Green Bay has a nice scheduling advantage coming into tonight

Oklahoma City enters off an embarrassing 105-87 home loss to the Celtics on Friday night. The Thunder have not played since, and they took advantage of the weekend to get ready for tonight. To forget about Friday night

Washington is coming off an upset loss on the road versus an underrated Texas Tech team on Thursday, but the #10 ranked Huskies should now bounce back at home versus an inferior CS Northridge squad as Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar has a 24-10 ATS record in home games following a SU road loss.

The key factors when playing big favorites is motivation and tempo and both factors favor Washington tonight. As mentioned above, the Huskies are coming off their first loss of the season, so they will be focused, plus this is their only game in an eight day span as Washington doesn

Minnesota hasn

Seattle played a brutal schedule in November. The Seahawks played four of their five games on the road with three of the four coming against some of the better teams in the league. But going forward, Seattle may be a team that will offer some pointspread value. And that certainly looks to be the case here as they are a home underdog to a San Francisco team that is struggling on both sides of the ball.

The 49ers have won just two of their last seven games. Over that time, the San Francisco offense has been held to less than 300 yards in six of those seven games. Last week, they were once again out-yarded 357-284 and beat the Jaguars 20-3 thanks to a 2-0 turnover margin. Jacksonville actually had drives of 58, 59, 88, and 75 yards but somehow only turned those into a total of 3 points. If not for some fortunate breaks, the 49ers could actually be on a 0-7 slide right now.

This will be just Seattle

New Orleans is in a major flat spot for this game. The Saints come in off their huge Monday night win over the Patriots. They played as close to a perfect game as you can, and off that performance, it

Tampa Bay enters today

Phoenix returns home off a 4-game road trip in which they were embarrassed in their last two games. The Suns lost by 27 points at the Knicks and by 17 points at the Cavaliers. Their offense was horrendous as they scored just 99 and 90 points in those two games while shooting a combined 42.7% (67-157) from the field. Back on their home court tonight, the Suns will bounce back with a strong performance.

The Suns are averaging 119 points on 53.9% shooting on their home floor this season. They are a perfect 6-0 at home, and they

These two met way back in week 2 on a Thursday night in Atlanta. Georgia Tech stormed out to a 24-0 lead thanks to two big special teams touchdowns. But Clemson owned the second half, out-scoring the Yellow Jackets 27-6 and out-gaining them 319-91. But they came up short as Tech kicked a last-second field goal to win 30-27.

Clemson is very familiar with Paul Johnson

Louisville is extremely thin for this game. The Cardinals will be without three guards tonight as Jerry Smith, Preston Knowles, and Peyton Silva are all out. That means Louisville will be starting sophomore George Goode (first career start), and sophomore Kyle Kuric (first start this season). And that means walk-on guard Chris Brickley will play significant minutes as well tonight.

These two played a great game in this spot a season ago. Florida won 31-20, but the final score was misleading as Alabama actually led for the majority of that ballgame. And when you combine that and the way these two teams enter today

This is a great setup for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights catch West Virginia at the perfect time as the Mountaineers enter off a game-winning field goal over their arch rival Pittsburgh. Off that big win, it

Chicago hasn

Frank Solich has done a phenomenal job at Ohio. And one of the key reasons Solich has done well is the fact that he has kept the same coaching staff for the entire time he

Don

There

This game is being played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. Buffalo played on this field last season, but lost to Miami 16-3. The Bills really didn

Florida St is in a very difficult scheduling spot for tonight

Tulsa is the best team in Conference-USA. The Golden Hurricane are absolutely loaded with talent and skill, and they return four starters from their 25-win team of a season ago. They are certainly a NCAA tournament team if they stay healthy, but they need to win games against big-name teams like Oklahoma St tonight just in case they fail to earn an automatic tournament berth in their conference tournament.

