Sports Picks & Predictions

Brooklyn is very quietly one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now, and Toronto has that distinction recently but has cooled off considerably after losing three of their last five games, including losses to the Lakers and Bobcats. The Nets are finally getting healthy, and Toronto will be without one of its best players, DeMar DeRozan. He is not a household name by any means, so the bookies don

We just see this as a very close game. The Blazers are one of the top ATS teams in the league, and they rarely get blown out. This will be an offensive matchup, and the Blazers have a better offense than Golden State. Portland has more wins on the road than the Warriors do at home. And the Blazers already won here, in November by 12 points. Portland is one of the best underdog plays in the NBA at 9-3 ATS, and the Warriors have not been good at all as a slim underdog as they are just 7-17 ATS as a favorite of seven or fewer points. Portland is probably getting a couple extra points for coming in on a back-to-back, but this team is completely healthy and it is 9-3 in back-to-back situations this year. We think the Blazers have a great chance to pull the upset here.

These teams met last night in Houston, and the Grizzlies pulled off a one-point win for the road upset. When teams play back-to-back, home-and-home games like this, you always have to look at the team that lost the previous night. Revenge is a way overrated handicapping factor for the NBA, but it is huge in situations like this where the loss is still fresh on the team

10 Unit Play. #669 Take New Mexico Lobos over Colorado State Rams (4 pm ESPN 3) It is now or never for this very talented Lobo team. This team is loaded with talent but they have not played like it at certain times this season. CSU has a great freshman player but this season in a complete rebuild after they lost all of their talent from last season. They have already lost three home games on the season and New Mexico is used to playing in the high elevations of Fort Collins. New Mexico is 27-11 ATS (1 push) in their last 39 MWC games. CSU is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games. Bairstow, Kirk, Williams, & Greenwood have too much talent and balance.

10 Unit Play. #779 Take Wisconsin Badgers over Minnesota Golden Gophers (9 pm BTN) Wisconsin is too good of a team to lose three games in a row. We will side with them tonight against Minnesota as we expect Bo Ryan to make the adjustments to avoid defenses breakdowns. Minnesota does not have the three point shooting to threaten Wisconsin on ball screens. Wisconsin has a ton of shooters and that will allow them to emerge victorious at the Barn on Wednesday. This will be Minnesota

The Suns have been the best ATS team all season. That is until recently. They have come back to Earth a little and are 1-4 ATS in their last five games. This team without Eric Bledsoe is below average, and their hot start was a mirage. Bledsoe is the engine that makes this team go, and because he is not a household name, oddsmakers do not have to adjust to his absence. Without Bledsoe for the Suns this team is below average, and the Nuggets are the much better team here tonight and should get the win. S are now 3-6 ATS since Bledsoe got hurt, and despite some recent inconsistency, they have still won six of their last eight. With losses in two of their last three, however, we feel they will be amped up to play to their potential in this game.

10 Unit Play. #301 Take New England Patriots over Denver Broncos (Sunday 3 pm CBS) NFL Playoff Game of the Year. New England may be winning with smoke and mirrors, but they are nonetheless getting the job done and I just do not see them getting blown out in this game. In fact New England has not gotten blown out in any of their 4 losses this season (7 points was their biggest defeat). What America believes this game will come down to Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning and it is hard not to side with Brady in this game. Brady has beaten Manning in 2 of their 3 playoff match-ups with the only loss by Brady coming by 4 points in a game New England led for most of the 60 minutes. Denver also lost a key player on defense with Chris Harris placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. Denver will have their moments in this game but unlike San Diego last week, New England will not be tentative in their play calling and I fully expect them to put up points in all 4 quarters. Denver is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 playoff games. I expect this to be a field goal game and thus we will collect with our ticket with whoever comes out on top and advances to the Super Bowl.

10 Unit Play. #666 Take Boise State Broncos over Utah State Aggies (9 pm MWC) Boise State picked up a nice road win on Tuesday at an undefeated in conference Nevada squad. That same Nevada team beat Utah State last Saturday. Boise has too much talent to not make a run to the top of the standing in the MWC and Utah State is learning how much better the MWC is compared to the WAC. Boise has much better shooters and that will be the difference on Saturday night. The Aggies are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games. Boise State has covered 11 of their last 15 MWC games.

Just think this is a real bad spot here for LA. The Clippers have been playing well lately, but they have played some really bad teams. They come in on a back-to-back to play the best team in the NBA that is playing their best basketball of the season right now. We think the Clippers are probably a little overconfident right now, and we think they are walking right into a buzzsaw tonight. This Pacers team is similar to the Spurs, and San Antonio notched a 20+-point win against the Clippers in the first game Chris Paul was out. The Pacers come in with one day off, and they are 13-2 ATS in this situation. They are 15-6 ATS at home and they have won and covered three of the last four meetings. We have to really love a favorite to lay more than 7 points, and that is definitely the case tonight.

Game of the Week: This line tells us that these teams would be close to

10 Unit Play. #783 Take Baylor Bears over Texas Tech Red Raiders (9 pm ESPN U) Texas Tech just does not match-up well with Baylor and that will again be the case tonight at the half empty United Spirit Arena. Baylor is sneaky good and continues to be underrated by the oddsmakers. They have won 4 straight against Texas Tech and four straight games played in Lubbock. The Red Raiders have already lost three home games this season including two against teams that will likely not make the NCAA Tournament (LSU & West Virginia). Baylor will make the big dance and expect them to put up a ton of points against TT tonight. Texas Tech is 6-20 ATS in their last 26 games following an ATS victory in their previous game.

The Kings were 0-10 ATS as favorites before blowing out Orlando on Friday. So what are the chances they go 2-0 as a favorite? We think not so likely. This is one of the strongest trends in the NBA as the Kings really play down to their competition, and the Cavs are a much better team than Orlando and have a superstar player that will be the best player on the court all night.

These teams are about even as far as we are concerned, and we are getting a couple extra points tonight with the underdog just because of the name recognition factor with these two teams tonight. This game has one of the lowest totals of the season, and we agree that this will be a low-scoring game. That makes each point you get with the Bobcats more valuable. The Bobcats have not been playing very well, but they have had an incredibly tough schedule. We think this is a good spot for them to either keep this game very close or fight for the win. The Bobcats are basically the same team as the Bulls; they play lock-down defense and have an offense that can

10 Unit Play. #540 Take Arkansas Razorbacks over Florida Gators (1 pm ESPN 2) When pulling the trigger on this big of a play, all you can ask for it to get you money down on a perfect set-up and that is what we have here today. Arkansas is a much better team at home and Coach Anderson

The Grizzlies already have two wins over the Suns this season, and we see no reason why they won

Just think that this is a very public line. The bookies know everyone will bet the Heat here, and their odds are always inflated. That is a fact, and despite being one of the best teams in the NBA they are only 16-19 against the spread. The Knicks are much worse ATS, but at least the oddsmakers have finally made a major adjustment for this team, and they are playing their best basketball in awhile right now. They have won three of four, and they covered in all four of those games. So they are hot ATS, and this looks like another inflated line even though the Knicks are a little banged up right now. But this team always seems to play the Heat tough, and they won three of the four meetings last season, and lost by just six in the other. We think that this will be a close game tonight.

