Brian Gabrielle Sports
SMU @ Rice
Rice comes back fortified on offense in this, David Bailiff's second season as head coach. Only one player who scored a touchdown for this team departed. Chase Clement operates the spread offense with aplomb, throwing for 29 touchdowns and 3377 yards last season, and he's made plenty of hookups with Jarrett Dillard (79 catches for 14 TD's last year), who may not get the attention of Jeremy Maclin or Michael Crabtree, but is an honest-to-goodness All-America candidate.
Clement was also this team's leading rusher last year, and therein lies the problem. This team, which was land-locked for years under former coach Ken Hatfield, now has a hard time running the ball. On defense the Owls allowed a shade under 43 points per game, 118th in the country, and was one notch below that in defending the pass. They get six starters back on the stop unit, but there is little depth to work with.
The big news in Dallas is that June Jones is taking the reins at SMU, and bringing the run and shoot offense with him. Ordinarily, Justin Willis, a talented junior who tossed 25 TD passes last year, would be the starter for Jones, but Willis was suspended in the spring, and now the race for the QB position is wide-open between five candidates. Whoever gets the job will have solid wide receivers in Aldrick Robinson and Emmanuel Sanders (74 receptions).
A running game must be developed, because Willis' 699 yards led the team. Jones is actually encouraged by his defense, and it had better improve, as the Mustangs were 117th in the country in allowing 39.8 points per game. Opponents were successful on 3rd down attempts 54% of the time, and the Mustangs were the worst anywhere in that regard.
It's important to note that when Jones took over at Hawaii, he transformed a team that was winless the year before to one that won nine games. Eventually the Rainbows made it to the BCS. So he knows how to do a quick turnaround. But with everyone fighting over the quarterback job, no one is going to get a whole lot of snaps in practice, and repetition is a key to mastering Jones' scheme.
If it's Willis, SMU will have an experienced hand. But he's still more mistake-prone than Clement. Defensively, both teams are so bad that it's almost a standoff. But Rice is ahead of SMU in terms of implementing their wide-open attack, and that will mean something here.
Rice is going to be more "together" at this point, so we will lay the points with the Owls.
Take Rice -3
Lucky Lester
Temple Owls (-7) @ Baylor Bears
Temple, amazingly, won 4 of their last 7 games, have three Pre-Seasons All Conference players returning, and were voted “Program on the Rise” by the MAC conference. They return their leading passer and an offensive line that found cohesion late last year. Defensively, Temple is better than expected, as Army will find out. Army switched their entire offense around this summer, moving from a no-huddle spread to an option based rushing attack. When that happens originally, teams seem to struggle because of the recruiting differences for offenses like that. I never thought I’d consider taking a Temple team on the road and favored by a touchdown, but that’s exactly what I’m doing and I’m confident about it.
Scott Ferrall
NFL Pre-Season WEEK 4 (Friday's games)
San Francisco -1 to San Diego--The Chargers just played Monday, so they'll be gassed and get beat in the Bay--UNDER 37
Oakland +3 from Seattle--same thing here for the Seahawks--they had to play Monday night so they won't be fresh--UNDER 36
Cardinals -2.5 to Broncos--Arizona puts on a show and takes out Denver in the last tune up for the season--the Cards havent' looked half bad in the games that don't count--OVER 38
Scott Ferrall
Temple -7 to Army--The Cadets always suck--let's face it !
Rice -3.5 to SMU--June Jones isn't going to start winning right off the bat
WINNING POINTS
PREFERRED
Rice* over S.M.U. by 14
Ace-Ace
3-Unit Play. Temple (-7) over Army
Jimmy The Moose
Denver Broncos at Arizona Cardinals
Prediction: Over
The Broncos offense has looked really good in the preseason. Denver is averaging 21.7 PPG while giving up 19.7 PPG. Arizona has played over the total in 2 of their 3 preseason games. The Cardinals are averaging 20.3 PPG while giving up 13.7 per contest. Kurt Warner is expected to start tonight and although the starters won't see much action expect him to connect on a few good plays putting up some points. The team's have played the over in 8 of the last 10 meetings. With the backups playing most of the game expect a high scoring game. Play the over.
SCOTT FERRALL
NFL Pre-Season WEEK 4 (Friday's games)
San Francisco -1 to San Diego--The Chargers just played Monday, so they'll be gassed and get beat in the Bay--UNDER 37
Oakland +3 from Seattle--same thing here for the Seahawks--they had to play Monday night so they won't be fresh--UNDER 36
Cardinals -2.5 to Broncos--Arizona puts on a show and takes out Denver in the last tune up for the season--the Cards havent' looked half bad in the games that don't count--OVER 38
NCAA First Weekend FreeBees for the Cheapees!
Temple -7 to Army--The Cadets always suck--let's face it !