Their defense is phenomenal. They held teams to just over 60 points per game (34th nationally) last season, and so far they

Toronto is a team in disarray right now. The Raptors have lost four straight, and eight of their last ten games. Their defense has been atrocious as they

Miami is in a funk right now. The Heat have lost five of their last seven games, and things don

North Carolina handled Michigan St pretty easily last year; they won both meetings by scores of 98-63 and 89-72. But there

Wake Forest isn

New Orleans got back to their dominating ways last week after whipping Tampa Bay 38-7. The Saints finally played a complete game on both sides of the ball; they had 370 yards of offense while their defense held the Bucs to just 219 yards of total offense. The Saints were in a 3-game slump (0-3 ATS) in which they won but did not really play all that well. But last week

The best team in the NBA against the worst team in the league, but handicapping the NBA is more about focus and motivation than overall straight-up records. New Jersey is an awful 0-16 SU this season and they are now just one loss shy of tying the NBA's worst start, held by the 1988-89 expansion Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1998-99.

New Jersey might receive an extra spark tonight as they just fired head coach Lawrence Frank this morning and Nets

The oddsmakers have been forced to over inflate this line tonight as Pittsburgh will be without their top two quarterbacks as both starter Ben Roethlisberger is and backup QB Charlie Batch are both out due to injuries. This means second-year QB Dennis Dixon will get his first NFL start.

While the situation obviously favors the Ravens, the line has been over adjusted and the line value now favors Pittsburgh. The Steelers would have been only a +1 or +2 point road underdog had Roethlisberger played tonight, so this line is now a full touchdown higher because Dixon is starting.

Pittsburgh is likely to use a conservative game plan with plenty of running plays and this should lead to a low scoring game which is reflected in the posted Over/Under of just 34 total points. A low scoring game favors the big underdog and gives Pittsburgh and even better chance of staying within this inflated pointspread.

The Steelers also qualify as a strong defensive underdog as they allow just 18.4 points per game and only 4.9 yards per play this season (versus opponents that average 20.6 ppg and 5.3 yppl). The Steelers have been especially strong against the run, allowing only 69 yards per game and just 3.4 yards per carry (versus opponents that average 113 yards and 4.1 ypr). Baltimore is only slightly above average offensively as they average just 5.7 yards per play (versus opponents that allow 5.6 yppl), so the Steelers defense holds the match up edge tonight.

Pittsburgh was a perfect 3-0 SU in the three meetings versus the Ravens last season and held Baltimore to an average of just 96 rushing yards and only 118 passing yards in those three games, while allowing just 14.3 points per game.

Play STEELERS (+).

Butler hasn

Chicago did not look good on Sunday night in their 24-20 loss to the Eagles. The Bears only had 284 yards of total offense, and quarterback Jay Cutler played like he was a rookie. He consistently missed wide-open receivers, and he also overthrew a couple of easy touchdown passes. But that ugly performance in a spotlight game only creates value for the Bears in this game.

Minnesota is on a roll right now. The Vikings are 9-1 and the majority of those nine wins have come by double digits. But there are a couple of reasons to believe that the Vikings do not play a good game in this spot. One of those reasons is listed above; the Vikings also saw how bad the Bears looked in their last game and it

This divisional match-up has been ultra competitive over the last few years, and that was once again the case three weeks back. Houston hung tough in Indianapolis as the Texans only lost by 3 (20-17) in a game in which they actually out-yarded the Colts (382-378). That 3-point loss was the fifth time over the last six meetings where the final margin of victory came by 6 points or less.

Houston enters off a 20-17 home loss to Tennessee on Monday night. They came into that game off their bye week, so they are still a relatively fresh team which is definitely not the case for the Colts who are playing for a sixth straight week and also on a back-to-back road set. They also enter off a hard-hitting, physical game at Baltimore. They survived that game 17-15, but that game will leave them a bit soft and vulnerable here.

The Texans

Atlanta enters this game off back-to-back road losses against the Panthers and Giants. They now return home in desperate need of a win, and they get the perfect opponent to bounce back strong. Tampa Bay is just 1-9 on the season so there

Georgia Tech has known for a couple of weeks now that they will be playing in next week

William & Mary is playing better than expected this season and they enter with a three-game winning streak with their only losses coming by 9 points at Connecticut and by 2 points in triple-overtime at Harvard. While the results might seem impressive, a closer look inside the numbers reveal that the Tribe has been extremely fortunate from three-point range.

