Chris Jordan
My free play for Saturday is in American Athletic Conference play, as I like the Memphis Tigers to get it done over the Houston Cougars.
Memphis is in after a 41-14 blowout over the Cincinnati Bengals, a game that saw the Tigers erupt for 24 first quarter points. They were never challenged, as they outgained Cincinnati 610-352 in total yards.
Quarterback Paxton Lynch was impressive, as he ran for 45 yards and a pair of scores while he threw for 311 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was one of the more well-balanced games played by the Tigers this season.
Now they host the Cougars in what should be an easy win over a Cougars team that arrives after a disappointing 17-12 loss to visiting Central Florida.
I'll side with the home team here.
5♦ MEMPHIS
Wunderdog
Pittsburgh @ Toronto
Pick: Pittsburgh -138
Pittsburgh always seems to take to the ice with a strong team, and this year is no exception. Home or on the road, this team is more than competitive. While the Penguins play to much shorter odds on the road, there certainly has been no shortage of wins. Pittsburgh finished tied for the most road wins in the Eastern Conference last season with 23. The potent Penguins' attack already looks stronger as Pascal Dupuis lost last December to MCL and ACL surgery, took to the ice for the first time since the injury and scored a goal and dished out three assists. Sidney Crosby has been menacing to the Maple Leafs, producing 43 points in 28 career games against them. Toronto takes to the ice having lost 14 of their last 17 going back to the end of last year, and are simply overmatched in this one. Play on Pittsburgh.
Red Dog Sports
North Carolina at Notre Dame
Play: North Carolina +17.5
UNC has recent losses at ECU and Clemson as well as a home loss to Virginia Tech. Notre Dame plays Florida State next and the Irish may be looking ahead. Notre Dame has a solid defense and led by QB Everett Golson, who can run and pass. UNC has a dual threat QB in Marquise Williams as well. The Tar Heels shouldn't have any pressure on them today and should look forward to playing at South Bend, Indiana. Look for the underdogs to stay within 10 to 14 points.
Marc Lawrence
Southern Cal at Arizona
Play: Arizona +2.5
Edges - Wildcats: 10-2 ATS home dogs with conference revenge; and 7-2 ATS in his series. Trojans: 1-4 ATS away off back-to-back hem games, and 1-4 ATS as PAC 12 road favorites of 6 or less points, and 3-7 ATS after facing Arizona State. With Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez 3-0 SU and ATS as a home dog with the Wildcats, and USC reeling off a last play of the game Hail Mary loss to ASU last week.
Jonathan Young
Auburn – 2.5
Auburn have reeled off five consecutive victories to start their 2014 campaign and look to take control of the SEC Western Division on Saturday in Starkville as they take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. The Tigers have had two big tests already this season, beating Kansas State 20-14 as well as proving to be the better team last week against LSU as they dominated in a 41-7 blowout.
While the Tiger offense gets all of the attention, their defense has been just as impressive through 5 games in 2014. They held LSU to an 0-for-13 mark on third down last week whilst giving up just 142 yards through the air. Auburn currently ranks 14th in the country in total defense.
Nick Marshall has passed for 755 yards with 8 TD and 1 INT so far this season and his real threat comes from his ability to run the football, he has totaled 392 yards with 4 TD on the ground while surpassing the century mark in three of the past four contests. Cameron Artis-Payne has shared the workload in this well balanced offense having had at least 22 carries in four of his five games while averaging 5.4 YPC. Last week against LSU, Artis-Payne had season highs in both rushing yards (126) and receiving yards (35).
Strange to think that the No. 2 team in the country and the defending SEC Champs might have less momentum, but Mississippi State has never been riding higher. After earning its highest AP ranking ever and landing an ESPN College GameDay appearance, the Bulldogs have spent the week in the national spotlight. Auburn, as the incumbent, is used to these type of environments and I foresee the Tigers to over match the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Alex Smith Sports
Rangers at Blue Jackets
Pick: Over
Cam Talbot, the backup goalie for the NY Rangers will get the start in net against Columbus in the Blue Jackets' home opener. While Talbot is a decent #2 netminder, I like this Jackets offense to fire away at home. Sergei Bobrovsky is one of the top goalies in the league, but only holds a 2-5-1 record All-Time against the Blueshirts from Broadway. At a very generous price and without the hook, I'll play the Over 5 in this game
SPORTS WAGERS
Montreal -106 over PHILADELPHIA
Goaltending plays a huge factor in the outcome of these games and the Flyers will go with Ray Emery here after Steve Mason took the loss in Philly’s first two games. Carey Price against Ray Emery is reason enough to back the Canadiens here, who are off to a 2-0 start. That said, Montreal was lucky to beat a very game Washington club on Thursday. The Habs were outplayed badly for the first two periods but held in there with great goaltending by Dustin Tokarski and won it via the shootout. Montreal figures to be much better tonight.