We think that this is a great spot for the visiting Wizards. Both teams are coming in on a back-to-back, and New Orleans played a game last night in Miami that was probably a lot more important to it than this game tonight. The Wizards have been very good on back-to-backs, and they are 5-2 both straight up and against the spread in these situations while the Pelicans have not been good at 3-5 SU and 3-3-2 ATS. The Wizards have not played stellar basketball lately, but they have won most of the games they are supposed to while getting beat by the better teams on their schedule. This is a game they should have a good chance to win tonight. Washington has dominated this series lately, going 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings, and the Wizards are 8-1 ATS on the road against sub-.500 teams, so this is a really good spot for them where they normally play their best basketball. The Wizards got off to a slow start this season and are still a work in progress, but in our opinion this team is a much better squad than the Pelicans, and we think that this line should be closer to

Normally teams step up the first game after their star goes down, but the Clippers looked really bad in their first game without Chris Paul in a 20+-point loss to the Spurs on Saturday. While we don

The Raptors are quietly one of the hottest teams in the NBA. They have won five straight and seven of nine. This is one of the best road teams in the NBA, for whatever reason, and they have won seven of their last eight road games, with the only loss coming at San Antonio. That stretch includes a road win against OKC, so it wasn

Game of the Week: The Kings have not covered a game as a favorite this season

10 Unit Play. #233 Take Ole Miss Rebels over Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Music City Bowl, Monday 12/30 3:15 pm ESPN) Mag 7 Game. Bowl Game of the Year. Fans in Atlanta are running out of patience with Paul Johnson and his triple option attack. For the most part he teams have been a middle of the pack team in a terrible conference and they struggle to move the football against teams with speed. That is what the Rebels have on defense and having a month to prepare for a triple option attack is a great thing. Fans have become so angry with the Yellow Jacket system and Coach Johnson has thrown the ball more this year than in past years. The quarterback position is a big edge for Ole Miss with a great run/pass option in Bo Wallace. Georgia Tech had five games this season where they allowed over 480 yards of offense. Georgia Tech is 1-4 in their last 5 bowl game and that lone win came last year against USC who did not have their quarterback in Matt Barkley. The Rebels have had a disappointing after a great nonconference portion of the season but they play in the SEC West, a much tougher division than the ACC Coastal that Duke won this season. Ole Miss pounded Pittsburgh last year in their bowl game and I see this as a double digit victory as well. Ole Miss is 3-0 ATS (1 push) in their last 4 bowl games. Georgia Tech is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 bowl games.

These teams played last night, and in these home-and-home, back-to-back situations, we always look at the team that lost the previous night, especially if that game was a blowout. And we have this situation tonight as the Knicks lost by 12 last night in Toronto. However, we feel there are some reasons that this game will go differently. First of all, the Knicks led for most of the game last night until a fourth-quarter collapse. They had a 5-point lead going into the fourth quarter. We think that there is a great chance that they play a more complete game tonight. Revenge is the most overrated handicapping angle in the NBA. However, there are certain situations when it comes into play, with rivalry games or games where the loss if very fresh to the losing team. The latter is the case here tonight. Lastly, we just don

Just think that this is a very public line. The Thunder are playing very well. But this line would be more adequate against a team like the Knicks or Nets who are really struggling. The Bobcats are pretty much a .500 ballclub that is playing hard every night. This team has won four of its last five games, and they have not lost by double digits in about a month. This team plays hard every night, and they will probably be amped to play one of the best teams from the west that they rarely play. This team is 14-5 ATS as an underdog this season, and they normally play above the public and oddsmaker expectations, We think that will be the case again tonight.

Just love the Clippers in this spot. LA is playing its best basketball of the season right now, and this team has won five straight heading into this key Pacific Division matchup. The way the Clippers are playing right now this might become a long winning streak. They have a tough game in this one and then play at Portland next, and if they can get by these two they could conceivably win 10 or more straight. This team played four straight games where it won by double digits (including very impressive wins over San Antonio and Denver), but probably most impressive was the last game against Minnesota at home. This team had everything working against it, including the refs and a monster night by Minnesota big men, yet they still rose up and got the win in overtime. A win like that (it was a playoff atmosphere in that game, no less) really pumps up the confidence of a team that was already feeling pretty good about itself. Something is just not right with this Golden State team right now. They have lost four of eight, and some of those losses were head-scratchers, most notably at Carolina and at home against a Spurs team that was resting starters. The Clippers are just the better team right now, and we think that they bring their A Game tonight to this one. We think LA should be slight favorites in this one, so there is some really nice value tonight getting them at an underdog price. The Clippers are 4-2 ATS this season as an underdog and 4-1 ATS on the road against an above-.500 team.

10 Unit Play. #592 Take Oregon Ducks over BYU Cougars (10:30 pm PAC-12 Network) College Basketball Game of the Year., Oregon is a sleeping giant and I believe this team can challenge for a berth in Arlington at the Final Four. They are 10-0 on the season and one of their key player just came back on Tuesday night (Dominic Artis). The Ducks have not even needed him this season and they are a full arsenal of players that can beat you in a variety of ways. Only two of the Ducks 10 victories came under tonight

The Kings are really bad on the road (2-8 on the season), and the Magic are decent at home for a bottom-feeder (5-7). We think the Magic have the clear edge here in this game and expect them to get a comfortable win here tonight. Sacramento is coming in on a back-to-back after a beat-down last night at the hands of the Heat. That game was probably a lot more important to the Kings than this game as a win over Miami can be a highlight of the season for a team like the Kings. They failed that test big time, and they even shot pretty well in that game, and we think they used up all their mojo for hot shooting, and we expect those numbers from the field to even out a bit tonight, especially because the Magic play decent defense at home. And the Orlando offense should be able to play well tonight since the Kings have to be tired after chasing the Heat all over the court last night (Miami shot over 61 percent from the field in that game). The Kings are not one of those teams that excel in back-to-back situations, and their road record speaks for itself, and we think the Magic are the clear play tonight here.

San Antonio has been one of the top teams in the NBA this season for sure, but we think that this is a bad spot for them even though Golden State is off to a slow start. The Spurs are coming in off a back-to-back after playing a Suns team that likes to run, and, of course, their star point guard Tony Parker is going to miss this game. You also never know if Gregg Popovich, the Spurs coach, is going to rest other players at the last minute or give other starters limited minutes. So there could be even more value on this pick closer to gametime. This line, at least, will not get any worse for us. However, we think there is plenty of value with this line as it stands, and the Warriors seem like the clear play tonight. The Warriors had the night off on Wednesday to prepare for this one, and after the playoff series last season that the Spurs won) this is a game that Golden State will be very hyped up for. They are fully healthy now as Andre Iguodala is back in the lineup, and the Warriors are 9-2 with their full starting 5 in the lineup. Just think this is a great spot for Golden State to get a pretty comfortable win against a Spurs team that may be reeling a bit.