William & Mary is hitting a remarkable 41.4% from beyond the arc and the Tribe just equaled a school record with five consecutive games this season with at least 10+ made three-pointers. Overall, 28 of their 52 shots per game (54%) come from three-point land. William & Mary is dependant on the outside shot because they are not an athletic team and they have no size down low in the post. Both are bad qualities to have against Wake Forest tonight.

The Demon Deacons hold a substantial size edge down low and they also match up well in this game because Wake Forest has an excellent three-point defense that is allowing just 21.5% this season (versus opponents that average 32.5%). Wake is holding teams to just 56.5 points per game and the Demon Deacons have won each game this year by at least 20+ points (20, 31, 23, 24). These recent blowout wins are a good indicator of success tonight and Wake Forest qualifies in a solid 98-57 home favorite momentum this evening.

Play WAKE FOREST (-).

After opening the season at 5-0, Kansas hasn

Oklahoma is just 6-5 this year which is definitely not the norm for this team. It

Clemson is in a difficult scheduling spot for this game. The Tigers are in the ACC championship game next week against Georgia Tech after they beat Virginia and North Carolina beat Boston College last week. So this game is basically meaningless for them, and it

Utah is an extremely young team this season. They lost their three best players from last year

Handicapping the NBA after a holiday break is always a bit tricky as the motivation of teams is often difficult to gauge, however this will not be the case for the Nets as they have plenty of motivation for a win tonight. New Jersey is an awful 0-15 SU this season and they are just two losses shy of tying the NBA's worst start, held by the 1988-89 expansion Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1998-99. If the Nets lose tonight, they will match the franchise-record slide set during the 1977-78 season, so obviously New Jersey has plenty of motivation for a win.

New Jersey will be facing a below .500 Sacramento squad that is also one of the weaker teams in the league. Sacramento just snapped a four-game losing streak and they stand only 1-4 SU in their past five games. Losing teams often letdown after a win and it is hard to imagine Sacramento will be focused for a winless New Jersey squad tonight.

The Nets qualify in a solid 75-40 ATS situation which plays on road underdogs in this price range that have lost 8+ games in a row. New Jersey

Boise St is the premier program outside of the BCS conferences. The Broncos are well coached under Chris Peterson, and they are an awesome 46-5 under his guidance, including a perfect 24-0 at home on the blue turf during his four years.

Of those 24 games, four were played against 1-AA teams and there was no pointspread posted. In the other 20 games, Boise St is an impressive 14-5-1 against the spread. They were favored in every one of those games, and their average win has been by a whopping 30 points per game. And of the 20 games, Boise has won 15 of them by more than tonight

This looks like a great spot to play against Alabama. The Crimson Tide have their huge SEC championship game on deck with Florida, and they

The Giants were in an absolutely perfect spot last week against the Falcons. They were off four consecutive losses and also off their bye week, so they were expected to bring their best effort. But that didn

Orlando has been one of the best road teams in the NBA over the last couple of seasons. And so far this year, their penchant for winning on the road has continued. The Magic are 5-2 straight-up and against the spread away from home including an outright win at Boston as a 6-point underdog.

The Hawks have played well so far this year, but they may be without their point guard Mike Bibby tonight after he sprained his ankle in their last game. He is a game-time decision and Bibby

Dallas has not looked good over the last couple of weeks, especially their offense. The Cowboys scored only 7 points two weeks back at Green Bay, and last week, they were scoreless for 57 minutes until they scored a touchdown with just over 2 minutes left to play to sneak by Washington 7-6. But this afternoon they bring their

Last year was a great learning experience for Vanderbilt. They were an extremely young team that had to learn to play together on the fly. And they had to do it for a period of time without their best player, A.J. Ogilvy, who missed a couple of weeks because of injury. The Commodores still were able to go 19-12 on the season, and that experience has them prepared to be much improved this season.

