Vegas Experts
Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs
The Cubs may have dropped back-to-back games at home, but they are still 51-21 at Wrigley on the year and drop in class from the Phillies to the Astros. Houston starter Roy Oswalt has a 1-8 team start record on the road in day games and was shelled here for five runs and 10 hits back in April. Look for the Cubs hurler that beat him that day, Jason Marquis, to do it again this afternoon.
Play on: Chicago Cubs
LT Profits
Fresno State @ Rutgers Under 58.0
Rutgers scored over 300 points last season, but they lost the heart and soul of that offense in running back Ray Rice, and quarterback Mike Teel does not frighten any defenses with his arm. Meanwhile, Fresno State has transitioned to primarily a running offense, which is also conducive to an Under.
Now Rutgers allowed the fewest sacks in the country last year, but much of that had to do with the fact that Rice carried the ball over 30 times per game. The Scarlet Knights are currently very inexperienced at the running back position, and Teel has never been one to be able to carry an offense without the support of a solid running game. That will be an issue vs. a veteran Bulldogs offensive line that averaged 2.8 sacks per game last season.
Now Rutgers also returns many key members of a defense that ranked 17 in the nation last year in total defense at just 327.6 total yards per game allowed, so the Fresno State offense will also be under some pressure. The Bulldogs did do a good job of using the run last season to open up some opportunities for quarterback Tom Brandstater in the air, but it was still a control-type passing game that Fresno employed and we look for more of the same today.
Frankly, this total has us a tad puzzled as we do not see this game getting out of the 40s.
Pick: Fresno State, Rutgers Under 58
Chicago Cubs -125
The Houston Astros are coming off of an outstanding September and Roy Oswalt is starting to look like his old self, but this still seems like a rather cheap price for the Chicago Cubs at home.
After all, the Cubs are an amazing 51-21 at Wrigley Field this season, and after losing the last two games to the Phillies here, they will be anxious to reestablish their home dominance. Jason Marquis may be a disappointment overall this year, but he has been much better lately with a 3.06 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in his last three starts.
As great as Oswalt has been in his career, he has never pitched particularly well in Wrigley. He was torched for six runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings here earlier this season, marking his third straight start in this friendly old stadium that he failed to record a Quality Starts, allowing 17 earned runs in just 17 innings over those three outings.
Look for the Astros recent success to stall in this series opener.
Pick: Cubs -125
Michael Alexander
Tennessee U vs. UCLA
Play: UCLA +7
The Tennessee Vols bring an offense into this game tonight that returns eight starters including senior tailback Arian Foster (1,193 yards, 12 touchdowns) and senior wide receiver Lucas Taylor (73 catches, 1,000 yards, five touchdowns). Foster will be running behind an offensive line that returns four starters. Gone this season is QB Ainge who last year passed for more than 3,500 yards with 31 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions in 519 attempts. Replacing the big play QB will be junior Jonathan Crompton who played in only seven games completing 7 of 12 passes for 97 yards. The Tennessee Defense was 11th in the conference in total defense last season allowing 403.3 yards per game but has some big holes to fill this year as they lost linebacker Jerod Mayo Ryan Karl. In addition they had both defensive ends leave the team as well.
The UCLA Bruins start tonight with a new coach in Rick Neuheisel who brings an impressive resume with him posting a record of 66-30 in eight season along with seven bowl games and three top 10 finishes. To help with the offense Neuheisel brings in Norm Chow who spent four years as offensive coordinator at USC, which won two national titles (2003, ’04) with him on the sideline. The biggest problem going into this season on offense for the Bruins is that Senior QB Pat Cowan suffered ligament and cartilage damage is his left knee during the spring and was ruled out for the season, while backup senior AB Ben Olson went down with a broken foot. One bright spot is that the Bruins defense returns several key players that ranked 14th in the nation against the run (109.2 yards per game) and 29th in both total defense (343.2) and scoring defense (22.3 points per game) last year.
