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Logano grabs pole for Nationwide race at HomesteadAutoracing Betting Lines11/15/2008 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joey Logano won the pole for Saturday's Nationwide Series season-ending Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver rounded the 1.5-mile oval in 31.962 seconds (168.951 m.p.h.). The pole victory was Logano's third in 19 career Nationwide starts. "I'm pretty excited about that," Logano said. "It was a good pick me up, and we needed that as a race team. We're going to go out there tonight and try to stay up there and get that (owner) championship." The JGR No.20 team currently holds a 28-point owner lead over the Richard Childress Racing No.2 team with Clint Bowyer as their driver. Logano, the 18-year-old NASCAR phenom, will move over to the Sprint Cup Series next year to replace Tony Stewart in Gibbs' No.20 car, as Stewart becomes co- owner and driver at Stewart-Haas Racing. Starting alongside Logano will be Carl Edwards, who posted a time of 32.114 seconds. Edwards enters the season-finale 56 points behind Bowyer in the driver championship standings. "Joey did a great job, and that was a great lap," Edwards said. "My Save-A-Lot crew did a really good job, but I probably didn't do the best job driving it. I think it's going to be a good race car." Bowyer will start 13th. "We've just been loose from the beginning," Bowyer said. "I think we'll be good in the race though. We qualified terrible at Texas, but drove up there pretty quick. Hopefully we can do the same thing here." If Bowyer finishes eighth or better at Homestead, regardless of Edwards' performance, he will clinch his first series championship. Bowyer finished 39th in his first Nationwide race at Homestead in 2004, but has finished eighth, ninth and 11th in the last three races here. Edwards has finished second and fourth in his last two Nationwide events in South Florida. David Ragan and Jeff Burton will start on the second row, while Jamie McMurray and Brad Keselowski will make up row three. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin, Bryan Clauson and Mike Bliss will start seventh through 10th, respectively. The green flag is scheduled to drop Saturday around 4:30 p.m. (et).
<< Dundee United's unbeaten run ends at hands of Killie
Kilmarnock, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dundee United's 10-game unbeaten streak came to an end on Saturday at Rugby Park as Kilmarnock handed the visitors a 2-0 defeat. Jamie Hamill converted from the penalty spot in first-half
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<< Cavs' Wallace questionable versus Jazz with left knee contusion
Arsenal suffers another setback >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal fell nine points off the league lead on Saturday as the Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium. Ashley Young missed a penalty kick in the 20th minute as V
American Bradley helps Monchengladbach tie Bayern >>
Lions rebound in rout of Indiana >>
Wells, Pryor rush Ohio St. past Illini >>
NHL Southeast: Tampa no longer Melrose's place >>
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet. Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots. Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later. While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better. For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory. 1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season. 2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped. How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number. Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules. Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically. How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games). Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition. Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
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