Vanderbilt returns all 5 of their starters, and also return their entire roster from last year, all except one reserve. "We've got some athleticism, Stallings said. "We're not in that position that I've been in other years, where we have to compensate for our lack of athleticism. We can go out and get people and play because we have the speed and quickness and depth to do it. These guys are ready to make a significant jump." Their Hawaii trip did not start off too good with a 67-58 loss to Cincinnati. But they bounced back strong yesterday with a 27-point blowout win over Chaminade and Stallings liked what he saw in the second half. "The last 15 minutes of the game we played very good. That is what we have been looking for since we got here."

Arizona exerted a lot of energy last night as their game against Colorado went into overtime. And they are not a deep team at all as they play just a 7-man rotation. So with this being their third game in three nights, it

Tennessee Chattanooga is in a very difficult scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Mocs played at Richmond on Sunday and lost 75-49, and now with one day of rest must travel to Columbia and take on a much better Missouri team. The poor showing Sunday did not surprise Chattanooga head coach John Shulman. "I'm not shocked about this," he said. "We've got no experience, this was their first road game, and four guys are out. That's a recipe for disaster."

Richmond plays a slow, half-court style which is the exact opposite of Missouri

The Shockers played a disappointing game last night in their 13-point loss to Pittsburgh. It was just a 4-point game in the second half, but Pittsburgh was able to extend their lead late on Wichita St. We expect a much improved effort tonight as the Shockers welcome back their starting point guard Clevin Hannah who was serving a 3-game suspension. His return will ignite this team, and with a pro-Wichita St crowd, there

On the surface this looks like a good spot for Western Michigan. At 5-6, they need one more win to become bowl eligible, and with this being their last game of the season, the Broncos figure to come fully focused. And it seems as if they get the perfect opponent as well with 1-10 Ball St coming to town. All of that sounds good, but the seasonal statistics tell a different story.

Ball St has had a disappointing season after going 12-2 a season ago. Even with just one win this year, Ball St has some positive indicators for this game. Their play on the road has been substantially better than at home. The Cardinals

Syracuse was quite impressive last week in beating California and North Carolina on back-to-back nights at Madison Square Garden. Off those big wins, it

Pittsburgh is not the same team we

This is a terrible spot for Cincinnati. The Bengals enter this game off back-to-back underdog wins over the Ravens and Steelers. And in fact, the Bengals also won as a home underdog at Chicago four weeks back; one week before their bye. Now they travel out to the West coast and have to play the 2-7 Raiders.

Off three consecutive emotional wins, it will be extremely difficult for Cincinnati to break their

The Patriots are coming off a heart-breaking loss last Sunday night when they blew a 13-point lead late in the game and were unsuccessful on a controversial 4th down attempt on their own 28 yard line that eventually allowed Indianapolis to score the winning touchdown.

New England has been a strong play after a straight-up loss under head coach Bill Belichick, but the Patriots might have difficulty rebounding after such an emotional game last week. The Jets are capable of keeping this game close as they qualify as both a solid defensive team and a running underdog.

The Jets rush for 170 yards per game this season and 4.7 yards per carry (versus opponents that allow just 123 yards and 4.5 ypr) and New York should have continued success against a mediocre New England rush defense that permits 4.5 yards per carry this season (versus opponents that average 4.5 ypr). The Jets have the better rushing attack in this game as New England averages just 114 yards per game and only 4.1 yards per carry (versus opponents that allow 123 yards and 4.3 ypr).

The Jets are also a solid defensive team as they permit just 17.6 points per game and only 4.8 yards per play (versus opponents that average 22.7 ppg and 5.5 yppl). The Jets have been particularly strong versus the pass this season, allowing just 54.7% completions and only 5.4 yards per pass (versus opponents that allow 61.2% and 6.5 ypp). This strong pass defense is important against a New England offense that throws the ball for 73% of their total offensive yards and averages 7.5 yards per pass (versus opponents that allow just 6.5 ypp). The Jets held New England to only 4.6 yards per pass in Week 2 and New York won that game outright 16-9 as a 3½-point underdog. The Jets also performed well last month versus a potent New Orleans passing attack as the Saints had only 190 passing yards and averaged just 5.9 yards per pass, compared to the 274 passing yards and 8.5 ypp the Saints have averaged in all games this season.

