Arkansas St picked up right where they left off despite changing coaches this season. Gus Malzahn took over for his good friend Hugh Freeze who left for Mississippi. The transition for the Red Wolves was easy since both Malzahn and Freeze run the same offensive system. But Malzahn has left to become the head coach at Auburn which leaves Arkansas St in the hands of interim coach John Thompson. It

Both teams come into the playoffs red hot with Seattle winning five straight games and seven of their last eight overall while Washington has won seven consecutive games. But there

Indianapolis is 11-5, but the Colts have played an extremely easy schedule with eight of their eleven wins coming over the Browns, Titans (2x), Dolphins, Jaguars, Bills, Lions, and Chiefs. Those teams had a combined record of 32-80 and none of them had a winning record. And it

Minnesota and Green Bay will be playing for the third time in a month after the Vikings beat the Packers 37-34 last week to get into the playoffs. Green Bay won the first meeting 23-14 at Lambeau, but the Packers should have won that game by a bigger margin as they put-up 435 yards of offense on the Vikings. Minnesota comes into this game off 4 consecutive SU underdog wins, and last week

These two teams come into this game from opposite directions. Cincinnati has won and covered the pointspread in seven of their last eight games. Houston has lost SU and ATS in three of their last four games. And considering the Texans could have clinched the #1 seed by winning either one of their last two games we just don

Kansas St went 10-3 last season and many thought their record was phony because they got out-yarded in 10 of those 13 games. The Wildcats were on many play-against lists coming into this season, but they out-performed expectations once again. Kansas St comes into tonight

When the BCS bowl match-ups were announced, there were two teams heavily discussed as not belonging. Those two teams were Northern Illinois and Louisville. Last night everybody saw Florida St absolutely dominate Northern Illinois as the Seminoles won 31-10 while out-gaining the Huskies 534-259. That final will result in the bookmakers being heavily sided on Florida in the Sugar Bowl tonight, especially since Louisville was said not to belong in this game. But there are many differences between last night

Creighton has played outstanding basketball this season. The Bluejays come into tonight

Los Angeles is on a current 17-game winning streak coming into tonight

Wisconsin comes into this game with just an 8-5 record, and if you judge them based on that, you may think they aren

Michigan quietly had a very good season. The Wolverines were overshadowed by other teams in the Big 10, but for us, this team was one of the best in conference. Michigan went 8-4 on the year but two of those losses came to Alabama and Notre Dame who just happen to be playing for the National Championship. The Wolverines also lost at Nebraska and at Ohio State, but their loss in Lincoln can be excused as they lost QB Denard Robinson early in the game to an injury. The four teams Michigan lost to have a combined record of 46-4 with two of the teams being undefeated. You

The pointspread on this game has switched with Northwestern going from a 2

Clemson went 10-2 this season with their two losses coming against Florida State and South Carolina. They lost their last game to rival South Carolina, but ACC bowl underdogs are a strong 15-4 ATS off a loss over the last few years. Prior to that loss, Clemson had won 7 consecutive games while scoring 37 points or more in their first 11 games of the season. The Tigers offense is well-balanced as they run for 199 yards and throw for 319 yards per game while gaining 6.5 yards per play. LSU

This is the only rematch of the bowl season as Iowa State beat Tulsa in the season opener 38-23. That game was played at Iowa State yet Tulsa was a 1

It was a tale of two seasons for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets usually get off to a fast start, but that was not the case this season as they opened the season at just 2-4. Georgia Tech

Carolina is playing their best football of the season right now. The Panthers have won four of their last five games by 8, 10, 24, and 11 points. The wins are finally starting to show for Carolina after losing seven games by 6 points or less this season. The Panthers have outstanding statistical numbers even though they are just 6-9 on the season. Carolina averages 6.0 yards per play on offense and they give up 5.4 yards per play on defense; they should be a winning team. The Panthers have out-gained their last five opponents while holding all five to 362 total yards or less. Carolina

These two teams just played two weeks ago in Houston with the Texans winning 29-17. That game was close on the scoreboard, but in reality the Texans dominated that game with a 417-272 yardage edge. Houston was coming off a loss going into that game, and they are doing the same here after an ugly 23-6 home loss to Minnesota last week. Houston has bounced back strong in the two games following losses this season as they won those two games by a combined score of 72-30. This is also a critical game for Houston as a win here gets them the #1 seed in the playoffs, and a loss likely drop them all the way to the #3 seed which means they