Philadelphia is prone to making mistake after mistake in their own zone. That was evident on Thursday when they gave up six goals to the Devils on Thursday. They rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie it but take away those three goals in the last four minutes of the second and the Flyers would have been blown out. Philly is in danger of getting off to another slow start and they are not brimming with confidence. It’s only two games in but that first win becomes more elusive after every loss. With more flaws than most clubs and two losses already under their belt, Philly remains very beatable and we can’t ignore the goaltending mismatch in Montreal’s favor.
Dallas +100 over NASHVILLE
The Predators won their season home opener against Ottawa but a convincing win it was not. We’re also not so high on Preds goalie Pekka Rinne, who has battled injuries the past 18 months and didn’t look nearly as sharp as he had before those injuries. Last season was a difficult one for Nashville. David Poile knew things had to change going forward and so he parted ways with Barry Trotz in favor of Peter Laviolette. Trotz was the only coach in franchise history; was a no-nonsense coach who focused on defense. Taking over in Nashville is Laviolette; a no-nonsense coach who brings a high-octane offense to the team. There are several weapons Poile added over the summer. The biggest fish he landed was James Neal from Pittsburgh. They also added Mike Ribeiro, Olli Jokinen, and Derek Roy. He brought in a lot of players on one-year deals so Poile is treating this season like a poker game: all-in. To do a complete 180 in philosophy takes time and while the Preds have some nice pieces in place and should be more entertaining to watch, they are not in the same class or development stage as the Stars.
Dallas’s loss to Chicago on opening night was perhaps the most misleading result of the night. They were absolutely riveting in their performance but ran into a super-hot Cory Crawford, who stood on his head for the majority of the game. That was against an outstanding Chicago club and now this hungry squad that took a lot of good things out of that OT loss will take a significant drop in class. Obviously, we can’t watch every game but on a personal level I try and catch as much as I can at the start of the year to get as good a read on these teams as possible. The Stars looked powerful. They rolled out four outstanding lines that were relentless in their attack throughout. Dallas is loaded this year and anytime we can get them without having to lay anything against weaker opponents we’ll gladly roll the dice
Anaheim/DETROIT Over 5½
The Ducks fell behind 3-0 to the Penguins but they managed to tie it up before losing 6-4. Corey Perry notched a hat-trick but the Ducks could not keep the puck out of their own net and that figures to be an ongoing issue this season. The Ducks are wickedly talented offensively but they do not have a proven goaltender and until we see something different, we’ll gladly play this team to go over the number against East competition.
Almost every game in the NHL is 5½ but most of them have significant juice attached to the over or under. Detroit beat the Bruins in their opener 2-1 and that final score has some influence on the juice here and one we’ll attempt to take advantage of. The Red Wings were another one of those teams that came out flying on opening night. They took it to the Bruins from the opening faceoff but they ran into one of the top three netminders in the game in Tuukka Rask. The same fate does not await them here. Darren Helm, Henrik Zetterberg and Stephen Weiss are all healthy. The second line that consists of Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar and Tomas Jurco is a threat every time they take the ice. The third line (or second) of Gustav Nyquist, Darren Helm and Andrej Nestrasil is another serious threat. These Red Wings are loaded offensively and they figure to score a lot of goals this season as long as they remain healthy. Defensively is where the Red Wings are flawed. Detroit starts the season with the same blue line they ended last season with. Retaining Kyle Quincey was a questionable move on Holland’s part, but after the team failed to lure notable free agents like Christian Ehrhoff or Matt Niskanen to Detroit, Quincey become the only solution. The Red Wings looked primed to be involved in a lot of 4-3 or 5-4 games and this looks like one of them with two great offenses and at least one questionable goalie.
Pass CFL