Rice -3.5 to SMU--June Jones isn't going to start winning right off the bat
BASEBALL FREE B's FOR FRIDAY
TORONTO and AJ Burnett -120 at Yankee Stadium over the Bombers
Cleveland -110 over Seattle at the Jake--Sowers over King Felix
Colorado -170 at San Diego--Cook has been tough lately for the Rockies
Arizona +105 over the Dodgers and Kuroda in the desert
Houston +125 over the Cardinals at Minute Maid--Wolf beats Lohse
Washington +150 over the Braves in DC--Perez over Campillo
Gator
e-Report 70% Super Situation:
MLB Friday: Play Under MLB road teams where the total is 7 to 8.5 revenging a loss where opponent scored 10 or more runs, starting a pitcher who is working on 5 or 6 days rest, 54-18 Under last five seasons (75%)
PLAY: San Francisco / Cincinnati UNDER 8.5 (-105)
e-Report Top Angle:
MLB Friday: CLEVELAND is 9-0 against the money line with an on base percentage of .350 or better over their last 20 games this season
Sports Gambling Hotline
Toronto -115 at NY YANKEES
Tonight in baseball, we feel it is a no-brainer to ride Toronto and AJ Burnett over the Yankees.
The Jays did drop their last pair at Tampa, while the Yankees kept their pulse barely beating with a 3-2 win yesterday over Boston to avoid a home 3-game sweep.
We expect the Yankees to be right back in the loss column in this game, as they have not been able to touch AJ Burnett at all in his 3 previous starts against them, as Burnett is a perfect 3-0, allowing just 4 runs in 22 innings of work.
Dating back to last season, Burnett is 4-0 with 5 runs allowed in 37 innings of work!
Carl Pavano counters with his second start of the season. Yes, he did get the win at Baltimore a few days ago, but he only lasted 5 innings, while allowing 3 runs.
We just don't see the Yankees winning this game against Burnett.
Play on Toronto.
5♦ TORONTO
Karl Garrett
Temple -7 at ARMY
Another college winner tonight, as Temple finds a way to get the cover at Army.
The Owls may be 2-29 straight up on the road their last 31, so there has to be a reason they are laying a touchdown tonight. First off, this is a revenge spot for a Temple team that out-first downed Army 25-14 in last year's 37-21 loss at West Point!
Temple does return 21 starters to Army's 8, and the G-Man is thinking Owls' revenge all the way here.
The points haven't helped Army that much, as the Black Knights are a dismal 2-6 against the spread as a home underdog their last 8, and went only 3-5-1 overall last season when catching points.
Look for the Owls to nab the revenge spread win here.
4♦ TEMPLE
Jim Feist
Chw/Bos UNDER the Total
A couple of fine pitching staffs meet here: The White Sox are 5th in the AL in pitching, the Red Sox are 6th. It's nice to give the bullpen a rest before a series, as well. With Gavin Floyd's eight-inning outing Tuesday and Thursday off, the bullpen rested before it regroups for the weekend series at Boston. "Our bullpen has been criticized from time to time, but those guys pick it up for us very well," Ozzie Guillen said. "Linebrink makes the bullpen a lot better. [D.J.] Carrasco went out and did a great job, and [ Adam] Russell is doing an outstanding job. I don't have any complaints about the bullpen. Those guys have been great." Starter Javier Vazquez has quietly had a strong season, with 163 Ks in 171 innings. He's also on a roll, with a 1.96 ERA his last three starts. Chicago's offense is great at home, but drops by 1.4 runs per game on the road. It's not clear what Boston ace Josh Beckett will bring after missing time with a shoulder problem, but he has a 1.13 ERA against the White Sox this season and 3.68 in 29 career innings against them. Don't look for many runs, play the White Sox/Red Sox under the total.
Dave Cokin
Blue Jays @ Yankees
Play: Blue Jays -125
Nice comeback win for the Yankees Thursday, but they're not very good right now. I watched Carl Pavano's start last Saturday and it's kind of a miracle he didn't get smoked, as he was leaving way too many pitches up in the zone. The Blue Jays are playing hard, AJ Burnett has a shot at 20 wins, and they rate the favorite's role here. I'll spot the price with the Blue Jays.
Marc Lawrence
Play On: San Francisco
At first glance this is not a popular pick but one that is warranted, nonetheless. For openers Barry Zito has been black-and-white on the road as opposed to home this season. That's confirmed by his 3.95 road ERA as opposed to a 6.57 ERA in San Francisco this year. Toss in the fact that Zito lost to Edison Volquez in a head-to-head matchup earlier this season in Frisco and we've suddenly got a motivated dog in a great spot here tonight. The clincher is Zito's 11-1 record in his last 12 road starts during August. You know what to do - back Zito and the Giants here tonight.
Big Al McMordie
MARINERS / INDIANS OVER 8½
Who's the hottest team in the American League? The Red Sox? Rays? Angels? Believe it or not, with 10 straight wins and 11 out of their last 12, the Cleveland Indians have been playing the best ball in the league recently. And during this improbable 10-game win streak, the Indians have scored seven or more runs seven times, and have scored at least four runs in each of the 10 contests. Cleveland generally needs this type of run support as its bullpen has been less than stellar in 2008. Seattle's bullpen has struggled as well lately, as have its starters and the Mariners are only 5-13 in their last 18 games as a result. You know things are going bad when your ace starter, righthander Felix Hernandez starts getting roughed up. Despite his 3.28 ERA on the season, Hernandez is 1-1 with a six run ERA in his last three starts. Cleveland's southpaw Jeremy Sowers has been even worse, with a 6.47 ERA on the year and 7.02 ERA in his last three starts. In games played under the lights, Sowers is winless (0-5) with a 7.93 ERA and 69 hits in less than 48 innings. The over is 8-1 in Seattle's last nine road games and 7-2 in Cleveland's last nine overall. Take the 'over'.