TCU started off the season by winning five of their first six games. But starting quarterback Casey Pachall checked into rehab which left freshman Trevone Boykin under center for the rest of the season. TCU went just 2-4 over their final six games of the season as their offense scored 20 points or less in four of those six games. We do not expect the Horned Frogs offense to have much success tonight as they

Denver has been playing good basketball recently; the Nuggets have won three of their last four games by 12 points or more. However, this is a terrible situational and scheduling spot for the Nuggets. They come in off back-to-back blowout wins over the Lakers and Mavericks with the latest coming last night in Dallas. This will be Denver

Butler has been highly impressive this season. The Bulldogs come into tonight

This game is being played in Hartford and not on the campus of Connecticut which limits the Huskies home court edge just a bit. Washington will be playing just their fourth game away from home this season so the Huskies are not road weary like a lot of teams are during this time of the season. Washington has played a tough schedule so far this season with the likes of Ohio State, Colorado State, and Saint Louis. The Huskies do two things extremely well: they rebound and get to the free throw line. Washington grabs 11.2 offensive rebounds per game and they average 24 free throw attempts per game. Those are two areas in which Connecticut struggles; that means Washington holds two major match-up advantages in this game.

Connecticut has played an extremely weak schedule so far this season. Aside from Michigan St in their season opener, the Huskies have faced just one good team (NC State) over their last ten games. Despite that, Connecticut has been out-rebounded in 10 of their 11 games this season; they average just 30.3 rebounds per game which ranks them 323rd in the country. Washington also has the size edge in the backcourt with their guards so they hold the height edge inside the paint and outside on the perimeter. There

Arizona State might not be fully focused for this minor bowl game and large favorites have historically struggled in this spot. Making a letdown more likely is the fact Arizona State finished the season with a more important win against in-state rival Arizona when the Sun Devils won on the road as a +2.5 point underdog. Navy is also coming off an emotional win in their final regular season game versus Army, but the Midshipmen should remain focused today as they just played three weeks ago, while Arizona State has not played for five weeks. Service academies have more discipline and focus than most schools and this is the main reason they have gone an excellent 25-10 ATS in all bowl games the past 30+ years.

The match-up is also favorable for Navy as they are an option team that enables them to control the clock and keep games close. In fact, Navy has a long-term winning ATS record on the road and as an underdog, including 3-1 SU/ATS as a road underdog this season and 27-10 ATS the past 11 years; they are on a 13-4 ATS run as an underdog their last 17 games when getting points. Navy averages 276 rushing yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry this season and they match up well against an Arizona State defense that is excellent defending the pass, but is suspect versus the run. The Sun Devils allow just 5.6 yards per pass (versus opponents that average 6.8 ypp), but they are weaker against the run, allowing 172 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry (versus opponents that average just 153 yards and 4.2 ypr). Arizona State was especially weak against the run when facing bowl opponents this season, allowing 258 rushing yards per game (5.3 ypr) in five of their final six games of the season. We

West Virginia started this season at 5-0 and they were ranked in the Top 5. But the Mountaineers quickly went into the abyss as they lost their next five games. They rebounded to win their final two games of the season, but overall, West Virginia is disappointed with their season. This team thought they

Philadelphia hit a rough patch for the first three weeks of December. Over that time, the Sixers went just 2-9 SU. It also didn

Los Angeles beat us last night as they won their 15th consecutive game by blowing out the Boston Celtics by 29 points (106-77). The Celtics played their worst game of the season by a long mile, but we

Minnesota started this season off really good as they won their first four games. But quarterback MarQueis Gray suffered an ankle injury which forced inexperienced Max Shortell into the lineup. Shortell struggled mightily and Minnesota faltered as their offense scored 17 points or less in four consecutive games. That forced head coach Jerry Kill to insert highly recruited Phillip Nelson at quarterback and he lived up to his hype by torching Purdue for 44 points while throwing four touchdown passes in his first game. The defenses got much tougher for Nelson after that game as he had to face Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, and Michigan St in consecutive weeks; the Golden Gophers scored 17 points or less in all of those games. But Minnesota and Nelson will face a soft Texas Tech defense tonight, and we expect much better offensive production in this game.

Texas Tech comes into this game with their coaching staff in a state of flux. Tommy Tuberville left his team high and dry when he bolted for Cincinnati. Their new head coach will be former Tech QB and current Texas A&M coach Kliff Kingsbury. Offensive line coach Chris Thomsen will be the interim for this game, and with the staff not knowing if they are staying or going, there

Boston played terrible basketball from late-November to mid-December. The Celtics lost six of ten games during that stretch while going just 3-7 ATS in those games. But Boston has played much better over their last three games as they

Philadelphia hit a rough patch for the first three weeks of December. Over that time, the Sixers went just 2-9 SU. It also didn

Central Michigan is ecstatic to be playing in this game. The Chippewas are playing in their home state in front of family and friends.

New York has played good basketball all season. The Knicks come into this game at 20-7 on the year, but their recent play has been a bit choppy. New York is just 2-2 over their last four games as they have alternated wins and losses. Their last game was a 94-91 win over Minnesota, but the Knicks trailed that game by 11 points before rallying in the fourth quarter to pull out the 3-point win. New York has been money burners against the pointspread as well as they are just 4-8 ATS over their last 12 ballgames and just 1-4 ATS over their last five games. This will also be their first road game in almost two weeks, and they are playing their fourth game in seven days. So not only are the Knicks in a bad scheduling spot, but they are also not playing in good form.

Los Angeles comes into today

SMU head coach June Jones is returning to Hawaii where he built and turned Hawaii into a respectable football team for nine seasons. Jones

This is the second meeting between San Francisco and Seattle this season. The 49ers won the first game 13-6 in a defensive slugfest. The two teams combined for just 564 yards of total offense. But there

Chicago has lost five of their last six games so it may appear that the Bears are out of form and undeserving of laying points on the road. However, we see this game as the perfect time for Chicago to breakout and put a whopping on somebody. The Bears have played a brutal slate of opponents recently, including Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minnesota (2x), and Green Bay. Four of those teams are in the playoffs with the Vikings still in the hunt. Chicago doesn

Oakland snapped their 6-game losing streak last week after beating Kansas City 15-0. The Raiders played their best defensive game of the season by a long mile; they held the Chiefs to just 119 yards of total offense. But that type of performance is a rare occurrence for the Raiders, and it was due to the ineptness of Kansas City more so than anything Oakland did. That was the Raiders third consecutive home game, but now they must take to the road and play an early start game. Oakland has been non-competitive in four of their five road losses as they

Evansville is playing sneaky good basketball this year. The Purple Aces come into this game at 7-4 with every loss coming by 12 points or less, including three losses by 9 points or less. Evansville has had plenty of success against Butler in recent years; the Purple Aces have won the last two meetings and they only lost by 4 points in the game prior. Their offensive system is what Butler has trouble with:

Chicago is quietly playing good basketball right now. While most of the attention is focused on who

Marquette comes into tonight

Canisius only won 5 games last season. But under new head coach Jim Baron, the Golden Griffins are already 7-2 this year. Baron brought his son along with him to run the point, and Billy Baron figures to have a big match-up edge in tonight

San Antonio is in a bit of a funk right now. The Spurs have lost three of their last four games after winning 10 of their previous 11 games. San Antonio

This series has been highly competitive, and we expect another close game tonight. Denver has won 5 of the last 9 meetings between these two teams and they have covered the pointspread in 7 of those 9 games. The reason is because both teams play at an extremely slow pace and it

Chicago is quietly playing good basketball right now. While most of the attention is focused on who

Many believed these two teams were going to meet in last year

Detroit has lost five consecutive games and many view the Lions as a team not worthy of laying this many points on the road. However, we see this game as the perfect time for Detroit to breakout and put a whopping on somebody. The Lions have played a brutal slate of opponents recently with all of them being in the playoff hunt. Detroit actually should have won three of those fives games as two of those losses came on the final play of the game and the other came with 2 minutes left to play. So it

Indianapolis has gone on a nice little run recently; the Colts have won 7 of their last 8 games including a 3-game winning streak coming into this game with Houston. However, the Colts have played an extremely easy schedule with their seven wins coming over the Browns, Titans (2x), Dolphins, Jaguars, Bills, and Lions. Those teams have a combined record of 25-53 and none of them have a winning record. And it

Creighton has played terrific basketball so far this season. The Bluejays come into tonight

Louisville is obviously an outstanding team. The Cardinals come into this game at 8-1 with their lone loss coming to Duke. However, this will be just their second true road game of the season and it

Golden St won again for us on Wednesday night when they beat Miami 97-95 as 8

Cincinnati lost to Dallas 20-19 last week, but the Bengals should have never lost that game. They dominated the Cowboys in every facet of the game, but they just made too many mistakes and they didn

Golden St continues to play excellent basketball, and fortunately they

These two teams will play for the second time this season in Brooklyn; the Nets won the first game 96-89 in overtime. This is an important game between inner city rivals, and the Knicks are hell bent on revenging that earlier loss.

Houston is 11-1 on the season, but they

Golden St has been playing excellent basketball recently. The Warriors have won six of their last seven games and ten of their last thirteen games overall. The Warriors offense has kicked into high gear as they are finally playing with a healthy Stephen Curry.

Miami comes into this game off a hard fought divisional battle with the Patriots. That was an extremely physical game that was close throughout, and it had to take something out of the Dolphins. Now they must take to the road and fly across the country and play an angry San Francisco team that is coming off a loss. To make matters worse, Miami lost starting left tackle Jake Long to injury and their offensive line is a shuffled mess with guys playing out of position. Rookie QB Ryan Tannehill has faced just one comparable defense to San Francisco

The New York Jets have been much maligned this season. Their quarterback situation has been a mess and the overall inconsistent play from week to week has been mind numbing. Last week the Jets squeaked by with a 7-6 home win over the Cardinals; a game-winning TD drive that was led by rookie QB Greg McElroy. That game was on the heels of a 49-19 beat-down by the Patriots on Thanksgiving night. There

Dallas will be playing their fifth road game in their last six games, and since they come in off a win at Phoenix on Thursday night, we expect some regression tonight in Houston. The Mavericks are not a good team, and they are still playing without Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas suffered two more injuries in their game against the Suns as Shawn Marion left with a groin pull and Chris Kaman left with a sprained ankle. Both guys are listed as game-time decisions with Marion most likely to miss this game. With or without those guys, Dallas will be up against it tonight as they are facing a young and energized Houston team returning home off a loss.

The Rockets got blown out at San Antonio last night, but they are a very deep team that spreads their minutes around well. Houston also has a lot of youth so there

Butler is playing much better now than they were earlier in the season. It took the Bulldogs a few games to get their rotation in order, and a recent lineup change by HC Brad Stevens figures to make Butler a more difficult team to prepare for. Stevens altered his second unit, and the move paid dividends right away in Butler

Golden St came through for us last night when they won 109-102 at Brooklyn, and we

Orlando has been playing much better basketball recently. The Magic have won two of their last three games and they

These two teams are heading in opposite directions right now, and that has created value in this game tonight. Golden St has won four of their last five games and eight of their last eleven games overall. The Warriors offense has kicked into high gear as they are finally playing with a healthy Stephen Curry.

New York is in a very difficult scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Knicks won on a buzzer beater last night in Charlotte as they squeaked by the Bobcats with a 100-98 win. Carmelo Anthony also got hurt in that game as he cut his finger which required six stitches to close the gash. Anthony will be a game-time decision tonight, but even if he plays, how effective will he be shooting the ball? New York is also playing just their third back-to-back road set of the season; they are 0-2 in those games losing 105-95 at Memphis and 114-111 at Dallas earlier this season. The Knicks also beat Miami by 20 points (104-84) in the season opener, so they will be facing a motivated Heat team looking to atone for that blowout loss.

Miami comes in off an embarrassing 105-101 loss at Washington on Tuesday night. The was just the 2nd win for the Wizards this season so Miami will be focused on getting that memory out of their minds as soon as possible. The Heat have been exceptional when playing at home off a road loss. In fact, Miami is 8-1 SU and 6-3 ATS based on tonight

Denver comes into tonight

Milwaukee comes into this game off an ugly 102-81 loss at New Orleans on Monday night. The 81 points scored by the Bucks was their lowest offensive output of the season. They shot just 38.2% (29-76) from the field and they hit just 65.2% (15-23) from the free throw line. Milwaukee shoots 74.5% as a team from the line so the Bucks truly played an all around bad game. But the Bucks have proven to bounce back strong off a loss, and in fact, they are 32-10 ATS dating back to last season in this situation based on tonight

