Bruce Marshall
Troy at South Alabama
Pick: Troy
We're going to play the psychology angle here, though Dr. Phil might wonder why we are going into the teeth of the "lost father" syndrome at Troy with longtime HC Larry Blakeney announcing his retirement, effective end of season, so he can move full-time to his vacation retirement home on the Gulf. But expect Trojans to display some spunk after blowout home loss vs. App State. And road teams are 6-0 vs. spread in South Alabama games this season (Jags 0-3 vs. line in Mobile).
Larry Ness
Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche
Pick: Colorado Avalanche
Vancouver raised its record to 5-2-0 last night with a 4-1 upset win in S Louis against the Blues. Despite that surprising victory, the Canucks have still lost 17 of their last 24 games away from home. Vancouver has also lost EIGHT of its last nine games played without rest. The Canucks’ big offseason acquisition of Ryan Miller certainly paid off last night as he made 31 saves to lead them to victory. However, Miller will likely be given the night off tonight which means second-year goalie Eddie Lack will be asked to make his second start of the season. Lack has a subpar 3.13 GAA along with a .872 save percentage so far this year.
He will face a desperate Colorado team that has gotten off to a very disappointing 1-4-2 start this year after a 4-3 loss in overtime to Florida earlier this week. Being on their home ice for just the third time this season should help this Avalanche team tonight. More importantly, Colorado looks to get Semyon Varlamov back between the pipes tonight after he missed the last three games to a groin injury. Varlamov led the NHL last year by securing 41 victories for the Avalanche. He was 2-0 with a 1.98 GAA against the Canucks last year as well. Take Colorado.
Dave Price
Boise State -6.5
The BYU Cougars are 0-5 ATS in their last five games, losing the last three straight up by an average of 9.7 points. Clearly, they haven't been the same since QB Taysom Hill went down with a season-ending injury. Boise State won't show the Cougars any mercy. The Broncos lost 37-20 at BYU last season and will be out for some serious revenge tonight. The BYU secondary is a major weak spot. The Cougars rank 120th in the country with 290.6 passing yards allowed per game. Look for Boise State to take full advantage. QB Grant Hedrick leads the 25th-ranked passing attack in the nation. The Cougars are 0-6-1 ATS in their last seven games following an ATS loss, 2-6 ATS in their last eight road games and 1-5 ATS in their last six road games versus teams with a winning home record. The Broncos are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 home games versus a team with a winning road record.
Harry Bondi
BYU (+6½) over Boise State
This Boise team is not nearly as explosive as past Bronc teams. While BYU has struggled since losing QB Tayson Hill, they still have enough to get by boise tonight. Cougars are 6-0 ATS their last 6 as road dogs and play their best against good teams going 10-1 ATS as dogs vs teams with a winning record. They have also covered the last three in this series with the Broncos so lets back BYU tonight.
Joe Gavazzi
BYU +6.5
Boise St. stands atop the Mountain West with a conference mark of 3-1 SU. The Broncos are off a 37-27 win vs. Fresno, in which they rushed for 264 yards and passed for 228 yards. Now, they step out of conference before finishing the year with games against 4 clearly beatable league foes. Far more motivation for Independent BYU, who is 4-3 SU, 2-5 ATS! That includes a 0-5 ATS run and a 3-game losing streak since the injury to starting QB Taysom-Hill. It certainly would help their chances, if their best RB Williams (foot) is able to make post. The Cougars have also suffered defensive injuries, which have resulted in their secondary allowing an average of 315 PYPG in the losing streak. Expect no mercy from Boise, who is playing with 37-20 revenge for a loss last year in which BYU rang up 568 yards. Despite that revenge, I see BYU as the more motivated team. Winning teams, who are 3 games or more under .500 ATS, must be given a look at this point in the season, particularly in a lose/win set. Last week's defeat was indeed crushing for the Cougars. Keyed by a -3 net TO margin, BYU lost 42-35 on their home field to Nevada. This happened despite outgaining the Wolfpack 602-413. That loss to Nevada last week was particularly painful, as Nevada at one point scored 29 consecutive points. With motivation falling on the side of the Broncos, the technicals are also clearly in our favor. Boise is just 7-14 ATS recently as home chalk, while HC Mendenhall of BYU is in his ideal role. Overall, Bronco is 8-3 ATS of dog as of late, including 6-0 ATS as road dog/BBL and 10-1 ATS vs. .500 or better foes.
