Plays for Conference Championship Sunday
Football Betting Lines
01/19/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Only two teams since the 2006 season have reached the Super Bowl by winning on the road in the conference championship round.
One of those squads, the New York Giants, who pulled the road trick following the 2007 season, is in action on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. The other team, last year's Green Bay Packers, will not have a chance to join the New England Patriots as the only repeat Super Bowl winner since 2000 because of their 37-20 loss to the Giants this past Sunday.
The team favored to win has fared well in recent years in the conference championship games, going 8-2 since 2006. Furthermore, the home team also has won eight of the last 10 games. Still, both the favorites and home teams are barely above the .500 mark against-the-spread with similar 6-4 marks.
Which two teams will reach Super Bowl XLVI? Let's take an inside look at the two games:
AFC
The first contest, in the AFC, pits Baltimore at New England. I mentioned last week the Ravens were a miserable 4-11 ATS in their previous 15 games when giving more than a touchdown. Well, they are also 1-5 ATS in their last six contests when getting that many points. The one time they covered a game came versus New England.
Baltimore also blew out the Patriots, 33-14, the last time the two teams met in postseason play. On the other hand, this New England squad is a lot different than the one from two seasons ago. That club won just 10 games overall after winning only four of its final eight regular-season games.
This year's team finished the regular season with eight consecutive victories and blew away Denver by 35 points in the divisional round last Saturday.
The Patriots do not have the best of records when favored by more than a touchdown, a mere 8-10-1 ATS in their last 19 games. Nonetheless, they snapped a very impressive streak last week, becoming the first AFC team that was favored by a touchdown or more to cover the spread in the divisional round since 2005.
Not only did the Pats end the winless stretch, they obliterated it with their 45-10 stomping of the Broncos. They are now averaging 37 points per game in their last nine, and even though the Ravens are a solid defensive team, that type of offensive production will more than likely continue, especially at home.
On the other side of the ball, New England has given up 20 points or more in six of its last seven, so the over might be an enticing play for bettors who like to play the totals. One would expect the Ravens to run up more than the 227 total yards they picked up against Houston, particularly against this Patriots defense.
NFC
San Francisco has to feel great about its win over New Orleans in the divisional round, but don't forget the Saints almost won the game despite turning the ball over five times. The 49ers came into the game with the No. 1 defense in the conference in both scoring and yards allowed and gave up 32 points and 472 total yards.
New York's offense might not be as prolific as the Saints, but the Giants have averaged 30 points per game over their last four contests. They are also 6-2 in their last eight road games. Going out to San Francisco will not faze them one bit, especially since they played there earlier in the season.
That game came down to the final minute with New York driving to tie the game at 27. Unfortunately for the Giants, they failed to convert on a 4th-and-2 at San Francisco's 10-yard line and that was the game.
The 49ers held on and covered the spread despite being outgained by 90 yards. The Giants also dominated the time of possession as they held the ball for almost 10 minutes longer. In addition, they were 9-for-17 on third- and fourth-down conversions, while San Francisco was 3-for-11.
The Giants' biggest negative statistic, outside of the final score, was two turnovers to one, and the second one, early in the fourth quarter, was crucial. The Niners scored what wound up being the game-winning touchdown just one play after intercepting Eli Manning for the second time.
The Giants came into San Francisco just one week after upsetting the New England Patriots, so a letdown was more than possible.
Getting back to last week, New York benefited from a Packers running attack that turned the ball over three times as well as from a receiving crew that failed to catch the football on a consistent basis. As was the case with both NFC games this past weekend, this Sunday's game could very well come down to turnovers.
Other than possible miscues, the two X-factors are Manning's health and the weather. Manning had to leave Wednesday's practice with a stomach illness, and rain is in the forecast all week long, so make sure to follow both the quarterback's progress and the weather forecast right up to game time.
THE PLAYS
Assuming Manning is 100-percent healthy, the best way to attack the two match-ups is by playing a six-point teaser with New England giving 1.5 and New York getting 8.5.
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2007 online football betting Preview
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.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
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.
Las Vegas Sports Lines
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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Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament odds
As of February 9, MySportsbook.com has released its coveted 2007 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament betting odds. “March Madness betting ” only a month away, the top ranked Florida Gators are favorite at 7-2 to win it all. The defending champs have not disappointed at all this season and currently have a 22-2 record and are undefeated (9-0) in SEC play. The Gators’ thrive off of their extremely balanced, experienced and versatile attack. All five starters started in last seasons National Championship game. What is most impressive with this group is their balance; the five starters all average between 10.7 and 13.6 PPG. The Gators have been on an absolute roll having won 15 straight by an average of 16.4 PPG.
Right behind the Gators are the 5th ranked UNC Tar Heels at 9-2. The Heels (21-3, 7-2) are absolutely loaded with top notch talent and are as deep as any team in the country. A concern for the Tar Heels might be inexperience. Of their top four scorers/ minute earners, three are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. The rest of the regular season, the Tar Heels play only one team that is currently ranked (Duke). Their remaining opponents do combine for an impressive 107-58 record though.
Other teams that the MySportsbook.com members seem to believe will win it all include the west coasts’ top team #2 UCLA (6-1), #3 OSU behind man-child Greg Oden (8-1), and #4 Wisconsin (10-1) behind their defense which has given up 70+ points only three times all season.
Below is a list of some of the favorites to win the 2007 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship lines. For the full list of teams and March Madness odds be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com. If you want to use your credit card to bet on college hoops or any other event, MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.
Arizona 20-1
Butler 20-1
Duke 30-1
Florida 7-2
Georgetown 30-1
Indiana 35-1
Kansas 15-1
Marquette 25-1
Maryland 40-1
Memphis 50-1
Nevada 50-1
UNC 9-2
OSU 8-1
Oregon 30-1
Pittsburgh 15-1
Texas 30-1
Texas A&M 18-1
UCLA 6-1
Wisconsin 10-1
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