Defense comes up big for Mountaineers

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/05/2010 -

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -West Virginia is accustomed to scoring in bunches. What stood out after the season opener was an effort unseen from its defense in quite some time.

The Mountaineers earned their first home shutout win in 13 years on Saturday, giving up just 186 yards in a 31-0 victory over Coastal Carolina.

``Having a shutout is huge for this defense,'' senior defensive lineman Chris Neild said. ``This is the first shutout that I've been a part of since I've been playing here. We knew that we had to come out fast and make a statement and I think we did with this game.''

The Mountaineers returned nine starters on defense this season, led by a three-man front consisting of Neild, Julian Miller and Scooter Berry, so the result against an FCS opponent wasn't too surprising.

West Virginia also rolled out a new defensive formation with four linemen on passing downs that included junior college transfer Bruce Irvin. Coastal Carolina quarterback Zach MacDowall hurried many of his passes and often threw to spots where he didn't have any receivers.

``We put so much pressure on that quarterback on third down that he had a hard time releasing the ball,'' said West Virginia safeties coach Steve Dunlap. ``If we can continue to do that, it makes the secondary coaches look awfully smart.''

The pursuit to the ball also showed on running downs.

West Virginia was maligned for allowing six 100-yard individual rushing efforts last season, but eight different Coastal Carolina players combined for just 63 yards.

Safety Terence Garvin, a new starter, had 10 tackles to match his total for all of last season.

``We were flying around out there and I thought we looked real fast,'' Neild said.

Maybe not fast enough at times. The Mountaineers were unable to register any sacks and forced only two turnovers. They'll get the chance to improve on that Friday night at Marshall (0-1).

``I'm pleased with the way our defense played, reacted and took control of the game,'' said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart. ``The most important thing is that we played with reckless abandonment. There were collisions and not just contact.''

Some of the collisions came at a cost. Safety Robert Sands, the Big East's interception leader last season, hurt a thumb and his right shoulder on consecutive plays in the third quarter. His status for Friday's game wasn't immediately determined.

West Virginia earned its first shutout since a 38-0 win at Cincinnati in 2005 and its first home shutout win since beating Rutgers 48-0 in 1997.

The defense might be counted on for more such efforts until the offense can put together a complete game.

West Virginia led only 10-0 at halftime but scored on three of its first four drives of the second half. Geno Smith, making his first career start, completed 20 of 27 passes for 216 yards before taking a seat early in the fourth.

``I don't want to make excuses for Geno, but this was his first complete game and he's a sophomore,'' Stewart said. ``He'll get better and he's my guy.''

Noel Devine rushed for 111 yards, but the largest chunk of his yards came on a 39-yard run late in the game to set up West Virginia's final touchdown.

West Virginia has been looking for another offensive weapon to emerge to help out Devine and slot receiver Jock Sanders and the Mountaineers may have found that in sophomore Tavon Austin.

Austin, hoping to become more than just a return specialist for the Mountaineers, showed his speed at wide receiver against the Chanticleers, coming up with two nice runs after catches. He led the team with 90 yards on five receptions.

``The object was to get the ball in our playmakers' hands and I think that's something that we did today,'' Smith said.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.