Vegas NFL Picks
Oregon/California Over
Hello guys , I know we could had a better number early this week, but the number on the total only seems to go up its gone to 79 this morning,well this 2 teams can end up scoring 100 easy
this has written shootout all over, the Oregon Ducks averaging 41.6 points a game ,Oregon now 6th ranked and in control of the PAC 12 North travel to Santa Clara tonight to play the California Bears who are playing a good season where they were competitive all season with the exception of the Washington game,Cal QB Jared Goff is one of the most underrated in College football, beeing fourth in efficiency rate 173.1, with 24 Touchdown passes this season
both teams need the win ,Oregon to defend the top spot in the PAC12 North and remain in contention for the four team Play Offs,California Bears need 2 more wins to become bowl eligible
Bears poor pass defense allowing almost 400 yards in average through the air,this could be the game for Ducks QB Marcus Mariota to shine with completing 70.2 % of his passes,there is no question Mariots will get the 44 yards he needs to become Oregons all time leader breaking Bill Musgraves record
Oregon RB Royce Freeman needs 76yrds to break the all time Ducks record for a freshman, Freeman scored 4TDs last week against Washington, so all is set for a record breaking game
Raiderman
Royals
The pitching match-up is Jeremy Guthrie (13-11, 4.13 ERA) vs Tim Hudson (9-13, 3.57 ERA) for the Giants. What I like about this match-up is that Guthrie comes in pitching better down the stretch than Hudson. During September, Hudson was 0-4 with an 8.72 ERA while Guthrie was 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA. During the post-season neither pitcher has logged a decision but Hudson's ERA is 3.29 and he has allowed 14 hits in 13.2 innings. Certainly, Hudson's post season numbers aren't bad by any stretch. Guthrie has had one post-season appearance in which he pitched 5 innings against Baltimore in the ALCS and allowed just one run (1.80 ERA) on 3 hits. This will be the first World Series start for both pitchers. Guthrie is more of a fly ball pitcher, and AT&T is not a homer friendly park, so if Guthrie can effectively keep the ball down, the Royals should be in good shape with their defense and bullpen.
The SF bullpen really let the Giants down the other night, so this could be a true wild card. Hudson only averaged 6 innings per start, so I expect the bullpen to come into play tonight. Meanwhile, I thought Ventura really battled himself the other night, but the KC bullpen came in and shut down the Giants. This could be something we see again before this series is over. Neither of these pitchers is a dominant pitcher, so the bullpens will be called upon early. If it comes down to pitching and defense late, we know the Royals have got the goods.
I expect this to be a high scoring game, something along the lines of 6-4 or so, so I would definitely lean to the Over as well.
Carson K
Royals +117
This is really tough for me. I believe every game is a coin flip. Unless Bumgarner is pitching. I have KC to win the Series (nice chunk on it). So i have 3 opitions, 1-Sit this out and just cheer on KC. 2-Put a little on SF just in case. 3-Say f*ck it and keep going with KC.
Hudson @ home vs. Guthrie on the road. Really not that much of a difference. I think we will see a run 1 game or it will be all tied up heading into the 7th. If thats the case I'll take KC.
The question I was asked the other day. "What will KC do when they finally lose a game?" My answer was, win the next 4. I was only joking at first. But now I'm starting to believe they can.
I liked what I seen from the Royals in Game 2. Fire, Fight and F*ck You we can win this thing attitude. They didn't care that they were down 0-1. The Champ(SF) got hit in the mouth and he's bleeding. In 2010 they went up 2-0 on Texas and they knew they were better. 2012 they swept the Tigers. They are in for a fight with this KC team. How will they respond?