Play JETS (+).

Boston is in a terrific spot today to get a convincing win. The Celtics enter this game off a home loss to Orlando on Friday night. They were terrible in that game on offense and defense, and head coach Doc Rivers called his team out in his post-game press conference.

The Giants have been embarrassed in four straight games. They

Southern Illinois is one of the best mid-major programs in the country. But last year the Salukis were extremely young and went through growing pains and went just 13-18. That sub-par season has created some tremendous value on the Salukis heading into this season, and that is apparent tonight as this pointspread is simply way too high.

UNLV assistant coach Greg Grensing knows Southern Illinois is dangerous.

Arizona has waited a long time for a game like this. A win in tonight's game against Oregon puts Arizona on a path to the Rose Bowl. And that has been their major goal this season because it

Tulsa is allowing only 25 points per game and holding teams to just over 390 yards per game. They allow just over 133 rushing yards per game on only 3.5 yards per rush (versus teams that average 3.9 ypr). Overall, their defense is allowing only 5.4 yards per (versus teams that average 5.4 yppl).

But those numbers were built upon their easy early schedule where they played 4 teams that have minimal offensive talent; three of those teams rank # 111th or worse in scoring offense. Since those games, the Tulsa defense has been exposed. In their last five games, they

Mississippi St was in a great spot last week for their home game against Alabama. The Bulldogs were off a bye, and they were catching an Alabama team off three consecutive tough conference games. But Mississippi St failed to show up in that game, and lost 31-3. Off that disappointment, it

Last year was a great learning experience for Vanderbilt. They were an extremely young team that had to learn to play together on the fly. And they had to do it for a period of time without their best player, A.J. Ogilvy, who missed a couple of weeks because of injury. The Commodores still were able to go 19-12 on the season, and that experience has them prepared to be much improved this season.

Vanderbilt returns all 5 of their starters, and also return their entire roster from last year, all except one reserve. "There's definitely more of a comfort level," said sophomore Jeffery Taylor. "We've had a whole year of playing against each other and with each other.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been hit hard by injuries so far this season. They lost Blake Griffin before the season opener, Eric Gordon was lost during opening week, Kareem Rush was lost for the season two games ago, and now Marcus Camby is suffering from a lower-back bruise which limited him to just 11 minutes in their last game.

The Clippers have lost 5 of their last 6 games and it appears the adversity is too much for this team to overcome right now. "Nope. No answers," said Baron Davis. "We're not unified. We're not all on the same page. We have to find a way to get in sync and get on the same page. It's tough. Last year, you could blame it on the talent. This year, blame it on the chemistry. It's disheartening." And their defense, rebounding, and turnovers have all been dreadful which is not good when facing the potent Denver offense.

The Nuggets are averaging 105 points per game on 45.3% shooting over their last five games. And their offense welcomes back Anthony Carter to the lineup tonight after he missed time with a strained hip. "I'm ready to roll," Carter said. "Everything is good. I'm playing." Denver has dominated this series as of late winning the last 5 meetings, and with Los Angeles going through some rough times, this looks like another lopsided loss for the Clippers.

Play NUGGETS ( - ).

Utah St will be fired up for tonight

North Carolina is certainly nowhere the same team right now as they were a season ago. The Tar Heels lost a lot of firepower and experience, and replacing that is a lot of youth and inexperience. And that lack of experience has been quite evident in their first three games of the season. Carolina has turned the ball over an incredible 59 times which is a huge negative indicator for the Tar Heels. "We've got to stop turning the ball over," head coach Roy Williams said. "You've got to value the dadgum basketball. We have no chance in New York if we don't get some things changed quickly.

This is a major flat spot for Central Michigan. After beating Toledo last week, the Chippewas are one win away from the MAC West title. But that win has to come next week at home over Northern Illinois. So this game means absolutely nothing to Central Michigan; they can win or lose and it will not affect their chance for the league title next week.