The Magic have not been good ATS at home recently, but we think that this number is just too good to pass up. This Utah team is horrible, especially on the road, and the Magic should have a chance here to notch a pretty comfortable win. The Magic are fully healthy right now, and they are playing what is probably their best basketball of the season. They are coming off of a road win at Chicago, and they gave the Thunder all they could handle on Sunday in OKC. While there is normally no such thing as a

Okay, we understand the Grizzlies are down this season from the last couple years and that Marc Gasol is out indefinitely. And the Timberwolves are better this year and have stayed healthy (thus far). But it seems like now Minnesota is a getting a bit overrated and that the public has lost too much confidence with the Grizzlies. We had this line handicapped at Memphis -2, so we think there is some great line value. The Grizzlies have not played well at home, but this team is still a tough out here in Memphis. That is going to be especially true for a team like the Wolves who have struggled on the road (4-8 this season away from home). The Grizzlies have lost four of their last five, but all of those games were pretty tough. This game is a more winnable game than any of those four losses, and we expect this team to win straight up tonight. Memphis is 7-1 ATS in the last eight meetings and 9-2 ATS in the last 11 meetings overall.

10 Unit Play. #564 Take Kansas Jayhawks over New Mexico Lobos (7 pm ESPN 2) The Jayhawks seem to be coming apart at the seams but in reality they are just a young team that is facing a difficult early season schedule. Kansas is due to pound somebody and this Lobos teams will be in a rude awakening on Saturday night. This game is being played in Kansas City giving a huge home crowd edge to the Jayhawks. New Mexico has yet to record a quality win on the season (Cincinnati is not a quality win) and they are a completely different team when play away from the Pit. Even last year when New Mexico had a gaudy record they did not score a ton of points and lost to Harvard, a No. 14 seed. Kansas has a major edge in talent and if they play like they did in the second half against Florida they will win by double digits. New Mexico is just 2-5 ATS in their last 7 nonconference games.

We had the Clippers last night in Boston, and they covered the line with an eight-point win. The Celtics were on a back-to-back, and they wore down in the fourth quarter like we thought they would. We really think that the Celtics lost that one more than the Clippers won it, and although LA hit a few key shots at opportune times, they did look a little listless and uninterested for much of the game. Not a ton of energy compared to what we normally see from this team. This is getting to be a long road trip, and this team already had a couple bad losses on this one to Cleveland and Atlanta (LA was favored in both). We just think this is another bad spot for them. The Nets have had a real bad start to the season, but this team has also had many injury problems. They are finally getting healthy and will be coming into this one near full strength. This team has a pretty formidable roster, and they looked real good last time out with a win over the Celtics. This team is going to be a playoff contender in our eyes, and we think now is a good time to

This is a big game for the Clippers because of Doc Rivers. We think that the Clippers have a lot more motivation here for this one tonight for the coach to beat his old team than the Celtics have to play hard here. Boston is coming in on a back-to-back and will be playing their third game in four nights. This team has won six of its last nine, but they have had an extremely easy schedule. This is the toughest game they have faced during this stretch for sure and the toughest since they hosted the Pacers on Nov. 22. We think that this line is a bit slim because the Clippers are banged up right now, but this team has decent depth and we think they are able to overcome the injuries more easily than the Celtics can overcome a back-to-back and the hectic schedule they have played lately. LA has been hit or miss on the road, but with the motivation because of the Rivers factor we think they bring their A-Game tonight. This team is getting better on defense (they held their last three opponents in the 80s), and we think that they will be able to achieve their offensive goals against a fatigued Celtics defense. The Clippers are 7-2 ATS in the last nine meetings, and we think they make in an even 80% in the last 10 tonight.

Cleveland has been playing much better lately, and they are now 6-3 at home on the season with three straight wins here

10 Unit Play. #518 Take Florida Gators -3 over Kansas Jayhawks (7 pm ESPN) Nonconference Game of the Year. Kansas is just too young of a team to play this difficult of a schedule. Florida has played a difficult schedule as well but they are coming off an outstanding performance at UCONN in a game that went down to the wire and they should have gotten the victory. They have had a week to sit on that game and that has been very beneficial as they have been able to get healthy with Kasey Hill and Scottie Wilbekin both expected to play in this game. Kansas does not return any starters from last season. Yes they do have Andrew Wiggins, but he is not a dominant force at this stage of the season. Kansas has just two players averaging in double figures and they are coming off a tough loss on Saturday against Colorado. Playing in high altitude can affect your next game and despite losing at the buzzer they trailed most of the game against an average CU team. Florida is angry and wants to take out their frustrations on somebody and Kansas is the perfect opponent for that to occur. The Gators have yet to record a quality win on the season and that is something this team needs during nonconference play to ensure a high seed in the NCAA tournament come March. Kansas will have to shoot it well from long range to keep this game close and I just do not see that happening since they are shooting under 30% on the season from behind the arc. Kansas has not covered the spread in any of their last 4 games. Take the home team that is desperate for a victory on Tuesday.
Best of Luck

We don

10 Unit Play. #144 Take Philadelphia Eagles over Detroit Lions (Sunday 1 pm Fox) A match-up of first place teams takes place today at Lincoln Financial Field. Philadelphia has won four straight games and QB Nick Foles has established himself as one of the best passers in the league this season. Detroit has already lost road games to Arizona, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh this season and I believe that Philadelphia is better than all of those teams. Detroit is just 1-11 ATS when coming off a double digit victory in a game that they also covered the spread. Philadelphia is 4-1 ATS the last 5 years during Week 14.

10 Unit Play. #130 Take Fresno State Bulldogs over Utah State Aggies (Saturday 10 pm CBS) Top College Football Play of the Week. The first ever Mountain West Championship takes place late Saturday night in Fresno, CA. The Bulldogs are coming off their first loss of the season last week when they failed to show up against San Jose State last Friday. They lost any chance of making a BCS Bowl game after that showing, but I still believe they have enough pride to knockdown the Aggies and their back-up freshman quarterback. Derek Carr is still a much better quarterback than Darell Garreston and that will be the difference in this game. Once Boise State lost their quarterback Joe Southwick, the Mountain Division of the MWC became very easy and winnable for Utah State since Air Force, Wyoming, and New Mexico are all terrible teams. That fact remains that Fresno State played a much more difficult schedule than did Utah State during conference play. Boise State pounded Utah State in Logan this season and the Aggies just beat up on the soft teams in the MWC. Still have concerns that Fresno will not be able to bounce back after such as bad performance but playing at home and winning a championship with a group of talented seniors should allow them to performance at high level.