Ohio returns all five starters from last year

Texas came into this season with lofty expectations. But those were made assuming point guard Mych Kabongo would be playing. He is still ineligible to play while the NCAA investigates his dealings with a pro agent. As it is, Texas has had to move on and play with the guys they have. And that group is extremely talented, even without Kabongo on the floor. Texas comes into tonight

Los Angeles was on a 4-game losing streak prior to winning their last two games at home. Their offense woke up as they scored 101 and 116 points in those two wins; they scored 98 points or less in four of their previous five games. The Clippers now take back to the road where they

This is the second meeting between these two teams this season; the Giants won 27-23 back in Week 7. That game had two late lead changes as Washington scored with 1:32 left to play to take a 23-20 lead before New York answered with a 77-yard TD pass just 19 seconds later to win by 4 points. The Redskins played by far and away their best game of the season as they out-gained the Giants by 87 yards (480-393); they ran for 248 yards and passed for 232 yards. It

Cleveland is off a huge win over Pittsburgh last week. That win by the Browns was just their 3rd over the Steelers in the last 25 meetings between the two. Cleveland faced a 37-year old backup QB and forced 8 Pittsburgh turnovers, yet they were out-yarded in the game and only won 20-14. In fact, the Browns have been out-yarded in 9 of their 11 games this season, and they actually lost the two games in which they had more yards than their opponent. Cleveland is in a terrible spot for this game as they must travel across the country while laying points with a rookie QB who got knocked out of last week

Tampa Bay continues to cover pointspreads this season; the Buccaneers are 8-2-1 ATS coming into this game. They are once again undervalued as they are getting over a TD against an over-hyped Denver team. Tampa Bay has faced four winning teams this season, and while they are just 1-3 SU in those games, their three losses have come by 1, 6, and 7 points. All five of their losses this season have come by 7 points or less so they are a tough team to get separation from. Tampa Bay has a solid running game with Doug Martin, and QB Josh Freeman has been playing terrific recently; he has a 16/3 TD/INT ratio over his last seven games. The Bucs are also +11 in turnover margin which is a huge edge for them in this game since Denver is -3 in that category on the season.

Denver has padded their record against a weak slate of opponents. The Broncos have played just four winning teams and they are only 1-3 in those games with the lone win coming by 8 points. Their defense has been shredded by those teams as they all scored 23 points or more while averaging 28 points per game. That

This game is being played at the Honda Center in Anaheim so neither team will have the home court edge. San Diego St has been waiting for this game forever; the Aztecs always got shot down in their attempt to schedule a game against UCLA. Well their wait is over and it

This will be the second meeting of the season between Wisconsin and Nebraska; the Cornhuskers won at home 30-27 back in late-September. This game will be played in Indianapolis inside Lucas Oil Stadium so Nebraska will not have the home field edge this time around, especially since it

Texas comes in off an upset home loss to TCU on Thanksgiving night as 7-point favorites. The Longhorns lost despite holding the Horned Frogs to less than 300 yards of total offense; their 4 turnovers did them in. Texas also lost QB David Ash to injury so that game just snowballed and they ended up losing. Ash will not start this game, but he will be available to play according to head coach Mack Brown. Case McCoy will start, and he has plenty of experience, including his play against Kansas St last season. The Longhorns lost that game 17-13, but they thoroughly out-played the Wildcats while holding them to just 121 yards of total offense. Kansas St QB Collin Klein completed just 9 of 17 passes for 83 total yards. Texas

These two teams will meet for the second time this season with the winner of this game taking home the CUSA title. Tulsa survived the first game winning 23-21 despite having a 2-0 turnover differential. The Golden Hurricane will play on their home field once again, but we expect a different outcome this afternoon. Central Florida is the better of these two teams, and the betting marketplace thought just that two weeks ago when heavy money came in on the Knights as they closed as a 1-point underdog after opening at +3. The opposite has occurred in this game as the money has come in on Tulsa as they

These two teams are meeting for the second time in three weeks; New Orleans won the first game 31-27 after they stopped Atlanta at the goal line. The Saints were in the midst of a 3-1 stretch for that game, but they come into tonight

Toronto finally got their point guard back on the court, and his presence makes the Raptors a competitive team. Kyle Lowry is the leader of the Raptors, and he brings a toughness and attitude that the entire team embraces. Toronto was run over last night by a red hot Houston offense and they lost 117-101; it didn

NC State has struggled in their last two games, and those struggles have created some value on the Wolfpack in this game tonight. They got blown out by Oklahoma St (76-56) and won their last game by just 2 points over N.C. Ashville (82-80). But there were two fundamental problems with NC State in those games; they turned the ball over too much and they missed a lot of free throws. When you do those two things in the same game, you are going to have your struggles. But the Wolfpack actually get a favorable match-up in this game with Michigan because their weaknesses are not strengths of the Wolverines.

