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09/06/2010 -
Michigan-Notre Dame seems so last century now.
The game burnished reputations, showcased a handful of top NFL draft picks and often signaled whether either Midwestern power was likely to land a spot in the national championship picture. But the meeting of the sport's two winningest programs in South Bend this weekend will resemble something closer to ``Extreme Makeover: College Football Edition.''
Neither has been relevant the last few years and both are in the midst of rebuilding. On the admittedly slim evidence of Saturday's openers, each suggested a change of fortune may be in the offing.
``We've been through a lot. It's been tough on the coaches. It's been tough on the players,'' Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said after the Wolverines pounded visiting Connecticut.
``This is just one win,'' he added, ``but I'm going to let our players enjoy it.''
``I took on the challenge at Notre Dame because I want to see this program back to where I believe it should be,'' said coach Brian Kelly after a convincing win over Purdue in his first game in charge of the Irish, ``and that's amongst the elite in college football.''
While their problems have been similar, the programs have gone about rebuilding differently.
The Irish have been impatient. Kelly is their sixth coach since the start of the decade - counting George O'Leary, who never coached a game, and Kent Baer, who served in an interim role for a bowl game after Ty Willingham was fired - and the lack of continuity has shown on defense.
Like his predecessor, Charlie Weis, Kelly brought glittering offensive credentials and a reputation for developing quarterbacks to South Bend.
But against Purdue, the rigorous offseason conditioning program Kelly installed yielded immediate dividends on defense - four sacks and two interceptions by a team that was losing the turnover battle regularly. And Notre Dame's ground game was just as tough, piling up 153 yards with Armando Allen and Cierre Wood taking turns slicing and dicing the Boilermakers' defense.
Purdue coach Danny Hope called Allen ``the biggest difference-maker in the game. He's going to make a lot of other people miss, too.''
Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said something similar about Michigan's quarterback, the breakout star of the opening weekend.
``Denard Robinson is going to make people look bad,'' he said.
Robinson's debut couldn't have come a moment too soon for Rodriguez. Michigan has always taken the long-term view, and Rodriguez' predecessor, Lloyd Carr, held the job for the 13 seasons before that. Rodriguez was brought in to update the offense, but the results were so poor in his first two seasons that more than a few high-profile programs wouldn't have kept him around for a third.
Throw in run-ins with the NCAA over practice time - a first for the Wolverines' football program - and Rodriguez' continued employment prospects were dimming. But his Michigan higher-ups weren't the only one counseling patience. Rodriguez told anyone willing to listen that the spread offense that worked so well at every one of his last stops would succeed in Ann Arbor once he had the personnel in place. And Robinson turned out to be just the guy.
He ran 29 times for 197 yards and threw for another 186 yards, completing 19 of 22 passes. That's a lot of touches without even one turnover, something that killed Michigan down the stretch last season.
Speaking of which, the Wolverines began last season with plenty of promise, slipping past Notre Dame en route to a 4-0 start, only to lose seven of their final eight games, including five in a row. The same game proved an accurate barometer of where the Irish were headed. They stumbled to a 6-6 finish.
That explained Rodriguez' refusal to make too much of what might have been his biggest achievement so far in charge of the maize and blue. In his mind, preparations for Notre Dame couldn't begin soon enough.
``I will enjoy this for the next three hours and 10 minutes,'' he said, ``and try to get five hours of sleep.''
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Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for the Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.orgCopyright © 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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STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -Oklahoma State uber-booster Boone Pickens spoke for most fans of the Cowboys before their season opener Saturday night against Washington State.``I'm anxious to see what we've got in the way of an offense,'' Pickens said, not
<< No. 1 Alabama breaks in youngsters in rout
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Alabama took advantage of an opening rout to get plenty of youngsters on the field.The top-ranked Crimson Tide's top tackler in Saturday night's 48-3 route of San Jose State was freshman linebacker C.J. Mosley. The leading rus
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Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets and Darrelle Revis
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media outlets, but did not disclose t
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in the Sprint Cup Series by taking Sunday's Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta
Motor Speedway.
Stewart put on a dominating performance by leading 176 of 325 lap
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While I was busy searching for the best line to describe
Miguel Angel Jimenez, someone I don't know beat me to it.
In the Internet age, it isn't hard to believe how it happened.
Sports Illustrated writer Alan Shipnuck po
Phils eye first place in doubleheader with Marlins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even when Roy Oswalt is off his game, he is still pretty
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his team back into sole possession of first place in the National League East.
Set to
Mets resume rough road trip in Washington >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After breaking out of a prolonged slump with four solid
starts, New York Mets hurler Mike Pelfrey fell back into his struggling ways
last time out.
That is sort of how his team has been all season long.
Pelfrey will try
Braves head to Pittsburgh for key set with Bucs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A loss today could push the National League East-leading
Atlanta Braves out of first place for the first time since May 30.
They probably couldn't be happier to see the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Atlanta aims to maintain its ed
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.
It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.
We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.
Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.
Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.
Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.
NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.
The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
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