This line is a joke to us because the Knicks should not be favored against any team by this many points right now

Love this line tonight, which we think is extremely short. We know the Warriors have not been performing great against the spread, but they have played six of their last eight games on the road and they have had a pretty tough overall schedule lately. This seems like the perfect game for them to get on track with a big win. Yes, Andre Iguodala is still likely out for this game on Tuesday. But this team really isn

Indiana has played like the best team in the NBA up to this point, but at 14-3 the Blazers are not far behind. But Indiana is getting all of the press for sure, while the Blazers are just going about their business while compiling the best record in the Western Conference (tied with the Spurs). Just think that this Portland team is a bit underrated right now and that this team is the real deal. They have one of the best home-court advantages in the entire league, and they should be very focused tonight in facing the team with the best record in basketball. We think that this will be a very close game, but we do give Portland the edge and think that they should be a slim favorite in this one. The Pacers are more of an established power, and since this is a Western Conference game against an unfamiliar opponent, we think that they treat this as just another game while the Blazers are more of an emerging team and should come out pulling out all the stops to win this one.

Think this is a really good spot for the visitors even though we don

10 Unit Play. #427 Take Denver Broncos over Kansas City Chiefs (Sunday 4:25 pm CBS) The Chiefs have been exposed the last two weeks and I have felt all season that this team has been fools

10 Unit Play. #384 Take Missouri Tigers over Texas A & M Aggies (Saturday 7:45 pm ESPN) I have been late to the party on Missouri, but this is their most important game since the Chase Daniel era, as a win tonight will earn them a spot in the SEC Championship Game next Saturday in Atlanta, GA. For some reason Missouri is in the SEC East despite having a location in the west but this team has an explosive offense that can match up easily with Johnny Football. All Texas A & M has in a quarterback and wide receiver, the rest of their talent is subpar and that became evident last week against LSU. Johnny Football will make some plays and put up some number but it will be nowhere near enough. Coach Sumlin has not had a good defense while he has been a head coach at Houston and A & M and that is certainly the case this season. Missou is 12-3 ATS (1 push) in their last 16 games overall. A & M is 16-37 ATS (1 push) in their last 54 road games against teams with a winning home record.

10 Unit Play. #591 Take Duke Blue Devils over Arizona Wildcats (6 pm ESPN) The Blue Devils just do not lose games at the Garden and I believe they have too much offensive firepower for Arizona. The Wildcats have great size but they are not a great shooting or scoring team. Arizona struggled with Drexel on Wednesday and Duke does not want a second loss on the season in November. Duke has covered the spread in 9 of their last 13 neutral site games. Arizona is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games played on Friday.
Best of Luck

The Heat have been playing very well, and the Cavs have been one of the NBA

Like the Wizards in this spot against a Lakers team that has been playing over its head with three straight wins and covers (even though those wins all came at home). The Wizards have been playing a lot better after a slow start to the season. They have won three of four and covered in all of those wins as well. This team was one we expected to be strong on defense this season, but they started off horribly in that aspect. But they are coming around. Six of their last seven games have gone under the posted total, and only one of their last seven opponents (Dallas) scored more than 100 in those games (in regulation). This Lakers team really relies on hot shooting in order to succeed, and with the way the Wizards have been defending lately, we think that they will be able to interrupt the flow of the Lakers offense. This Lakers team is giving up 110+, on average, on the road this season, so we think the Wizards will be able to get enough points to win this one comfortably. Washington played a road-heavy schedule to start the season, and we are just getting a sense of how good this team can be at home. We think they are a bit underrated after their slow start. They have also won and covered two of three meetings in this series, and Kobe Bryant was in for LA in all three games. So they could have an even better showing in this rare matchup with the Lakers star still on the mend.

10 Unit Play. #230 Take New York Giants over Dallas Cowboys (Sunday 4:25 pm FOX) We used the Giants last week against Green Bay and will ride them again on Sunday as they have a chance to become a playoff contender with a victory today. Dallas has a much better offense than Green Bay does without Aaron Rogers; however, they are really banged up on defense. The Giants have won 4 straight games and really have yet to play a complete game this season. I think that will change on Sunday as the Giants are heading in a completely different direction than are the Cowboys. Dallas won the first meeting by 5 points in Week 1 and in that game the Giants still had a chance to win despite committing 6 turnovers. Dallas is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games against teams with a losing record. New York has won and covered 4 straight games.

10 Unit Play. #158 Take Wyoming Cowboys over Hawaii Warriors (Saturday 2 pm themw. com) Top College Football Play of the Weekend. To make no bones about it, both of these teams suck; however, Wyoming troubles have been self-inflicted with numerous turnovers each and every game. The Cowboys played alright against Boise State last week on defense, however, the offense turned it over way too much and that eventually caught-up with them. Hawaii played well last week at home in a game they desperately wanted but fell apart in overtime and I just do not think they will have much left in the tank. San Diego State played terrible last week on offense and that is the strong point of Wyoming. The Cowboys still have a shot at a bowl game and they need one badly or their coach may be shown the door. The line is creeping down and that just make me like Wyoming that much more. If Wyoming does not turnover the football I feel they will be able to light up the scoreboard in this game and Hawaii simply will not be able to keep up. The Warriors have only been competitive in one road game this season and were beaten by double digits against bad teams like Navy & Nevada. Hawaii is 3-10 in their last 13 games against teams with a losing record. Wyoming is 7-2 in their last 9 games against teams with a losing record. We must protect this football!

The Wizards had a slow start to the season for sure, but this team is playing a lot better as of late, and we expect them to compete for the win here in what should be a very competitive game. The Wizards have now covered in six of their last nine, and they are starting to resemble the team that was an ATS cash show towards the end of last season. They have also had a very tough schedule recently, which should help them here. Toronto may have the better record, but the Wizards are the stronger team overall, and we had this line at

Just think that the wrong team is favored in this one. We think that this game will be close and don

The Grizzlies have not played very well to start the season, and the Clippers are a better team than the one that got bounce from the first round by Memphis last year, 4-2. However, we just still think that this Memphis team matches up favorably with the Clippers, and in this big rivalry game we love getting this many points with the visitors. The Grizzlies still have the major low-post advantage that helped them win that playoff series last year, and this team has a lot more toughness than this Clippers bunch. We expect them to play very hard tonight even though they come in on a back-to-back, and they have covered five straight meetings against the Clippers. This is the biggest dog the Grizzlies have been all season, and the Clippers just haven

10 Unit Play. #430 Take Carolina Panthers over New England Patriots (Monday 8:40 pm ESPN) The Panthers are in beast mode at the moment having won having won 5 straight games and 4 of those games have been blowouts. The fan base in Carolina will be sky high for this game since they do not get many primetime games with a national audience. Carolina is allowing just 9 points per game in Charlotte and just 249 total yards in their last 7 games. Cam Newton will have an easier time this week moving the football on offense against a suspect Patriots defense. New England is just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games. Carolina is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 home games. Take the home chalk on Monday night.

