ATS ADVANTAGE: WEST VIRGINIA and OVER
TCU (1-1 SU and ATS) at Air Force (2-0, 1-0 ATS)
Like Maryland, Air Force will have payback in mind tonight when it attempts to snap a four-game losing skid to TCU as these Mountain West Conference rivals clash in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Air Force opened Mountain West play with a 20-12 upset win at Utah as a 7½-point road underdog, holding on for the win after stopping the Utes on consecutive tries from the Falcons’ 1-yard line. Air Force’s option offense was in midseason form against Utah, piling up 334 rushing yards while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
TCU squandered a 10-0 first-half lead at then-No. 7 Texas last week and went on to lose 34-13 as an 8½-point underdog. The loss snapped the Horned Frogs’ nine-game SU winning streak (8-1 ATS) and sent them tumbling out of the Top 25.
While Air Force outrushed Utah 334-73 on Saturday, the Horned Frogs got outgained 176-43 on the ground against Texas.
TCU is on a 4-0 SU and ATS run against the Falcons, including back-to-back blowout wins the last two seasons. In 2005, the Frogs traveled to the Academy and laid a 48-10 beat-down on the Falcons as a one-point road underdog. Then last year, TCU crushed Air Force 38-14 as a 17-point home favorite. In that one, the Frogs led 38-0 after three quarters, during which they gave up just 77 total yards.
Despite last week’s non-cover against Texas, TCU is still on ATS runs of 18-8 overall, 8-3 as a favorite, 9-2 against teams with winning records and 16-5 when playing on grass.
Air Force is just 2-8 ATS in its last 10 overall, including 0-5 ATS at home. In fact, the Falcons went 2-4 at home last year (1-5 ATS).
The over is on runs of 5-2 for TCU, 4-2 for Air Force in lined games and 2-0 in the last two series clashes.
ATS ADVANTAGE: TCU and OVER
PSYCHICSPORTS
san diego +116
Ben Burns
Game: Los Angeles Angels at Baltimore Orioles
Sep 13 2007 7:05PM
Prediction: Los Angeles Angels
Reason: The Angels figure to have a significant advantage here. Leicester has made one start for the Orioles this season. Although he managed to earn the victory, he didn't pitch well, allowing four runs in just five innings. He isn't likely to get much run support this evening. Lackey is 10-4 with a stellar 2.84 ERA and 1.184 WHIP on the road this season. He's been even better recently, recording a miniscule 1.99 ERA and 0.970 WHIP his last three starts. Additionally, he is 6-2 (Angels are 7-2) with a 3.41 ERA in nine starts against the Orioles. While the Angels have won six of their last nine, yesterday's loss dropped the Orioles to 2-9 their last 11 games and an awful 3-18 their last 21. Consider laying the large price with the visitors.
Bob Harvey Sports
5-1 +394
MLB
Los Angeles Angels ~vs~ Baltimore Orioles
Los Angeles Angels -1.5 (-119)
Scott Spreitzer
Game: New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Sep 13 2007 7:05PM
Prediction: Toronto Blue Jays
Reason: I'm playing the Blue Jays with A.J. Burnett toeing the rubber. The Toronto righty has been on a huge run. In his last 42 2/3 IP, covering six outings, Burnett has allowed just 9 earned runs and 37 base runners, for a fantastic 1.90 ERA & 0.87 WHIP. He's also enjoyed plenty of success against the Bronx Bombers. In five career starts against NY, Burnett owns a 3.73 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and .204 BAA! He shutout the Yanks in seven innings of work in his only outing against them in 2007. We'll look for the veteran to handle the Yanks again on Thursday.
Toronto gets the call
Mike Rose
Maryland +17.0
Thu Sep 13 '07 7:45p
I’m having deja vu for the fourth straight year!!! Is it just me, or have these teams hooked-up in the third week of the season the L/3 years? Well, the answer to that question would unequivocally be yes. The Terrapins and Mountaineers have gone up against one another under the bright lights of an ESPN Thursday night telecast three years in a row, and tonight’s game will mark the fourth straight meeting under these circumstances.
Terps HC Ralph Friedgen is hoping the fourth time will be the charm as Rich Rodriguez’ Mountaineers have handed him three straight losses over that time. In fact, Maryland is a poor 1-4 SU the L/5 years on Thursday night and they’ve been throttled in those contests losing by an average of 23 PPG. Tonight will be different though as the Terps have the talent on hand to put a little scare in this Morgantown bunch, and they’re being given an awful lot of points in their own backyard.