Michigan is not a team built on forcing their opponents to turn the ball over and they do not get many steals. So NC State

Both teams have been quite disappointing this season. Carolina comes into this game at just 2-8 on the season while Philadelphia is 3-7 on the year. But there

San Antonio comes in off a double overtime win in Toronto on Sunday afternoon. The Spurs won that game 111-106, but three of their starters played more than 41 minutes while two of those guys played more than 46 minutes. San Antonio is also playing their third game in four nights on the road, and for an old team this is a terrible scheduling and situational spot. The Spurs will be playing just their third back-to-back set of the season; they won twice in this spot but only by 2 and 3 points. San Antonio has also scored 327 points in their last three games so they are due to throw in a clunker.

Washington has yet to win a game this season. The Wizards come into tonight

Buffalo is finally starting to play back up to their preseason expectations. The Bills opened the season at 2-1, but then they hit a rough patch where they went just 1-5 over their next six games. However, they had to play New England twice, San Francisco, and Houston in four of those six games so the losses were certainly expected. The other two games saw Buffalo win at Arizona and lose to Tennessee by a single point. The Bills beat Miami in their last game, and they have the luxury of getting a few extra days off since they played that game on a Thursday night. Buffalo

Pittsburgh

This rivalry has been one-sided over the last few years with South Carolina dominating Clemson. The Gamecocks have won three straight meetings by 21, 22, and 17 points. However, we expect tonight

Oregon comes in off a deflating 17-14 home overtime loss to Stanford last week. That was their first loss of the season and it cost them a chance to play in the national championship. Now they must regroup while taking to the road and lay a lot of points into their in-state rival which is not a good combination at all for Oregon. We all know the Ducks have a potent offense, but the fact that they only scored 14 points at home last week is a big concern, especially since it came against a Stanford team that struggles mightily against spread offenses. In fact, Stanford has allowed similar offenses to score 48, 41, 53, and 52 points on them the last four times they

This is a heated rivalry game that usually comes right down to the wire. In fact, the last three meetings between Arizona St and Arizona have been decided by 4, 1, and 3 points. The underdog went a perfect 3-0 ATS in those games with Arizona winning outright while getting 10 points last year at Arizona St. Even though both teams are playing with new coaches this year, we still expect another close game throughout with the winner likely decided by who

Oklahoma City hasn

VCU has played shockingly well so far this season. There wasn

After opening the season at 3-3, Washington hit the skids and went 0-3 leading into their bye week. The Redskins came out with a purpose as they waxed the Eagles 31-6 last week. They were dominant in that game as they out-yarded Philadelphia by more than 100 yards and their defense forced 3 turnovers. It was Washington

Houston comes into this game as one of the best teams in the NFL. The Texans are 9-1 with their lone loss coming against Green Bay. They are a perfect 4-0 on the road winning every game by at least 6 points, including wins at Denver and Chicago. The Texans are not in an ideal spot for this game after their 43-37 overtime home win over Jacksonville last week. They are on a short week with travel while Detroit is playing back-to-back home games. However, Houston is superior in every facet of the game, and we expect them to overcome the bad scheduling and situational spot. The Texans should dominate this game on the ground which was a key element in helping us get over the negative spot. Houston is running for 137 yards per game while allowing just 88 yards on the ground per game. They

The Washington Wizards have yet to win a game this season. They come into tonight

This game is being played at Madison Square Garden so neither team has the home court edge. We

This game will feature a pair of backup quarterbacks as both Jay Cutler and Alex Smith will miss this game because of injury. Chicago will start Jason Campbell who has plenty of NFL experience from his days as the starter of the Redskins and Raiders. San Francisco will start second-year pro Colin Kaepernick who has limited experience from playing sparingly this season and last. Both quarterbacks figure to be up against it tonight as these two teams possess two of the best defenses in the NFL. However, we see some good value in taking the points in this game as it figures to be a low-scoring, defensive battle throughout.