10 Unit Play. #401 Take San Diego State Aztecs over Hawaii Warriors (10:30 pm CBS Sports Network) The Warriors are 0-9 and the Norm Chow era is truly on life support. They have keep some games close this year; however, they last two games have not been pretty. The Aztecs have stayed under the radar, but they are 4-1 in the MWC and they have lost just one game since September 22nd. That loss came against undefeated Fresno State and has a game that could have easily won missing a field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter. Playing in Hawaii is not what it once was, as teams are now treating it as a business trip and not a party. Hawaii

The Cavs have been the absolute worst betting team in the NBA at 1-8 ATS. This team has some high expectations heading into the season, and they have obviously fallen well short of expectations thus far. This team just is not playing well right now, and they have real chemistry problems at the moment. This team is coming off embarrassing double-digit losses on the road to Minnesota and Chicago, and their only bright spot in their last five games is a two-point OT win in overtime at home against Philly. The Bobcats are a much better team this season than the one we have seen the last couple of seasons. They are 4-4 on the year and 4-3-1 against the number. This team is really bringing top effort every night, and most of their games have been pretty close. One of their wins is against this same Cavs team in a game where the Bobcats dominated pretty much from start to finish. We think that Charlotte will out-hustle the reeling Cavs tonight and that they will keep this game close with a chance for the straight up win.

Atlanta is just not good enough this season to be laying big points to anyone, especially one of the best ATS teams in the league to start the season (Philly). The Hawks have played some lousy teams thus far. However, they have only one double-digit win on the season, and that was just by 10 at home against Orlando. Philly is 4-0 ATS when getting 8 or more points this season. This is the most points that the Hawks have had to lay this season, but we feel when the season is over that they will have a pretty lousy ATS record when giving major points. This is a team that is built to play close games, whether against better comp as an underdog or against worse teams laying points. Philly has been playing very hard this season in almost every game, and we have no doubt that they will give max effort tonight here in what is a very winnable game, regardless of whether Michael Carter-Williams plays or not. The Sixers are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings, and this line is just too large tonight.

Love the Clippers in this spot tonight laying under the key NBA betting number of 7. While the Timberwolves are improved this season

10 Unit Play. #25/#225 Take Dallas Cowboys over New Orleans Saints (Sunday 8:30 pm NBC) The Cowboys are just 5-4 on the season but they have not been blown out in any of their four losses and thus getting around a touchdown is too good to pass up in this game. New Orleans is a completely different team when they play at the Superdome but they still have major holes on defense evident by their performance last week against the Jets. The Jets have one of the worst offenses in the league and Dallas has a good run/pass option and should be able to move the football on the Saints. New Orleans can light up the scoreboard put I fully expect a shootout and a cover by the Cowboys. Dallas is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 road games.

Washington is a team we like a lot this season, and we think that they are going to get better and better and better as the season progresses. They seem to be getting their stuff together now, as they have two pretty impressive wins in their last two games. They beat the upstart Sixers by 14 on the road and then got by Brooklyn at home by four in overtime. This team is relatively healthy right now, and

This one falls into an NBA handicapping situation we really love. When teams play home-and-home, on back-to-back nights, and the home team wins the first game and heads to the arena of the losing squad the next night, the home team for the second night always plays much better and usually covers the spread. So we were praying that the Sixers would win on Friday, and boy did they ever, scoring a 15-point victory. The Cabs have not had a good start to the season, but we feel they are the MUCH better team here in this matchup. They will be highly motivated because revenge is a factor tonight (we feel revenge is a way overrated handicapping factor, but it does come into play huge in these back-to-back situations). Philly is better than expected this season. But this is still a bad team, they just started hot. But they have been blown out in two of their last three games, and we feel that they will lose big here tonight. The line is set for the public to jump all over Philly here. They just won by 15 last night, so why should we lay a bunch of points here in consecutive nights? We just feel like the oddsmakers smartly are trying to lure Philly money in, but we see a probable double-digit win here for the home team. Cleveland is looking for their first big signature win of the season, and we think they get it here tonight.

10 Unit Play. #92/#159 Take Wisconsin Badgers over BYU Cougars (Saturday 3:30 pm ESPN) Big 10 Game of the Year. Wisconsin just does not lose many games at Camp Randall, and that is especially true during nonconference games. This Badger team is starting to get healthy on defense with Chris Borland probable for this game, and this game has great significance for Coach Gary Anderson as he has significant ties to the Utah area. BYU has the better quarterback in Taysom Hill, but he is more of a running threat than he is a passing threat, and Wisconsin is more than capable of stopping the run. Wisconsin should also have a great scouting report since his former team Utah State already played BYU this season. BYU won that game, but the Aggies suffered an injury in the first quarter to their all-everything quarterback Chuckie Keaton. If Coach Anderson has a chance to run up the score, you can be sure that he will do that like he did last week against Iowa with a late touchdown with less than minutes to play in a game that was already decided. That is the type of coach we like for a big play. BYU should be undefeated at this point in the season, but they have a pair of shaky losses, one at Virginia and one at home against Utah. This is the same Virginia team with only two wins on the season, and their other victory came against VMI. Wisconsin is in the Top 21 teams in the country in both points scored and points allowed. BYU is a poor man

10 Unit Play. #82/#140 Take Minnesota Golden Gophers -1.5 over Penn State Nittany Lions (Saturday 12 pm ESPN 2) This is a case of name recognition of these two teams keeping this line much lower than what it should be. Minnesota continues to be underrated, and Penn State continues to be overrated. This is not the same offensive team as Penn State was in 2012, and this team has been blown out in both of their true road games this season (Indiana and Ohio State). Yes, the same Indiana team that Minnesota beat last year beat Penn State by 20 points on Oct. 5. Minnesota has been an underdog three straight weeks, and they have not only covered the spread in these games, but they have also won each game straight-up.
The difference between these two teams is that Minnesota has an identity of running the football and playing strong defense, and Penn State does not have an identity on offense or defense. Christian Hackenberg is just a freshman, and playing on the road is typically where you see young quarterbacks struggle. He has thrown four interceptions in his last three games, and this team was lucky to beat Illinois last week in overtime at home. This is the same Illinois team that has not won a conference game since 2011. Granted, Indiana had a chance to beat Minnesota last week (they were favored by 10 points), but the Gophers created a turnover down the stretch, and Penn State is nowhere near as explosive as Indiana is on offense. For whatever reason, this team has really responded to their new coach Tracy Claeys, and this is a magical season where Minnesota has a chance to make a New Year

Love this spot for the Celtics. The Magic are 5-0 ATS on the season and undefeated at home. But laying big points to anyone? We don

The Timberwolves have played great to start the season and come into this matchup undefeated. However, while we think this team is much improved this season as long as they stay healthy, we do think that this is a bad spot for them tonight. The Cavs have the look of a team that will play very well at home but might struggle on the road this season. They looked great in their home win against the Nets but looked pretty awful in road losses to Charlotte and Indiana. We think this team is better than that, however, and we think that they are a serious playoff contender this season. This is the type of game this team needs to win at home and win with authority, and we think that is what will happen here on Monday night. While the Cavs had the night off last night, Minnesota did play, and this will be a back-to-back for them as well as third game in four nights (also for Cleveland, but the night off is huge as teams are not in playing shape to start the season, so back-to-backs take on more importance in the early part of the schedule). Cleveland is starting a stretch of four games in six nights, and we just think that they will bring their A Game tonight while Minnesota may be a little overconfident heading into this matchup.

