Fairway Jay
Bears
Tom Stryker
Steelers
Cleveland St -11
SPORTS BANK
400 Washington State
Sean Higgs
10* Atlanta Falcons
4* Baltimore Ravens
4* Baltimore/Pittsburgh Under
4* Tex A&M
4* Ball State
5* App State
5* NC State
4* Georgia
4* Dayton
4* San Francisco
RAS
Austin Peay/Tennessee St Under 138.5
Joseph D'Amico
USC vs. Oregon State
Play: USC -4½
USC is in revenge mode in this matchup, as the Trojans lost both meetings to the Beavers a season ago. Forward Nikola Vucevic is leading the squad with 15.8 PPG and 9.8 RPG. His supporting cast of Fontan, Jones, Stepheson, and Smith are very talented and truly athletic. USC comes off of two decisive victories over Washington State and UCLA only to have lost their last contest to Oregon. The Trojans will come back strong today against a Beaver squad that has lost and failed to cover 3 straight, including 2 to USC-beaten Washington State and UCLA. Outside of Guard Jared Cunningham, OSU just doesn’t have the horses to run with USC. This is a team that has recorded losses this year to such teams as Texas Southern, Utah Valley, and Montana. The Trojans are 15-7 ATS their L22 over the Beavers. Take USC. Thank you.
David Malinsky
4* #UCLA over OREGON
Oregon had one of those great “Storybook” evenings on Thursday, with the opening of Matthew Knight Arena leading to an upset of Southern Cal in a special atmosphere. Such can be the magic of college sports. But there was nothing terribly magical about the way that the Ducks played – their energy got them out to a 20-point lead, and then they coughed and wheezed the rest of the way, finally emerging 68-62. It was great theatre for three fourths of the game, but not great basketball.
There is not going to be any magical turnaround taking place for a limited roster that does not shoot well (40.7 percent), defend well (an ugly 37.3 percent allowance from 3-point range), or hit the boards well (-5.6 per game in Pac 10 play). And with the likelihood that Joevan Catron will have to sit out again up front, as the emotion from Thursday subsides we find them to be very vulnerable this afternoon.
U.C.L.A. will bring the mindset to take advantage of the Duck weaknesses, off of the bitter memories of a pair of painful losses in the series LY, falling 70-68 at home and 71-66 in O.T. at old McArthur Court. They bring the inside bulk in Reeves Nelson, Joshua Smith and Brendan Lane to have complete control of the proceedings around the basket, and now that Ben Howland is throwing some zone wrinkles out there they can confuse an Oregon offense that lacks direction (the Ducks had shot less than 40 percent in six straight games prior to Thursday). It adds up to a much easier win than the market projections, and it would be no surprise to see U.C.L.A. build the final margin into double figures.
Tim Robbie
Packers at Falcons
Pick: Falcons -1
This matchup has all the ingredients for a high scoring shootout. Both QBs threw for 28 TD passes during the regular season, and both teams will play aggressively knowing that it will probably take 30 points or more to emerge victorious. The main reasons I like the Falcons are the fact that they have only lost twice at home in 3 seasons with Matt Ryan playing QB, plus they had last weekend off while the Pack played in Philadelphia. I also like Atlanta's running game with Michael Turner over Green Bay's rushing attack, which is sporadic at best.
Evan Altemus
1* Wake Forest +19.5
Virginia Tech is coming off of a very tiring and demoralizing loss at North Carolina in their last game. However, they also suffered even more injuries to a team that was thin going into that game. Now the Hokies are asked to cover a huge point spread with a thin and banged up line-up. Wake Forest is a horrible team no doubt, but this selection is a play against Virginia Tech. This spot is horrible for them, and all Wake Forest has to do is keep the game from being an absolute blowout. I expect the Hokies to be tired and worn out from their recent injuries and tiring game against North Carolina.
King Creole
1* Falcons -2.5
1-19 SU / 4-14-1 ATS: All DIVISION ROUND road teams playing off BB 'Unders' (G Bay)..... and 1-9 ATS vs any opponent off a SU win (Atl).
1-7 ATS: All DIVISION ROUND road underdogs of 7 < points playing off a SU underdog win (G Bay).
Let's open up our 'Homer DOMER' database (teams who play their home games indoors).
7-0 ATS: All 'Homer DOMER' Playoff favorites of points (Atl)... when the OU line is > 34 points.
0-4 ATS / 0-4 O/U: All Playoff road dogs of 5 points.
FALCONS: 21-4 SU at home the last 4 years... 11-2 ATS when the line is 5 < points and a PERFECT 6-0 ATS as non-division favs of 56 < points
The Real Animal
Falcons
Rob Rosenhaus
250* Baltimore Ravens +3
NSA
20* Green Bay +2 (NFL Playoff GOY)
20* Baltimore +3½
20* Washington St +1
20* Denver -15
10* Green Bay @ Atlanta UNDER 44
10* Baltimore @ Pittsburgh UNDER 37½
10* Cincinnati +8
Wildcat
7* Atlanta Falcons Over
5* Pittsburgh Steelers
PPP
3% Pittsburgh Steelers
3% Green Bay Packers