Chicago comes in off a home loss to the Texans last Sunday night. Their two losses this season have come against certified playoff teams so there

This game took a major twist when Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger got hurt last week. The pointspread has also adjusted by about 6 points as the Steelers most likely would

Indianapolis has gone on a nice little run recently; the Colts come into this game on a 4-game winning streak. However, the Colts have played an extremely easy schedule with their four wins coming over the Browns, Titans, Dolphins, and Jaguars. Those teams have a combined record of 11-27 and none of them have a winning record. And it

Arizona comes into this game off a much needed bye; the Cardinals have lost 5 straight games after opening the season at 4-0. Their week off came at the perfect time as it has allowed them to regroup and refresh, and also get a little more healthy. Arizona has played a brutal schedule so far with the likes of Seattle, New England, San Francisco, and Green Bay. While they are not taking a step down in class here against an 8-1 Atlanta team, they do have the situational edge for this game in facing the Falcons in the game after their first loss. And the way they lost last week (stopped at the goal line), Atlanta will be sure to have a hangover for this game which will allow the rested and ready Cardinals to hang tough in this game from start to finish.

Atlanta has not been respected in the betting marketplace for the majority of the season. The Falcons have been winning and covering spreads without statistical correlation. Atlanta has a -1.1 yards per rush differential as they only gain 3.8 yards per rush while they allow 4.9 yards per rush. Overall, the Falcons are also -0.1 yards per play as they gain 6.1 and allow 6.2 yards per play. Those numbers do not translate into a winning team let alone a team that has just one loss on the season. Atlanta has played three high profile games over the last three weeks with the last being the ultimate, a divisional showdown that they lost. After this flat spot against the lowly Cardinals, the Falcons played 3 consecutive divisional games in a row, including a rematch with the Saints who just handed them their first loss. Road teams off a previous road loss in the month of November are on an incredible 39-9 ATS run so we

The New York Jets were unprepared for last week

Davidson has their entire team back from last year

Iowa St was playing much better football earlier in the season. The Cyclones began with a 4-1 record but they are just 2-5 over their last seven games. One of those wins came at home over a putrid Baylor defense and the other was a phony road win at TCU, a game in which Iowa St was out-yarded by 105 yards (455-350). They were fortunate to grab 5 turnovers in that game or else they would be in the midst of a 1-6 slide. Iowa St has played four road games this season, and they were an underdog of 7 points or more in three of those four games and a 3

Notre Dame is currently #3 in the BCS standings, and the Irish have a need to get style points if they have any chance at jumping #1 Kansas St or #2 Oregon. Notre Dame hasn

Underdogs are always worth a look in rivalry games, especially if they were shutout the year before. USC waxed UCLA 50-0 in last year

After opening the season at 3-1, Virginia Tech has gone just 1-5 over their last six games. However, the Hokies have played a brutal schedule over that time, including road games at North Carolina, Clemson, and Miami Fla and a home game against Florida St. Those four teams have a combined record of 30-11 so Virginia Tech really has no shame in losing those games. The Hokies have shown the ability to blow out the lesser teams this year; they own wins by 35, 37, and 21 points. Virginia Tech will face another terrible team here in Boston College who comes into this game at just 2-8 on the season.

Virginia Tech will dominate this game on the ground. Prior to rushing for just 77 yards against Florida St in their last game, the Hokies ran for 269, 199, and 222 yards in their previous three games. Boston College has been gouged on the ground all season; the Eagles are allowing 227 yards per game on 4.9 yards per rush. Boston College cannot run the ball on offense; the Eagles average just 73 yards per game on 2.7 yards per rush. They are one-dimensional to the pass, and that is not a good thing when facing a decent defense that allows just 5.2 yards per play. Boston College had their big spotlight game at home last week against undefeated Notre Dame, and they lost 21-6. The Eagles season is all but over, and the Hokies will leave Chestnut Hill win an easy double digit win on Saturday afternoon.

9* Play VIRGINIA TECH (-).

Phoenix comes into tonight

This game will be played at Madison Square Garden so neither team will have a true home court edge. However, Villanova certainly has the geographical location edge and they