SUPPORTING ANGLES: UCLA is 10-1 ATS (+8.9 Units) as an underdog over the last 3 seasons. UCLA is 17-4 ATS (+12.6 Units) as a home underdog since 1992. UCLA is 18-7 ATS (+10.3 Units) in the first two weeks of the season since 1992.
The UCLA offense certainly won't be a threat tonight but their defense should be able to hold a re-tooled Tennesse offense in check making the 7 points a tough cover. I'm taking UCLA in a close one.
Tony Karpinski
Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers
Play:Over
I am expecting both teams to tee off in this one, with Silva and Harrison. Both of these pitchers are garbage and the Rangers have a terrible bullpen and one of the worst defenses in baseball. If you look at the last 2 games these 2 teams have faced each other with either Harrison or Silva starting the game, they have combined for 13 runs and 21 runs. We'll take the OVER in this game tonight.
Greg Daraban
San Francisco at 958 Colorado
West battle in the Denver. The Giants and Rockies are both 5-5 in their last 10. Sanchez 8-9 a plesant surprise takes on Colorado and De La Rosa 7-7 The Giants win on the road with a big price.
Take San Francisco
FRANK ROSENTHAL
954 BREWERS+105 SB
969 ASTROS+120 SB
961 CARDS OVER 9 SB
963 PADRES+145 SB
OVER 7.5 SB
970 TRIBE-165 SB
UNDER 9 SB
COLLEGE FOOTBALL MONDAY
211 FRESNO ST+4 SB
214 UCLA+7.5 SB
UNDER 46.5 SB
Charlie Scott
Fresno State vs. Rutgers
Play: Fresno State +4
Fresno st returns 17 starters off of last years Humanitarian Bowl vicory over Georgia Tech. In the past pat Hill's Fresno st Bulldogs have opened up vs top BCS competition and Hill always has the Bulldogs prepared to play and play competitive. Rutgers will feel the loss of RB Ray Rice ( Baltimore Ravens). Without Rice, QB Mike Teel will have to step up and make plays, in my opinion he won't ! I'll take Pat Hill getting points vs an overrated Greg Schiano (he is a good recruiter) any day. Wagering early is encouraged as I feel the line will drop.
Jimmy Thompson
New York vs. Detroit
Pick:Over 10
You can't go wrong when you play a Sidney Ponson game over, but with Verlander's struggles this year today's Tiger/Yankee game becomes even more appetizing. We won our AL Total of the Year on Wednesday with Ponson starting for the Yanks and we don't see any reason why we shouldn't do it again!
JB's COMPUTER PICKS
Florida Marlins -175
Cleveland Indians -175
Texas Rangers -170
Erin Rynning
20* Nationals
BOB BALFE
College Football
Tennessee/UCLA Over 46
Both teams come into this game with new QB's and new coordinators on offense. At first glance it might look like both offenses will struggle, but if you look at last years Tennessee team on the road you will see that their defense just never showed up for any of those games. The Vols QB situation is not as bad as UCLA's. Tennessee has a great offensive line which should take pressure off Jonathan Crompton and allow them to run the ball. UCLA will start Kevin Craft who was supposed to be their third stringer. Kraft is trapped in the 90's and looks a lot like Vanilla Ice, but does have starting QB experience at San Diego State and has the luxury of being coached by an offensive genius in Norm Chow. New UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel was a former UCLA QB and I expect big things from this offense this year. Both starting QB's might gift wrap us a nice INT for a TD and when the game is at double zero the scoring should be enough to cash the ticket. Take the Over.
Major League Baseball
Brewers -110 over Mets
Sheets/Santana
TONY MATHEWS
Houston Astros vs. Chicago Cubs
Selection: Houston/Chicago Under
The Houston Astros will use starting pitcher Roy Oswalt. Roy Oswalt has been pitching great as of late. In fact, Roy Oswalt has a 1.57 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see Roy Oswalt pitching another great game today.
The Chicago Cubs will use starting pitcher Jason Marquis. Jason Marquis has been pitching good as of late. In fact, Jason Marquis has a 3.06 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see Jason Marquis pitching another good game today.