The Wizards have not looked very good so far this season with losses to the Pistons and Sixers (Philly beat Miami in a shocker as well), but we still think that this is too many points. Clearly Miami is not in mid-season form right now. Miami has the biggest bullseye on its back this season, and every team they face will likely be bringing their best game. We think the Wizards will be very focused tonight, and they will bring their A Game to South Beach tonight. While both teams are coming off two straight losses and will be desperate for a win here, we don

10 Unit Play. #414 Take Oakland Raiders over Philadelphia Eagles (Saturday 4 pm FOX) The Raiders are coming off a victory over another Pennsylvania team last Sunday and we fully expect them to complete this exacta on Sunday. Philadelphia is just a mess on offense at the moment with injuries to their quarterback and a complete lack of production of late. This is taking its toll on their defense, as they are on the field a ton. This game features a Rose Bowl rematch between Terrelle Pryor going up against former Oregon coach Chip Kelly. Pryor won that match-up and expect a similar result in this game as well. Philadelphia is 6-17 ATS (1 push) in their last 24 games overall. Oakland has covered 4 of their last 5 home games. A win by the Raiders gets them to the .500 mark and we fully expect that to occur.

10 Unit Play. #359 Take Michigan Wolverines over Michigan State Spartans (Saturday 3:30 pm ABC) To me this game is a carbon copy of our top selection in college football last week, Texas @ TCU. Texas is Big Brother and so is Michigan. TCU has a great defense as does Michigan State and both teams have a shaky offense. Michigan likes Texas has shown flashes of greatness at times but also looked lethargic at other times.
But to me this game comes down to Michigan have better players 1-75 as a whole. Michigan State dominated Illinois last week and because of that game this spread just 3 points. Does beating Illinois deserve that much movement? Michigan State does not have a dynamic offense and they rely a great deal on their defense and field position in order to score points. This will be the best offense that Michigan State has faced all season and one must remember that Indiana had this Michigan State defense on the ropes early and could have put them down big but missed a golden opportunity in that game.
As for Michigan it is important that they do not turnover the football and give the Spartans a short field. Michigan is coming off a bye week and this is a perfect setup for them. QB Devin Gardner has got his confidence back throwing 6 touchdowns in his last 3 games and he also have 4 rushing touchdowns during this span. He has the ability to escape the pocket and that will be essential against this strong Michigan State defense. Michigan State wins by defense and thus I am always weary of taking them as a favorite against a good team (no Illinois does not count as a good team). Michigan State is 3-10 ATS in their last 13 home games. Take Big Brother and the points!

Charlotte will be improved this season. They played decently in the first half of their opening game at Houston. However, we are really high on Cleveland this season and think that they are a legitimate playoff contender in the East. They had a very strong showing in their home-opener, beating the Nets outright as a 3.5-point dog. For the Cavs to be a playoff-type team, they have to win games like this. And we think this team won

Love the Bulls in this spot. We are not big believers in the Knicks at all, and we don

We were salivating like Pavlov

10 Unit Play. #224 Take Oakland Raiders over Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday 4:05 pm CBS) The Steelers are on a winning streak after two straight wins but I expect that to end in the Bay Area this week. Oakland made the right decision by starting Terrele Pryor this season, as he is 3-1 ATS in games that he started and finished. The Pittsburgh defense is not what it once was, creating just two turnovers this season and only 6 sacks. It will be important for Oakland to protect their quarterback in this game and if they do that they can win this game straight-up. Oakland is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games played during Week 8 of the NFL season. Pittsburgh is 4-11 ATS in their last 15 road games.

10 Unit Play. #165 Take Texas Longhorns over TCU Horned Frogs (Saturday 7:30 pm Fox Sports 1) Top College Football Play of the Weekend. We will fade the Horned Frogs for a second straight week with our top selection in college football. If you read my article this week, you will know how Oklahoma State should have beaten TCU by 30 points last week but 4 turnovers and 2 missed field goals from under 35 yards did them in. Texas has a much better offense than does Oklahoma State especially now since they are healthy. It was easy to pile on Texas earlier this season with Mack Brown being all but fired before his big victory over Oklahoma. But that fact was Texas was banged up especially without Daje Johnson. Texas is getting healthy and their defense has shown improvement under new DC Greg Robinson. The same cannot be said for TCU, as this team is just lost without QB Casey Pachall. TCU had just 325 yards of total offense and 69 of them came on a fluke pass play last week. They scored just 10 points in that game despite creating 4 turnovers against the Pokes. Texas is 20-2 all time against TCU and the Horns have covered 14 of those 22 games (1 push). TCU has a rock solid defense, but if Texas does not turn over the football, they will win this game straight-up. Getting points is just icing on the cake!

10 Unit Play. #380 Take Oklahoma State Cowboys over TCU Horned Frogs (Saturday 12 pm FOX) Big 12 Game of the Year. The Cowboys have much better talent than how they have been playing this season and I expect that they are due for a breakout performance and it will come on Saturday. The Horned Frogs are well coached but they just do not have the talent this year especially to be competitive in the Big 12. I do not believe that this team will be bowl eligible come December and this is one game they have no business keeping it close. In the meeting last year, the Pokes started off terrible and still won in Fort Worth by 22 points. Oklahoma State is 21-8 as a home favorite including 6-0 in 2012. They have great defensive backs that can play man coverage and allow the front seven to blitz at will. TCU is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games following a victory. Oklahoma State is 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games following an ATS loss in their previous game.

10 Unit Play. #209 Take Detroit Lions over Cleveland Browns (Sunday 1 pm FOX) Both teams have been hit hard by injuries to key personal; however, the Lions have much more talent than do the Cleveland Browns. Detroit played well on defense last week against Green Bay in a place where they never win. Despite that loss the Lions currently sit atop the standing in the NFC North and cannot afford a loss to the Browns if they have visions of winning the division. Cleveland has won three straight games after trading away Trent Richardson, but they suffered a quarterback injury last week and now must turn back to Brandon Weedon, a player his teammates do not have confidence in. This play reminds me a lot of the Kansas City

10 Unit Play. #160 Take LSU Tigers over Florida Gators (Saturday 3:30 pm CBS) This is a match-up of teams that will likely finish close to the top of their respective divisions but will likely not win them. LSU has made great strides on offense under new OC Cam Cameron scoring over 45 points per game. Florida is without their starting quarterback in Jeff Driskel but one must remember that they also lost DE Dominique Easley. I fully expect QB Zach Mettenberger to pick this team apart. LSU does not have the same defense as they did in past years; however, Florida just does not have the offensive firepower to match points with LSU. There is no reason that Florida should not be undefeated at this point since they schedules was super easy thus far, but they lost to Miami and really have not dominated in any game that they played this season. Florida is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games against teams with a winning record. LSU is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games following a victory of more than 20 points in their previous game. Take the home chalk in this affair.

