Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/13/2010 - University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kalin Lucas scored 24 points in his return to the starting lineup, as 10th-ranked Michigan State halted a three- game skid with a 65-54 victory over Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Lucas injured an ankle in a loss at Wisconsin on February 2 and sat out a loss at Illinois before returning to the floor off the bench in Tuesday's setback at Purdue. He made 10-of-15 shots on Saturday and dished out six assists with only one turnover to put the Spartans back in the win column.
Chris Allen added 14 points and Durrell Summers contributed seven of his nine in a key second-half stretch for Michigan State (20-6, 10-3), which reached 20 wins for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons.
Talor Battle, the Big Ten's second-leading scorer, did his part for Penn State with 30 points, but the Nittany Lions (8-16, 0-12) remained the only winless team in league play with their 12th straight loss.
Michigan State carried a six-point advantage to the second half and Allen drilled a three-pointer right out of the gate for a 34-25 lead, but Penn State stormed back. The Nittany Lions grabbed a 46-44 edge on a three-pointer by David Jackson with just under 12 1/2 minutes remaining.
Summers answered with a quick bucket at the other end to tie it and drained a three-pointer a few moments later to give the Spartans the lead for good. He then added a pair of free throws and three consecutive baskets by Delvin Roe capped the 13-0 burst for a 57-46 lead with just over six minutes to play.
The Nittany Lions got only as close as nine from there.
A three-pointer by Battle had the Nittany Lions within one midway through the first half, but Allen countered with a shot from beyond the arc to ignite a 7-1 run that gave the Spartans a 22-15 edge.
Penn State battled back to within three before heading to the break down 31-25.
Game Notes
Michigan State sophomore guard Korie Lucious did not make the trip because of academic reasons, although he was not suspended...Jackson finished with 10 points for Penn State...Michigan State improved to 27-5 all-time against Penn State, including 11-3 at University Park. The Nittany Lions won the last meeting, last February 1 at the Breslin Center. The teams will meet again on March 3 in East Lansing...The Spartans outrebounded the Nittany Lions, 38-24.
<< Dementieva outlasts Oudin to reach Paris final
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elena Dementieva of Russia rallied from a set
down to beat American Melanie Oudin in the semifinals of the GDF Suez tennis
tournament.
The top-seeded Dementieva posted a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over last year
<< Soderling tops Davydenko in Rotterdam semis
Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sweden's Robin Soderling toppled
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the first of Saturday's semifinals at the ABN
AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The third-seeded Soderling earned a 7-6 (7-3), 6-
<< Red Wings try to get on track against Senators
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the struggling and injury-plagued Detroit Red Wings,
the upcoming break for the Winter Olympics couldn't come any sooner. The
Ottawa Senators likely wouldn't mind keeping the season going a little longer,
however, conside
<< Bruins visit sliding Panthers in Florida
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins appear to have rediscovered their winning
ways following one of the worst stretches in their history. The Florida
Panthers, on the other hand, are still searching for answers in matching their
longest losing
Burton, Harvick quickest in final Daytona 500 practice >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff
Burton and Kevin Harvick topped the speed charts in Saturday's final practice
for the Daytona 500.
Burton turned a lap around the 2.5-mile Daytona Internatio
FC Dallas releases defender Ansah >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas released Ghana defender Aziz Ansah on
Saturday, less than two months after signing the 29-year-old.
Ansah recently played for World Cup qualifier Ghana, and has played nine times
for his country. He
Celtic, Aberdeen battle to 4-4 draw >>
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic's Scottish Premier League title
hopes suffered a fresh blow after Tony Mowbray's side were held to a 4-4 draw
by Aberdeen on Saturday at Pittodrie.
The Bhoys could have taken advantage of R
Coach K gets win over Maryland in 1000th game for Duke >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Scheyer made 3-of-4 from three-point range
and finished with a game-high 22 points, as eighth-ranked Duke earned a 77-56
win over ACC rival Maryland at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Brian Zoubek turned in a h
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting