.J. Williams (11.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and Richard Howell (11.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg) round out the group, which averages 75.9 ppg on 47.2 percent field goal efficiency, which includes 37.0 percent from downtown. The Wolfpack yields 68.6 ppg, and lays claim to a +5.4 rebounding margin.
<< Sixth-ranked Bears welcome Longhorns to Waco
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Baylor Bears continue their quest
towards the top spot in the Big 12, as they welcome the Texas Longhorns to
Waco for a conference showdown at the Ferrell Center.
Scott Drew's Bears are 5-2 in-con
<< Blue Devils and Red Storm collide in Durham
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the 14th straight season, the Duke Blue
Devils and St. John's Red Storm will take time out of their conference slates
to meet on the hardwood.
The eighth-ranked Blue Devils are 5-1 in ACC play this season. T
<< No.3 Orange take on Mountaineers at Carrier Dome
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked Syracuse Orange return home
to defend their top spot in the conference standings, as they welcome in the
West Virginia Mountaineers for a Big East showdown at the Carrier Dome.
Jim Boeheim's O
<< No. 12 UNLV comes calling on Air Force
USAFA, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Closing in on the 20-win plateau, the 12th-ranked
UNLV Runnin' Rebels take their act on the road tonight as they clash with the
Air Force Falcons in Mountain West Conference action at Clune Arena.
Since losing to
Kaman could be a keeper elsewhere >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You can forget about blowing the whistle
on ageism in sports.
After all, it's not only accepted it's expected.
If you were wondering why the New Orleans Hornets are actively trying to trade
center Chris
Davis moves Rangers closer to the top >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A goal in each half from Steven Davis
propelled Rangers to a 4-0 win over Hibernian at the Ibrox Stadium on
Saturday, moving the club to within a point of leaders Celtic.
Davis scored the lo
Notre Dame picks up 18th straight victory >>
Queens, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Skylar Diggins had 24 points, six assists and
three blocks, as the second-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish picked up their
18th straight victory with a 71-56 decision over the St. John's Red Storm.
Devereau
Kagawa fires Dortmund past Hoffenheim >>
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shinji Kagawa netted a pair of goals to
lead Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday at Signal-
Iduna-Park, extending Dortmund's unbeaten run to 13 games.
Goals from Kagawa and Ke
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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