Sporting's struggles continue
Soccer Betting Lines
02/13/2012 - Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sporting Lisbon fell further off the pace at the top of the Portuguese Liga after a 2-0 defeat at Maritimo on Saturday.
The result leaves Sporting in fourth place and 16 points back of leaders Benfica after a run of only one win from its last six league matches.
Selim Ben Achour scored the lone goal in the first half and Danilo Dias doubled the lead on the hour mark for Maritimo.
The outcome of the match was also enough for Sporting to replace manager Domingos Paciencia with Ricardo Sa Pinto, which was announced on Monday.
Benfica remains unbeaten in 18 games after a 4-1 win over Nacional that saw Rodrigo score twice, while FC Porto remains five points adrift in second place after a comfortable 4-0 triumph over 10-man Uniao Leiria as Porto netted four goals in the final 25 minutes following a red card to Jose Alberto Schaffer.
Braga strengthened its hold on third place by toppling Setubal, 3-0, on Friday with two goals from Lima.
Pacos Ferreira downed Feirense, 3-1, in a battle of bottom-half sides, Rio Ave moved three points clear of the bottom three after a 2-0 triumph at Olhanense, a first-half goal from Marcelo Toscano was enough to hand Guimaraes a 1-0 win over Beira Mar and Gil Vicente moved past Academica in the middle of the table after a 2-0 road win on Monday.
San Sebastian, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sevilla's struggles continued on Monday at Real Sociedad as the visitors saw their winless streak reach eight games following a 2-0 defeat. The two sides entered the final 30 minutes of the
<< Napoli tops Chievo to snap winless skid
Naples, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Napoli snapped a five-game winless streak on
Monday by securing a 2-0 home win against Chievo which improves the club's
European hopes.
Napoli had been held without a goal in its last two games but scor
<< Patriot League adding football scholarships in 2013
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Touchdown.
After exhaustive debate in recent years, the Patriot League has decided to
start awarding athletic scholarships in football - 15 each year - beginning
with the 2013 season.
The league
<< CAA gets deal with NBC Sports Group
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colonial Athletic Association announced
Monday a five-year agreement with the NBC Sports Group to broadcast conference
football and men's and women's basketball games.
The agreement begins with the 2012-13
<< NASCAR champ Stewart appearing on ABC television show
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
champion Tony Stewart has done some acting during the offseason.
Stewart, who captured his third Sprint Cup title last season, will appear on
an upcoming episod
Bogota, Colombia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Mathilde Johansson was a first-round loser at the XX Copa BBVA Colsanitas on Monday. Johansson fell to Russia's Valeria Savinykh 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-5 on the red clay at the Centro d
Bryant to play six home games in 2012 >>
Smithfield, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bryant University football will play six
home games as part of its first season of FCS playoff eligibility, Bulldogs
head coach Marty Fine said Monday.
Bryant has posted a combined 26-18 record in first four
Hobbled Comrie finally retires >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Comrie, who hasn't played in the NHL
yet this season due to multiple hip surgeries, retired on Monday.
Comrie's agent. Ritch Winter, made the announcement earlier in the day on his
Twitter account.
Bears LB Thomas arrested for marijuana possession >>
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears linebacker J.T. Thomas was
arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana after he was
pulled over early Monday morning going the wrong way on a one-way street.
Thomas w
Bulls' Rose has no structural damage in back >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bulls guard Derrick Rose has no structural
damage in his back, according to the results of an MRI performed Monday.
A team spokesman said the reigning NBA MVP, who has missed two straight games
with a sor
College Football Betting Tips From a Pro
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.