Ball St has had a disappointing season. The Cardinals went 12-2 overall last year, but are currently just 1-9 this season. But this is their final home game of the season, and playing against the best team in the conference, a win here would make their season. This is a game in which they can salvage a terrible year if they can pull the big upset over Central Michigan.

"Ball State is a team that got us last year and we have to be prepared to face a great challenge," CMU coach Butch Jones said. "When you look at their schedule, they are a team that has lost seven games by 10 points or less and they are always competitive. We need to bring our best effort to the field."

The Cardinals have a talented running back in MiQuale Lewis who has 792 yards rushing while averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He ran for 177 yards against Central Michigan last year so he is capable of carrying the Ball St offense tonight. He

Cleveland is in a tough spot tonight as they enter this game on a back-to-back set. The Cavs played in a fast-paced game last night against the Warriors, and that effort may leave them a bit fatigued for tonight. Cleveland has won five straight games, but they

Under Rick Pitino, the Louisville Cardinals have started their seasons slowly. But Pitino is changing things for tonight

Cleveland has been terrible this season. The Browns are just 1-7 straight-up and 3-5 against the spread, but they are actually in a great situational spot tonight. They enter this game off their bye week, and home underdogs off a week of rest are pretty strong in the NFL. These losing teams usually bring their

LSU made a nice tournament run last year, but they

This is a re-match from back in week 2 when Atlanta defeated Carolina 28-20. Despite losing that game by 8 points, the Panthers actually dominated the game on the field as they out-yarded the Falcons 440-371. And winning

Pittsburgh looks to avenge an earlier season loss at Cincinnati. The Steelers led that game for 59 minutes and 46 seconds until the Bengals scored a late touchdown to win 23-20. Pittsburgh was in total control of that game; they led 13-0 at one point. The Steelers also out-yarded the Bengals by 100 yards (373-273), so Cincinnati was very fortunate to win that game.

The Steelers

This is a tough spot for New Orleans. The Saints have played 4 consecutive emotional games which make a letdown extremely likely today against the 1-7 Rams. The Saints enter off back-to-back divisional wins, and with another divisional game on deck, they

Oklahoma is just 5-4 this year; a far cry from playing in the BCS title game a season ago. Things started off badly for the Sooners as they not only lost their opening game against BYU, but also lost quarterback Sam Bradford for the season. Although he did return for another game, he simply was not the same and actually re-injured his shoulder causing him to miss the rest of the season.

The Sooners enter this game off a 10-3 loss at Nebraska. But that was a misleading loss as Oklahoma actually out-yarded Nebraska 325-180 in that game. Their 5 turnovers did them in, and off that ugly offensive performance, the Sooners are likely to explode in this game tonight. And they get the perfect opponent to do just that.

Texas A&M can only do one thing to win games, and that is to try and out-score their opponent. But they

On paper, there

Many expect the loss of Patty Mills to be detrimental to St. Mary

Northern Illinois will be the class of the MAC this season. The Huskies return all of their top scorers, and they are much more experienced than a season ago. Their backcourt is solid and has tremendous depth while their frontcourt is big and tough, led by 6-11 Sean Kowal.

And there

The Hornets catch the red-hot Suns at the perfect time. Phoenix returns home off a 5-game Eastern road trip in which they played those 5 games over a 7-day stretch. Now they must play tonight

Denver

Utah is off to their worst start in seven years. The Jazz are currently just 2-4 SU/ATS which includes a 0-2 SU/ATS mark of the road, but Utah is putting a lot of emphasis on this 4-game Eastern Conference road trip.

Portland is coming off a big win on national TV Friday night versus the Spurs and it is hard to imagine the Blazers will have as much focus tonight against a struggling Minnesota squad. Portland qualifies in a letdown spot this evening and the Blazers are not an explosive team which makes it more difficult for them to win by large margins. In fact, Portland has only won once this season by more than 9 points and has not won any of their six games by more than 12 points.

Minnesota is a young squad, but they play hard and despite their 1-5 straight-up record, they are a profitable 4-2 against the spread this season. The Timberwolves are 2-0 ATS on the road this season with each loss coming by just 8 and 3 point margins. Minnesota fits a solid 54-32 ATS bounce-back situation which plays on teams coming off a double-digit SU loss as a favorite and the Timberwolves qualify in a 118-72 ATS big underdog situation tonight.