UM boasts the more experienced club this time around, and they know exactly what they’re going to see from WV when they have the ball. A ton of QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton with a little bit of WR Darius Reynaud mixed in. The Mounty’s rushed for 340 yards on the ground last season at home, and that was only a year after they rushed for 300 in their 31-19 win at Maryland in ’05. The Terps raw offense was able to move the ball on the WV defense a year ago, but shot themselves in the foot with a total of five turnovers (3 INT/2 FUM). The game was pretty much done after the first stanza once WV took advantage of Maryland’s gifts and bolted out to a 28-0 lead. However, the Terps never gave up and managed to outscore the Mountaineers 24-17 the rest of the way.
West Virginia suffered a big blow to their D-Line last week when DT Dykes sprained his ankle, and that allowed Marshall to pick up some huge yardage straight up the gut of the Mounty’s stack defense. If he isn’t able to go, “The Fridge” will certainly be one of the happier coaches in all of college football this evening. He will attack the Mounty’s with his underrated ground attack all night long, and do his best to win the time of possession battle.
Don’t let the “Slaton got his scholarship pulled by Friedgen angle” cloud your judgment in this spot. That angle has already cashed in the last two seasons, and this is an entirely different Terps team. This one will be a heck of a lot closer than this number suggests. WV has gotten off to slow starts in each of their first two games, and Maryland is a team good enough to take advantage if indeed they stumble out of the gates once again.
Grab the points here as I foresee a game very similar to the one back in 2004 when the Mountaineers squeaked out a victory in OT by a 19-16 final count.
MATT RIVERS
For Thursday take the Yankees up North
I gave you the Yankees right here in a win on Tuesday and will go back to Joe Torre's squad once again.
AJ Burnett is a guy with a boatload of talent and great stuff but he is still a .500 pitcher at best in his underachieving career. At anytime the Toronto righty could throw a gem but the Yankees are no joke and have been the best team in baseball since the All-Star break. Arod is God and guys like Jeter, Matsui, Giambi, Posada, Cano and others form possibly the best team once again in the game.
Ian Kennedy is a kid that has a great upside and can definitely hang here with Burnett. You never know with a guy making a third career start or whatever but he has been pretty good in his short big league career and has an offense that can rake.
With Joba Chamberlain in the pen as the bridge to Mariano Rivera the New Yorkers clearly have the better pen as the Jays have proven to be arsonists of late.
You cannot possibly go wrong here by backing the Bronx Bombers at this price when they are slumping. To get them when they are playing great is even better!
THE SPORTS ADVISORS
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
(4) West Virginia (2-0 SU and ATS) at Maryland (2-0, 0-1 ATS)
Maryland looks to snap a three-game losing skid to West Virginia when these two border rivals do battle in a nationally televised non-conference game in College Park, Md.
The Terps are coming off a sluggish 26-10 win at Florida International last week. The defense allowed just 163 yards and forced three turnovers, but Maryland never threatened to cover as a 24-point road favorite, dropping to 1-4 ATS in its last five going back to 2006.
West Virginia survived a scare from instate rival Marshall last week, as they turned a 16-13 deficit midway through the third quarter into a 48-23 victory by scoring five touchdowns in the final 21½ minutes of play. The Mountaineers, who have won four in a row SU, piled up 511 total yards (362 rushing) and barely cashed as a 24½-point favorite.
West Virginia has won three straight meetings in this rivalry (2-1 ATS), including the last two in double-digit blowout fashion. Last year in Morgantown, W.Va., the Mountaineers sprinted out to a 28-0 lead against Maryland and cruised to a 45-24 victory as a 17-point home chalk. Rich Rodriguez’s fleet-footed squad has rushed for more than 300 yards against the Terps each of the last two years.
On the bright side for the Terps, they are 3-1 SU and ATS in the last four meetings at home. The only non-cover came in 2005, when West Virginia rolled 31-19 as a 3½-point underdog.
Since losing to West Virginia in Week 3 last year, Maryland is on a 9-3 SU run.
West Virginia is on an 11-2 ATS tear in weekday games and a 9-2 ATS run on the road. On the downside, the Mountaineers are just 2-10 ATS in their last 12 games against ACC foes.
Maryland is just 4-9 ATS in its last 13 home games and 2-2 ATS as a home underdog under coach Ralph Friedgen.
The over has been the play in this rivalry the last two years. Also, the over is 7-1 in West Virginia’s last eight games (4-0 in the last four).
ATS ADVANTAGE: WEST VIRGINIA and OVER
TCU (1-1 SU and ATS) at Air Force (2-0, 1-0 ATS)
Like Maryland, Air Force will have payback in mind tonight when it attempts to snap a four-game losing skid to TCU as these Mountain West Conference rivals clash in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Air Force opened Mountain West play with a 20-12 upset win at Utah as a 7½-point road underdog, holding on for the win after stopping the Utes on consecutive tries from the Falcons’ 1-yard line. Air Force’s option offense was in midseason form against Utah, piling up 334 rushing yards while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
TCU squandered a 10-0 first-half lead at then-No. 7 Texas last week and went on to lose 34-13 as an 8½-point underdog. The loss snapped the Horned Frogs’ nine-game SU winning streak (8-1 ATS) and sent them tumbling out of the Top 25.
