The Iowa State Cyclones and Northern Illinois Huskies hook up in Ames this Thursday night for a game that most people aren’t noticing. The Head Ball Coach and South Carolina open up on ESPN against Southern Miss, Pitt and Utah looks to be a great match-up, and USC travels to Hawaii in the late game. These games feature big-name schools and understandably hoard a lion’s share of the press. Although the Cyclones and Huskies are flying under-the-radar, expect this to be an entertaining game.
While we love Rex and the Jets, expect them to be overvalued in the sports betting market place this seasonThere is a circus in town. In New York, that is. The Jets are totally and utterly bizarre this year. Most teams make a few changes in the offseason, but it’s not often we see a team add as many expected starters as the Jets – never mind starters with big names and as much baggage as this collection of guys has. Just think about it: LaDainian Tomlinson is a former franchise mega-stud who was unceremoniously dumped; Jason Taylor has made a career out of hating the Jets; Santonio Holmes has a massive collection of personal issues; Antonio Cromartie has even more. Add to that a couple of additions from last year – Braylon Edwards and his ridiculously inconsistent hands, and Mark Sanchez and his looks and reputation that far exceeds his play so far – and a coach that never shuts up and you have a team that has a real potential to be volatile. Oh yeah, and Darrelle Revis is holding out for big money. Like I said, the team is a circus.
My 12-7 ATS record last year proves I cover for bettors just as often as my predecessor Mr Dungy didThe problem right now for most sports bettors is that the football season is so close that’s alluring, camps are underway, week 1 NFL lines are posted, but there is still a whole pile of time to kill between now and the first meaningful kickoff. Far too long. In an attempt to kill some of that time while still being productive, I thought I’d take a look back at the teams that have been consistently good against the spread over the last five season, and those that have been consistently bad. The reasoning is that the five year time frame smooths out some of the flukes and unexplainable one year glitches – like the year Cleveland was actually good – and gives us a more meaningful long term picture. Before we look at what I found, I’m going to be like a bad comedian and tell the punchline before the joke – it’s really striking here that the teams that have been consistently solid against the spread are the teams that have been consistently very good, and the ones that have consistently burned money are the terrible teams. In this regard at least, the betting public is right in their NFL pick loyalties:
The Iowa State Cyclones and Northern Illinois Huskies hook up in Ames this Thursday night for a game that most people aren’t noticing. The Head Ball Coach and South Carolina open up on ESPN against Southern Miss, Pitt and Utah looks to be a great match-up, and USC travels to Hawaii in the late game. These games feature big-name schools and understandably hoard a lion’s share of the press. Although the Cyclones and Huskies are flying under-the-radar, expect this to be an entertaining game.