Play TIMBERWOLVES (+).

This is a favorable matchup for Nevada as they average 319 yards per game on the ground this season. They gain a whopping 7.1 yards per rush (versus teams that allow 4.6 ypr), and they should dominate a weak San Jose State run defense that allows 243 yards per game on 6.0 yards per rush. Nevada should have no problem eclipsing the 300-yard mark tonight

Nevada

The Giants have been embarrassed in three straight games. They

This looks like a great spot to play-against New Orleans. The Saints have played three consecutive emotional games in a row. Off their bye week, the Saints crushed the Giants 48-27 in a statement game versus another unbeaten team at the time. Two weeks ago, they were losing 24-6 at Miami before making a huge 4th quarter comeback and winning 46-34. And then last week, they were in a back and forth barnburner with the Falcons before winning 35-27 on Monday night national TV.

It

After opening the season at 4-1, Atlanta appeared to be a good team. But even though they had that strong, winning record, the Falcons were actually not deserving of it. They were winning those games

Nebraska

California has not lived up to their preseason expectations this season. The Bears were picked by many to take the Pac-10 crown, but those hopes were dashed after losing in back-to-back weeks to Oregon and USC. California has beat-up on a bunch of losing teams, and when facing solid competition, they

Oregon has certainly looked the part over the last six weeks. The Ducks are a perfect 6-0 straight-up and against the spread over the last month and a half, a far cry from their 1-1 straight-up and 0-2 spread mark to open the season. Their last five wins have all come by at least 14 points or more, with their average win being by a whopping 30 points per game. But this is a great spot to play-against Oregon.

Last week, Oregon throttled USC 47-20 while putting-up over 600 yards of offense. That was a primetime national TV game, so it

Milwaukee figures to struggle going forward. The Bucks lost their best player and scorer, Michael Redd, to a knee injury. Redd will be out for at least two weeks, and without him on the floor, the Bucks simply lack any offensive firepower. In their loss at Chicago on Tuesday, the Bucks scored only 81 points while shooting a dismal 39.6% from the floor and 20% from three-point land.

Things look to be getting worse as Milwaukee head coach Scott Skiles has already used 3 different starting lineups and the players know they are a work in progress. "It'll take 10 or 15 games to kind of get your rhythm back, especially with a defense on you. When you're working out in the off-season and nobody is really banging you, you've got to get used to that.

Chicago is in a good spot to get a convincing win tonight. The Bulls return home off back-to-back road losses at Boston and Miami, and they catch Milwaukee without their best player, Michael Redd, who is out because of a knee injury. Redd

The Lakers are 2-1 so far this season, but going unnoticed by the betting marketplace is the fact that they

Bowling Green is a one-dimensional team on offense. The Falcons do not run the ball much as they average just 62 yards per game on the ground. However, they do have the fourth-best passing offense in the country led by senior quarterback Tyler Sheehan and wideout Freddie Barnes, who after eight games leads the nation in receptions (99), receiving yards (1,054), and receiving touchdowns (9).

That passing offense faces a stern test tonight against Buffalo

New Orleans has dominated all six of their opponents so far this season. The Saints have won all of their games by at least 12 points or more. Their offense has been unstoppable as they average a robust 40 points per game on 427 yards of offense per game. In fact, the Saints have scored 45 points or more in four games already this season.

Even though the Falcons are 4-2 so far this season, they

Atlanta is 2-0 so far this season and hot starts are nothing new for the Hawks. Last year they won their first six games before losing their seventh on a buzzer-beater at Boston. Tonight

This is the biggest game of the season for Central Florida. While they

This looks like a prime spot to play against Arizona. The Cardinals return home off back-to-back road wins as underdogs and now they are a double digit favorite. Two weeks back, Arizona won at divisional rival Seattle 27-3, but it wasn

Green Bay played at Minnesota three weeks ago, and since their 30-23 loss in that Monday night game, the Packers have been waiting for this rematch. Despite losing the game on the scoreboard, the Packers actually out-yarded the Vikings in that game by 90 yards (424-334), but two crucial turnovers deep in Minnesota territory hampered any chance for a Green Bay victory.