10 Unit Play. #433 Take Denver Broncos over Dallas Cowboys (Sunday 4:25 pm CBS) The Broncos are a scoring machine at the moment and we take them this week with a number we feel is short. Dallas is coming off a bad beat against San Diego in a game that they led by 11 points only to lose the game by nine points. Now they face the best team in the league in the Denver Broncos. Dallas still is in great shape to win the NFC East and they do not really need to dig deep to win this game. Denver is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games. Dallas is 3-10 ATS in their last 13 home games. We cannot worry about the big number on the road and instead will just play the better team.

10 Unit Play. #316 Take Iowa Hawkeyes over Michigan State Spartans (Saturday 12 pm ESPN 2) Top College Play of the Weekend. Many people believed that Kirk Ferentz would be shown the door after their opening loss of the season to Northern Illinois, but the Hawkeyes have rebounded nicely winning four straight games including two against BCS Conference teams. What this play comes down to is that Iowa has a much better offense than does Michigan State. As we saw last week with USC, sooner or later the defense will cave in when playing good teams and in order for Michigan State to be successful they must be able to move the football on offense. Had the Michigan State offense done anything against Notre Dame they would have won that game but that was not the case. This team is just lost without Le

10 Unit Play. #224 Take Atlanta Falcons over New England Patriots (Sunday 8:30 pm NBC) The Patriots have had the easiest schedule in the league thus far but things will get much tougher tonight playing a desperate team that cannot afford to drop to 1-3 on the season. The Falcons are always a strong play at the Georgia Dome, as they have won 34 of 41 games during the Mike Smith era. New England just does not have many healthy weapons for QB Tom Brady and their defense has been terrible for 10 years. The Tampa Bay game last week was much closer than the final score would indicate and Atlanta

10 Unit Play. #188 Take Nevada Wolf Pack over Air Force Falcons (Saturday 8 pm CBS Sports Network) College Football Game of the Year. The line was off the board until Wednesday and opened at -7 for Nevada. This number was quickly bet up to where it is now so that should tell you where the smart money is going. The Force has been picked apart by good quarterbacks in the MWC and now is Cody Fajardo

10 Unit Play. #343 Take Wyoming Cowboys over Air Force Falcons (Saturday 10:15 pm ESPN U) Top College Play of the Weekend. Much like our top play last week, revenge will be served on the field, as we side with the better balanced team on Saturday night in Colorado Springs, CO. Coach Christensen was upset at how the game ended last year, a 28-27 victory for the Force and you can be sure his team will be ready to make a statement on Saturday night. But this play just comes down to Air Force not being able to stop the passing attack. They have no pass rush whatsoever accumulating just 1 sack on the season. Boise State and Utah State just picked apart this team with QB Southwick going 27 for 29 and Chuckie Keaton going 32 for 40 with 5 touchdowns. Bad weather kept the Falcons closer to the Broncos last week, but we have a short number to work with backing the road favorite tonight. Wyoming is completing 63% of their passes and throwing for over 316 yards in just three games and one of them came against Nebraska, a team expected to challenge for the Big Ten title. Wyoming is up and coming team that will be bowl eligible this season. They have covered 4 straight against the Falcons and will win this game by double digits. Wyoming is 19-7 ATS in their last 26 road games. Air Force really feel apart last year toward the end of the season and they are just 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games overall. The Force goes down tonight in Colorado Springs.

10 Unit Play. #220 Take New York Giants over Denver Broncos (Sunday 4:25 pm CBS) As bad as the Giants played in Dallas with six turnovers, they still were at midfield with 2 minutes to play with a chance to win the game. Now they are at home and desperate for a victory against the high powered Broncos offense. Good team know that it is very hard to make the playoffs when starting 0-2 and thus I truly believe that the Giants need this more. The Broncos are still missing some key parts on defense and thus I like the Giants front four better than I do the Broncos front four. Expect a lot of points in this game, but the Giants will not only cover the spread, they will win straight-up. The Giants are 10-4 ATS (1 push) in their last 15 games against teams with a winning record.

10 Unit Play. #146 Take Texas Longhorns over Ole Miss Rebels (Saturday 8 pm LHN) These teams appear to be heading in opposite directions, but that being said I just do not believe Ole Miss has the offensive firepower on the ground to threaten this Longhorn defense. Texas was embarrassed last week at BYU giving up over 500 yards rushing and thus fired their defensive coordinator and brought in veteran coach Greg Robinson. The Texas pass defense actually played pretty well and expect an even better pass defense performance this week against Ole Miss.
The two things that make this such a strong play are the fact that Texas is 16-1 at home against non-conference teams since 2007. Also the fact that this same Texas team went into Oxford last year and pounded the Rebels by a score of 66-31 last year. Many of the Rebels same defensive personal will be playing in this game as well. The Rebels can move the football a little of offense, but they just cannot stop teams on defense and thus will not be able to keep pace in this game.
Texas does have some injuries but I just believe that is keeping this line three points lower than what it should be. David Ash left the game in the fourth quarter last week against BYU and is questionable for this game (I think he will play) but his back-up Chance McCoy does have a lot of experience playing in big games. Ole Miss also has a few starters banged up in Christian Miller, Aaron Morris, Charles Sawyer (legal), and Denzel Nkemdicke.
Texas seems to be inconsistent from week to week, but I am expecting a big bounce back this week similar to what Georgia did one week ago. The Longhorns are talented and experienced and they know that this is a must game in order to avoid having the season slip away from them. Ole Miss still feels the wounds that Texas gave them last year and expect the Longhorns to jump out early and cruise to a victory. Ole Miss is 2-5 ATS (1 push) in their last 8 games against Big XII teams. Texas is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games after allowing 450 yards in their previous game. Take the Longhorns and all the drama on Saturday, as they will win this game by double digits.

10 Unit Play. #127 Take Maryland Terrapins over Connecticut Huskies (Saturday 7:30 pm ESPN3) Non-Conference Game of the Year. Revenge will be best served on the field tonight in Storrs. Maryland suffered numerous injuries last season especially at the quarterback position and every team was able to kick them around. But that will not be the case this season. Maryland is loaded on offense and expect them to light-up the scoreboard all night long against a team that has quit on their coach in 2013. Nobody was real excited about the hiring of Paul Pasqualoni when current Maryland Coach Randy Edsall left Connecticut. Things reached an epic low in week 1 of this season when they lost to Towson State by double digits. The Huskies had a strong defense last season but that is not the case in 2013 as 4 players off of the 2012 defensive squad were NFL draft picks.
This game is all about Coach Randy Edsall, as he struggled through some tough games in his first two years including a loss at home to Connecticut in 2012. He is still angry about that game and will not let off the gas for 60 minutes tonight waiting to show the crowd why he is the all-time winningest coach in UCONN history. UCONN is 2-7 ATS (1 push) in their last 10 games overall. Maryland is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games. Expect Maryland to have a great scouting report since Towson State

10 Unit Play. #481 Take Houston Texas over San Diego Chargers (10:20 pm ESPN) The Chargers have been in free fall the last couple of years and finally make a coaching change and general manager change. Much of the free fall has been on the shoulders of Phillip Rivers, as he is no longer an elite quarterback and turns the football over numerous times in a game. That does not bode well when facing JJ Watt, the best defensive player in the NFL. Houston is loaded on both sides of the football and has won three straight opening week games. The fact remains that Antonio Gates is not what he once was and that puts enormous pressure on QB Rivers to make plays with his arm. San Diego lacks a run game to slow down the front four of the Texans and I just expect them to tee off on the quarterback for 60 minutes. Houston is 20-5 ATS (2 pushes) in their last 27 games played on grass. San Diego is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games. Houston wins this game by double digits!

