10/27/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmie Johnson and his No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team can do no wrong in this year's "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship, as evidenced by their remarkable comeback in Sunday's race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Johnson was caught speeding while entering pit road during a round of green- flag stops on Lap 98, and after serving his drive-through penalty, he fell one lap down in 30th place.
"I made that mistake getting onto pit road I guess," Johnson said. "I'm not sure where. But somewhere I was speeding and had to do that pass through on green flag stop conditions. It just killed us."
This was supposed to be Johnson's mulligan in the Chase, but that turned out not to be necessary.
Carl Edwards took home the trophy for winning the race, his seventh Cup victory of the season, but Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, should have won an award for being the most valuable player in the event.
Johnson managed to get back on the lead lap during the mid-stages, but it was a gutsy late-race call by Knaus that helped the two-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion score an impressive second-place finish and increase his lead to 183 points with just three races to go.
During the final caution, Johnson pitted for four new tires, dropping him from seventh to 11th for the restart with just eight laps to go. The pit strategy paid off, as Johnson charged from 11th to second in the remaining laps.
"That was just a great call," Johnson said. "I mean, a risky call, but it shows that Chad's out there racing. He's not trying to ride around and just get points. He's out there trying to earn them. He called me in for tires and told me to put my cape on and off we went. I'm very happy that we got second place."
With Knaus guiding his efforts, Johnson remains the only driver who has scored top-10 finishes in this year's Chase, as he continues to move closer towards tying Cale Yarborough's record of three consecutive Cup championships.
"I want to get in the top-five," Knaus said. "I felt like we could do a top- five pretty easily at that point. I felt like if we just stayed where we were at in seventh, I don't know if we would have finished in the top-10."
Perhaps no one was more surprised with Johnson's second-place finish than Edwards. The Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver capped off his victory at Atlanta by doing his celebratory back flip from his car, but when he found out where Johnson finished, the win suddenly became bittersweet.
"Are you kidding me?" Edwards said. "I could have done without that one."
Edwards moved up to second in the standings, but only gained 16 points on Johnson.
Greg Biffle finished 10th and fell 185 points behind, while Jeff Burton dropped 218 back after an 18th-place run.
With Texas, Phoenix and Homestead remaining on the schedule, Johnson has to feel very comfortable about capturing his third title, as he has won last year's fall race at Texas and the last two events at Phoenix.
Knaus has been Johnson's crew chief since his rookie season in 2002, and if the team captures the Sprint Cup title, he'll become the first crew chief to lead three consecutive championship efforts.
<< Broncos add WR Jackson, T Murphy among other moves
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos added free-agent wide
receiver Chad Jackson and tackle Matt Murphy to the active roster on Monday,
in addition to making other moves to their practice squad.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pou
<< Rolfe voted MLS Player of the Week
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Fire forward Chris Rolfe was voted
Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 31, the final week of the
2008 regular season, it was announced on Monday.
Rolfe scored three goals and add
<< Toronto exercises option on Bargnani
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto has exercised its fourth year team
option on Andrea Bargnani. The Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their
option on the seven-foot forward.
Bargnani, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the
<< Blue Jackets G Leclaire lands on IR
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets placed goaltender Pascal
Leclaire on injured reserve and activated forward Jared Boll off injured
reserve, Columbus general manager Scott Howson announced Monday.
Leclaire, 25, le
Wizards exercise options on Pecherov and Young >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards exercised the
third-year option on both center/forward Oleksiy Pecherov and guard Nick Young
Monday.
Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.
Pecherov averaged
Bellefeuille named head coach of Hamilton >>
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hamilton Tiger-Cats removed the interim
tag from Marcel Bellefeuille's title on Monday, handing the former offensive
coordinator the job on a full-time basis.
Bellefeuille was promoted to interim he
Rockets G Brooks out 1-3 weeks >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Rockets guard Aaron Brooks has been
diagnosed with a bone contusion in his right ankle and is expected to be
sidelined 1-to-3 weeks, the team announced on Monday.
Brooks, the 26th overall pi
NFL Inactives (Monday, October 27, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive players
for tonight's NFL game.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS AT TENNESSEE TITANS, 8:30 P.M. (ET)
Colts - RB Joseph Addai, S Bob Sanders, CB Kelvin Hayden, WR Roy Hall,
LB Buste
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
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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.
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