These teams have been known to play low-scoring games. In fact, the Under is 37-17-1 in the last 55 meetings between these teams.
The bottom line, we should see a low-scoring game today!
Take the Houston Astros/Chicago Cubs Under
POWER INDEX
Tennessee -7.5 over UCLA*
UCLA looks to be pretty green with heavy losses on both sides of the ball. Additionally, the top two QB's have been lost to injury. There is potential here for a big win by Tennessee if new QB Crompton can deliver a solid performance.
TONY WESTON
Well, we're switching gears and focusing on some National League action as we're taking the Brewers at home against the Mets.The Mets come into this game as a favorite primarily because of what scheduled starting pitcher Johan Santana has been doing lately. Santana is 4-0 his last seven starts and the Mets are 6-1 in the stretch, including wins in each of his last five starts.But, get over that fact and dig a little deeper. These teams have played each other three times this season with the Brewers holding a 2-1 advantage. In fact, in their second meeting of the year on April 12, Santana faced Ben Sheets, the Brewers scheduled starter for today, and Milwaukee got over on the Mets 5-3. In that game, in New York, the Brewers touched up Santana for three home runs and four earned runs as he lasted only 6 2/3 innings.Also consider that New York is only 4-4 its last eight games, while Milwaukee has won three straight games and is 8-1 its last nine. At home, the Brewers are on a four-game winning streak and are 9-1 their last 10 in front of the fans at Miller Park.
Milwaukee will keep its home wins streak alive and get over on the favored Mets.
STEVE JANUS
TENNESSEE
One of the best early match ups in college football comes on Monday night, September 1st as the UCLA Bruins host the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. A key game for both schools, Tennessee will be out to prove that they deserve their preseason rank, while UCLA wants badly to put a disappointing 6-6 season behind them so they can become the power in the PAC 10 that everyone thought they would be last season.
Tennessee has a new starting QB for 2008. There will be a lot of eyes on junior Johnathan Crompton, who takes over for a very successful Erik Ainge, last year?s senior starter. The Vols offense has a ton of weapons, both through the air, and on the ground. Starting running back, Arian Foster went over 1,100 yeards last season and, with all 5 offensive lineman returning, is in position to take that number even higher. There aren?t many questions about the running game, but Tennessee?s success will rely on more than just the fresh legs of Foster. Crompton has some very good receivers, but he?s going to need to prove to be consistent and, most importantly, that he can be trusted to keep the ball with the offense. The kid has a great arm, but that doesn?t always translate into great completion percentage, and can sometimes lead to more frequent interceptions.
The Vols defense is nothing to get excited about, but not many defenses that play against the talent in the SEC are. Finishing 70th in total yards allowed simply isn?t going to get the job done this year, but Tennessee is hoping that the 7 starters that they return on defense can help improve that number drastically in 2008. The defensive line is the stregth on this side of the ball, but the linebacking crew and the secondary two areas where the Vols need to see dramatic improvement.
UCLA missed a big chance last year. They started the season ranked number 14 in the country, and started off the season well, but a muddled offense and defense that blew assignments lead to an eventual 6-6 finish. Will it be redemption for the Bruins or another disappointment? The answer to that question relies heavily on the consistency and ball control of the offensive unit. UCLA returns just 4 offensive starters, and you never know how a group of guys are going to come together, but it looks like consistency could once against be a problem for this team.
Defensively, the Bruins thrived in the PAC 10, finishing the year ranked 36th in total yards allowed. Unfortunately, only 5 starters from that team return to the field in 2008, so UCLA will have to bank on starters without a lot of real game experience. Their could be some growing pains for the defense, but they have enough core guys back to keep them competitive against most teams.
There are some major concerns on the defensive side of the ball for UCLA. The Bruins simply don?t match up well against the big, athletic wide receivers of the Volunteers. Look for Tennessee move the ball easily through the air, get up early, and finish the Bruins off with a heavy dose of their star running back
Prediction: Tennessee 33, UCLA 10