The Packers were also playing that game with a beat-up offensive line that could not contain Minnesota

The Rams are obviously a bad team, but so is Detroit and the Lions qualify as a weak favorite today. Detroit is only 1-5 SU this season and a miserable 2-28 SU in their past 30 games overall and the Lions fit a negative 28-52 ATS situation which plays against bad teams when favored. Meanwhile, the Rams qualify in numerous contrary indicators and road teams off 7+ losses in a row are a strong 28-7 ATS (80%) the past ten years.

St. Louis has been struggled against good teams, but the Rams have actually performed well versus losing opponents. St. Louis is 6-4 ATS versus opponents with a losing record, compared to 6-24 ATS in all other games during the past three seasons. The Rams also matchup well today as they have the better offensive rushing attack and should have success against a terrible Detroit defense. St. Louis averages a solid 4.4 yards per rush (versus opponents that allow just 3.9 ypr) and will now be facing a Lions

Oregon is not nearly as good as their 6-1 record suggests. The Ducks have faced only 2 good teams, and in those two games, their numbers prove just how overrated they are. Against Boise State and Utah, Oregon was been out-scored 43-39 and out-yarded 658-464. Their other 5 games have come against a slate of opponents who own a combined record of just 14-22 against division I-A opposition. To compare, Boise State and Utah are a combined 12-1 against I-A teams this year.

The Ducks have padded their numbers over the last three weeks by crushing terrible teams; Washington, UCLA, and Washington State. After winning those three games by a combined 119-35, the Ducks are getting recognition as being a good team. But Oregon is just playing average football when we look at their yards per play numbers. The Ducks are averaging 5.5 yards per play, but that comes against teams that are also allowing 5.5 yards per play. To compare, know that Oregon had a total of 820 offensive yards in their first three games. So putting up the 1,233 yards on three weaklings really skews their seasonal numbers.

USC is one of the best teams in college football and there

This is a huge game for both teams as the winner will most likely sit in the driver

Off back-to-back ugly losses, Nebraska gets the perfect opponent to get healthy against. Baylor has been awful since losing stud quarterback Robert Griffin to a season-ending injury. Over their last three games, the Bears have been out-scored by a combined 91-24 while being out-yarded by a whopping 569 yards (1485-916).

Things don

These two teams enter tonight

The Phillies and Yankees play Game 1 of the World Series on tonight in the new Yankee Stadium. Cliff Lee is familiar with the Bronx Bombers, going 4-4 with a 5.02 ERA in nine career starts, but his recent numbers have been much stronger in the past three meetings as Lee has allowed just 4 runs in 19 innings of work. Overall, Lee has a solid 1.89 ERA in those three games the past two seasons versus New York with two of the three taking place on the road. Johnny Damon (2-22), Robinson Cano (4-18), and Jerry Hairston Jr. (1-6) all have poor numbers against Lee. The Yankees were just 1-2 versus Philadelphia at home this season with the one win coming by a single run.

C.C. Sabathia is also familiar with the Phillies, having given up three runs and nine hits in eight innings of work on May 24th. Sabathia is just 1-2 with a 5.55 ERA and a WHIP of 1.479 against Philadelphia in four career starts. Philadelphia beat him up last year in the playoffs when they defeated the Brewers 5-2 in Philly with Sabathia allowing 5 runs and 6 hits in just 3.7 innings. Raul Ibanez (11-40), Jimmy Rollins (4-11), Shane Victorino (3-7), Ryan Howard (3-7), and Carlos Ruiz (2-3) all have good success versus the hefty lefty. The Phillies are 31-16 against left handed starters and they are 7-2 in the playoffs this season with both losses coming by exactly one run. Philadelphia is also averaging a fantastic 6.1 runs per game in the postseason, while the Yankees are averaging only 5.3 runs per game despite having the added advantage of a designated hitter in the lineup.

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Washington has been the media