03/21/2008 - Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for the final Champions League spot from La Liga is heating up and Saturday's contest between fourth-place Atletico Madrid and fifth-place Sevilla at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan represents a big contest for both teams.
The squads are separated by only two points, but Sevilla will have a chance to take over fourth with a win on home soil.
Atletico won the first meeting 4-3 between the two teams, and with head-to- head being the first tiebreaker, the pressure is on Sevilla to even the score.
"I would say it is a seven-pointer," Sevilla's sports director Ramon Rodriguez told the club's website. "The three you win, the three you take off the other side and one more for the goal average. A victory would give us confidence but also fire out a warning to our rivals that we are in the mix as well."
The match features a great battle of two of the league's top offensive attacks.
Sevilla boasts the league's leading scorer in Luis Fabiano, who has tallied 22 goals for his club. Mali's Frederic Kanoute has chipped in 10 goals alongside Fabiano, making the duo extremely dangerous.
Atletico also has a nice tandem up top with Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero, who have combined for 24 goals.
League-leaders Real Madrid will host Valencia on Sunday with the club carrying a seven-point lead at the top of the standings, while second-place Barcelona will host relegation-struggling Valladolid.
Real Madrid will be without striker Ruud van Nistelrooy for up to six weeks after the Dutchman had ankle surgery this past week, while Valencia will be confident after knocking out Barcelona in the semifinals of the Cope Del Rey on Thursday.
Deportivo visits Mallorca in the other match on Saturday, while the rest of Sunday's action includes third-place Villarreal visiting last-place Levante, Real Betis traveling to Osasuna, and Murcia hosting Espanyol.
Almeria invades Real Zaragoza, Racing battles Recreativo and Athletic Bilbao entertains Copa Del Rey finalists Getafe.
<< Rams re-sign C Romberg
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams agreed to terms with
center Brett Romberg on a one-year contract, the team announced Thursday.
Romberg, a former All-America selection at Miami-Florida, started nine games
on the R
<< Kings win wild one in shootout over Coyotes
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrick O'Sullivan scored in the fourth round
of the shootout as the Los Angeles Kings blew a two-goal lead but recovered to
top the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-5.
Both squads were kept off the board in the first thre
<< Raiders, Falcons complete deal for CB Hall
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders' off-season shopping spree
continued Thursday, as the club completed a deal with the Falcons for Pro Bowl
cornerback DeAngelo Hall.
The Raiders sent their second-round pick, 34th overall,
<< Love leads UCLA to 41-point win over Miss. Valley State
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Love scored 20 points and grabbed nine
rebounds, as top-seeded UCLA blew past Mississippi Valley State, 70-29, in the
first round of the West Region in the NCAA Tournament.
Love was the only player in
Lyon still have a chance to make history >>
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyon had hoped to make an impact in Europe
this season, something that they have failed to do despite dominating Ligue 1.
However, those plans changed in the Round of 16 in the Champions League when
the
Bayern attempts to hold off another top-half team >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich has been busy ever since the
club returned from the winter break in February.
They have been tested early in the second half of the season, taking on title
challengers Werder Bremen, Hamburg
Ajax desperate for points as season nears an end >>
Enschede, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ajax missed a big opportunity to
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"That's why they call it gambling" >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Klugman, who portrayed Oscar
Madison in the Odd Couple, uttered the above line when speaking to Tony
Randall (Felix Unger) in an episode that dealt with, of all things, gambling.
The more famous quote,
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.