Jack Jones
Los Angeles Angels -130
Rarely will you get Los Angeles Ace Jered Weaver at this price at home. I'll take advantage Friday as the Angels trail the Texas Rangers by just 2.5 games in the AL West division and really need this win.
Weaver is having a Cy-Young caliber season at 16-7 with a 2.49 ERA and 1.027 WHIP in 29 starts. He has been virtually untouchable at home, going 8-1 with a 1.87 ERA and 1.059 WHIP in Los Angeles. The Angels are 11-2 in Weaver's 13 home starts in 2011.
Los Angeles is 40-14 in Weaver's last 54 home starts overall. The Angels are 24-8 in Weaver's last 32 starts as a home favorite of -110 to -150. The Angels are 4-0 in Weaver's last 4 home starts vs. Yankees. L.A. is 22-10 in their last 32 home meetings with the Yankees. Bet the Angels Friday.
Jeff Alexander
1 Unit on LA Angels -130
The Angels have the edge on the mound with Weaver, who is 8-1 (11-2 on the money line) with an ERA of 1.87 in 13 home starts this season. Also, Weaver is 3-0 (4-0 on the money line) in 4 career home starts against the Yankees. He gave up only 2 runs on 3 hits in 7 innings of work in a 3-2 victory in his only start against New York this season. We'll bet the Halos.
SPORTS WAGERS
ARIZONA ST –9 over Missouri
Pretty interesting number when you consider that the Tigers are ranked 21st in the nation while the Sun Devils are unranked. That’s a ranked team taking back big points against an unranked team in a nationally televised game. The inclination would be to take the points but that could be a big mistake, as the oddmakers give away nothing and you can double that when the game is sure to attract a ton of money. What we know for sure is that the Tigers offense is a work in progress and one really has to wonder how they’ll rack up points here. Missouri was a 20-point favorite over Miami-Ohio last week and didn’t even score 19. The Tigers won 17-6 and outgained the Redhawks by a mere 21 yards. The Tigers defense was solid last season and they appear to be solid again, however, you can expect the time of possession to be dominated by ASU and that means the defense will be on the field way too often. The Sun Devils are an offensive juggernaut. They racked up over 30 points a game last season and opened the year with 48 against UC Davis. That’s not saying much, as the Sun Devils were a 37-point favorite but they didn’t even break a sweat. It was like batting practice for them while the Tigers clawed their way to an ugly win against a poor opponent. Play: Arizona St. –9 (Risking 2.2 units to win 2).
Florida International +150 over LOUISVILLE
First off, when a known program is favored by just 3½ points against an unknown program and that known program is at home in a singled out Friday night ESPN game, you had better take a close look at the unknown. The Cardinals won ugly last week against Murray State, 21-9. Louisville tuned the ball over four times and they did not score in the second half against a marshmallow squad. Louisville now goes into this second game with the same 17 freshmen, a whole new offensive line and the fifth different starting QB in five years. FIU blew away division Rival North Texas last week 41-16. The Mean Green scored all its points defensively with two fumble recoveries and a safety. The Panthers return most of their starters including QB Wesley Carroll, who completed 61% of his passes last season for over 2600 yards. He has some experienced weapons too and that includes reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year T.Y. Hilton. The Cardinals obviously recruit better than the Panthers but this is a young and inexperienced group that is not even close to being comfortable on the field while FIU is very comfortable and a prime time game on ESPN is surely to have them completely focused on the task at hand. Play: Florida International +150 (Risking 2 units).
Calgary –3 over EDMONTON
Rematch of last week’s Labor Day Classic that saw the heavily favored Stamps get blown away by this intruder. It was the second time this season that the Eskies went into Calgary and beat the superior team. Perhaps Calgary suffered a hangover after beating the Als the previous week in what was an exciting and intense football game. The Stamps caught the Eskies on a three-game losing streak and reeling from a whole bunch of key injuries and figured they just needed to show up to win. That attitude will not be displayed here. It’s one thing to lose to an inferior team on your home field but it’s a complete embarrassment to lose by 28 points to your most hated rival. The Stamps have to show up here and save grace. They’re a quality team that was on a serious roll before that humiliation. This isn’t about revenge or payback. This is about the Calgary Stampeders taking the Eskimos seriously and that is something you can count on. Losing three times to this opponent in 10 weeks in not an option and it says here that the better team, the Stamps, come in here more focused and determined than they’ve been all season. Play: Calgary –3 (Risking 2.08 units to win 2).
Passing MLB
EZWINNERS
Arizona State Sun Devils -9
Missouri will take to the road for the first time with their new starting quarterback James Franklin who is replacing last year 's starter Blaine Gabbert who is now in the NFL with the Jaguars. Franklin is an athletic player that can make some things happen with his feet, but he has not show that he can make all the tough passes at this level of competition. The Sun Devils have a strong front seven that are going to pressure Franklin. Last week against Miami-Ohio Franklin missed a lot of throws and he will be under more pressure in this game. On the other side of the ball the Missouri defense is a solid group, but I look for ASU and quarterback Brock Osweiler to attack the three new starters that the Tigers feature in their secondary this season. Missouri is just 1-5 against the spread in their last six non conference games. Lay the points.
O.C. Dooley
Florida International / Louisville Over 47.5
This is a rare opportunity for the entire country to have a chance to watch a dynamic Florida International offense that set an all-time school record one year ago in combined points (374) scored and the Golden Panthers last Thursday kept up that pace by putting a massive 41 points on the scoreboard. Their starting quarterback Wesley Carroll actually is a transfer from an SEC-Conference program (Mississippi State) so he has pervious experience versus high-level competition. In the final three regular season contests from a year ago Carroll was able to complete 80-PERCENT of his pass attempts. Tonight’s total has been kept in relative check as host Louisville was involved in a low scoring 21-9 contest opening week. The Cardinals offense this season is breaking in brand new starters at quarterback and halfback while there are a total of FOUR brand new offensive linemen operating up front. The good news is that one of the Louisville quarterbacks Will Stein (ankle) WILL be available to play after sitting out last week’s opener. Louisville’s head coach likes Stein’s intangibles so much that he nicknamed him “Brett Favre”. Louisville’s other signal caller is Teddy Bridgewater who is the program’s most talented quarterback recruit since the dynamic Brian Brohm. I will admit that Louisville head coach Charlie Strong has a reputation of being defensive-oriented but one of his young and aggressive linemen Brandon Dunn (undisclosed) is “questionable” for this evening. Turning to the database I see that Louisville long term is 25-12 OVER the total after allowing 14-or-less points in the prior game. Getting back to Florida International Mario Cristobal inherited a winless program that was saddled with NCAA sanctions and turned it into a winner which has made him (age 40) one of the hot coaching candidates around the country. Ever since Cristobal became head coach Florida International is a staggering 7-0 OVER when cast as an underdog of between 3’-and-10 points which is the case in this particular ESPN telecast