While Air Force outrushed Utah 334-73 on Saturday, the Horned Frogs got outgained 176-43 on the ground against Texas.
TCU is on a 4-0 SU and ATS run against the Falcons, including back-to-back blowout wins the last two seasons. In 2005, the Frogs traveled to the Academy and laid a 48-10 beat-down on the Falcons as a one-point road underdog. Then last year, TCU crushed Air Force 38-14 as a 17-point home favorite. In that one, the Frogs led 38-0 after three quarters, during which they gave up just 77 total yards.
Despite last week’s non-cover against Texas, TCU is still on ATS runs of 18-8 overall, 8-3 as a favorite, 9-2 against teams with winning records and 16-5 when playing on grass.
Air Force is just 2-8 ATS in its last 10 overall, including 0-5 ATS at home. In fact, the Falcons went 2-4 at home last year (1-5 ATS).
The over is on runs of 5-2 for TCU, 4-2 for Air Force in lined games and 2-0 in the last two series clashes.
ATS ADVANTAGE: TCU and OVER
Doc's WNBA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Unit Play. #608 Take Over 179 ½ in Detroit @ Phoenix (8:30 pm ESPN 2) The Mercury face a must win game when game No. 4 takes place @ US Airways Arena in Phoenix, AZ. Phoenix could not buy a hoop from long distance in game three and thus they were only able to manage 83 points, but expect them to come out determined to reach 100 points in this affair. They still average 99 point per game in the 2007 playoffs and that will get us to tonight’s posted total. Both team reach the nineties and we do not worry if Phoenix can cover a wide spread and just collect with the over.
The Mighty Quinn
YANKEES
WEST VIRGINIA
Brandon Lovell
10* A's/Rangers under
Jimmy Broadway
500 Stars Under Airforce/TCU
300 Stars WV
200 Stars Airforce
ATS Lock Club
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 West Virginia -16
STAN LISOWSKI(Northcoast Community Line)
A.K.A. : THE STAT REPORT (Don Wagner's site)
5* GOM N.Y.Yankees
3* San Diego Padres
Chris Jordan
600♦ WEST VIRGINIA
Ranked fourth in the nation, the Mountaineers are already averaging 55 points per game. Last season, with the same two offensive stalwarts in place, West Virginia posted a 45-spot on the Terrapins, winning by 18 points. And if there was anyone who actually thought Maryland would be able to balance the threat – stop Steve Slaton and Pat White – and grind it out on offense to run the clock down, let me take you back to last week:
Marshall held a 13-6 lead and every news ticker and scoreboard show at that time was talking about an upset in the making. Then West Virginia scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and additional trip in the final 15 minutes of the game.
Now I know WVU's two wins came against Western Michigan and the Herd, but they were impressive wins in my eyes. For the Terps, we're talking about wins against Villanova and Florida International, the latter of which held Maryland to a modest 270 total yards and 14 first downs. This is a dull offense that simply won't be able to keep up with the Mountaineers, who now have a kid named Noel Devine, who's a gem in the making. He was supposed to be a backup, and has turned into a sidekick.
Forget the trends in this game, I could genuinely care less about the numbers in this one; I like West Virginia to roll hard over the Terps.
300♦ PADRES (LIST Maddux and Wells)
You're going to give me one of baseball's hottest pitchers money against a team he owns?
Fine by me, as I side with my boy from Vegas in this NL West showdown. Mad Dog won for the seventh time in his past eight starts, allowing just one run over six solid frames. The Rockies were able to nail just three hits off the veteran righty, who retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
He's now on a remarkable run of 54 1/3 straight innings without a walk. He's won both starts against the Dodgers this season – lasting 13 innings and giving up just four earned runs. Dating back to last season, before he joined them, he's actually 4-0 in his last four outings against Los Angeles, and is sporting a stifling 2.00 ERA against it. Play the road dog – the Mad Dog – in this one.
This was originally slated as the Dog of the Day, thus the analysis you're reading. But with the late pitching change to David Wells, Maddux is the pitcher in this one. Nonetheless, I still like the value with the Padres and Maddux.
100♦ ASTROS (LIST Williams and Trachsel)
Go against Steve Tracshel in this one, as he is 3-8 with a suitcase in hand, and sports a 5.86 ERA along the way. And though Woody Williams is 0-2 in his last three starts – like Trachsel – his innings have increased in each start, lasting from 4, to 5, to 6 innings.
And though he was tagged with the loss, it was a quality start against the Mets, lasting six innings and giving up three earned runs. Houston's right-handed specialist has been solid against the Cubbies in four starts this season – despite a 1-1 record – as he's lasted 24 innings and given up a measly six earned runs. I like the home team here, with Williams as our pitcher of record.