10 Unit Play. #326 Take Georgia Bulldogs over South Carolina Gamecocks (Saturday 4:30 pm ESPN) Top College Football Play of the Weekend. Both of these coaches have had trouble winning big games in the past, especially during SEC play. However, I fully believe in my heart Georgia is too good of a team to start the 2013 season 0-2. The Gamecocks may have the best player on the field in Jadeveon Clowney, but I believe Georgia has the next best 3-4 players after the top spot. Neither Clowney nor QB Connor Shaw looked that impressive last Thursday against North Carolina. Georgia was unstoppable on offense last week against Clemson, but they were hampered by penalties and third down conversions. The Dawgs looked lost on defense, but USC does not have a player like Tajh Boyd on offense. Historically, Georgia has dominated the series with South Carolina, going 46-16 (2 ties). Georgia has covered 5 of their last 6 home games. We are aware that WR Malcolm Mitchell is out for season, but I do not expect that to slow down this high-powered offense one bit. Georgia makes a statement in the SEC and wins this game by double-digits!

10 Unit Play. #210 Take Washington Huskies over Boise State Broncos (Saturday 10 pm Fox Sports 1) Top College Football Play of the Weekend. I hate going against the Broncos as all they do is win games under the Chris Petersen. However, too many factors favor the Huskies in this game. This is not a typical veteran Boise State team as they are really young and undersized on defense. They do still have their quarterback in Joe Southwick. However, he is just not in the same league as Ryan Dinwiddie and Kellen Moore. The MWC does not have many strong teams, and Boise State will win their fair share of games this season. However, I clearly believe that Fresno State is the team to beat.
Moving over to Washington, I believe that this team is in for a monster season, and it will start on Saturday night. They still have their quarterback in Keith Price, and he played much better in his sophomore season than he did in his junior season. I look for him to get back to his stats from two years ago and tear apart this undersized Boise defense. Washington is also back where they belong, at Husky Stadium, as they played at CenturyLink Field last year during renovations. Expect the home crowd to be excited for this game. Finally, these teams met in the Las Vegas Bowl last December and Boise came away with a hard fought 2-point victory. The Huskies have had all offseason to think about that, and you can be sure they will be ready for Boise tonight. This will be a double-digit victory for the home team, and we will collect big in the process.

10 Unit Play. #27/#277 Take San Diego Chargers over Arizona Cardinals (Saturday 10 pm) NFL Preseason Game of the Year! The Cardinals enter this game 2-0 straight-up and 2-0 ATS while the Chargers are 0-2 straight-up and 1-1 ATS. That being said, Arizona has done nothing on offense to impress me especially with their first string. Their defense has been world beaters collecting 8 turnovers over two games. It is important for the Chargers to protect the football in this game, something they did not do early against Chicago in Week 2. That has got to be a point of this week under first year Coach Mike McCoy. San Diego also has a couple of coaches that were in Arizona last year in Ken Whisenhunt and Kevin Spencer. You can bet Coach Whisenhunt would like to put on a big performance in his first game back in the desert.
What this game comes down to is that I am a much bigger fan of Phillip Rivers compared to Carson Palmer. Both of them are statues in the pocket and turnover the football but Rivers has had much more success in the playoffs than has Palmer. San Diego was down 20-0 last week against Chicago and still managed to get within 30-28 late in the game and they did cover the spread. Week 3 is the dress rehearsal week and thus we can expect to see a lot of Phillip Rivers and Charlie Whitehurst in this game. We will not even need the points, as the Chargers win this game straight-up and getting over a field goal is just icing on the cake.

10 Unit Play. #32/#282 Take Indianapolis Colts over Buffalo Bills (Sunday 1:30 pm NFL Network) Top NFL Play of the Week. Buffalo is really banged up at quarterback with Kevin Kolb suffering a freak injury, and the other two quarterbacks are rookies. That is nowhere near what Indianapolis offers at quarterback with Andrew Luck, Matt Hasselbeck, and Chandler Harish. Rookies tend to struggle in the preseason, and, thus, I just do not see the Buffalo offense putting points on the board without the help of turnovers in this game. One may believe that new head coach Doug Marrone will want to go all out, especially since he is coming from college where there is no preseason. But, unlike Chip Kelly, Marrone is an NFL guy, having coached in the league from 2001-2009 so he is well aware how the exhibition season works. The Colts opened with a day game last year in Week 1 and won 38-3. History will repeat itself again on Sunday.

10 Unit Play. #21/#269 Take Arizona Cardinals over Green Bay Packers (Friday 8 pm) Yes, the Packers have Aaron Rogers, but I do not expect to see much of him in this game, especially since their left tackle went down last Saturday and Green Bay just cannot afford any more injuries. The Packers have terrible back-ups that do not fit Mike McCarthy

10-unit Play Take #954 Miami Marlins (+1.5 RL) over Atlanta Braves (7:10pm ET) The Miami Marlins have lost four straight, but don't let that skew your opinion on this team right now. They've actually gone 19-15 over their last 34 games and are a much better team than they were in April and May. One of the biggest reasons for their struggles had to do with injuries. They had as many as five of their regulars on the disabled list at one time including superstar Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton and most of the others are back now and they've been scoring more runs ever since. Today they send right-hander Henderson Alvarez to the hill. He was on the disabled list for most of the season as well, and just came back last week. He looked pretty good in his minor league rehab starts and also in his first outing back against the Braves. The Atlanta Braves have a nice record on the season at 51-38, but since June 9th they are just 12-14 and have been very inconsistent at the plate. They go with youngster Julio Teheran today and he's put together a pretty good season to date. However, he hasn't been nearly as sharp on the road where his ERA is a run and a half higher. The Marlins are a big home underdog in this matchup and I don't think it's warranted based on how these teams are playing right now. We'll take Miami.

10-unit Play Take #957 Miami Marlins (+1.5 RL) over St. Louis Cardinals (2:15pm ET) It's been the tale of two seasons for the Miami Marlins in 2013. In April and May, this team was simply abysmal. On May 31 they were 13-41 and they have now gone 19-13 in 32 games since then. There's no question that this still isn't a very good baseball team, but they are certainly undervalued at this point. Their lineup has been producing ever since Giancarlo Stanton returned from the disabled list and their starting pitching has been very good. One of the guys that has made the rotation good is rookie phenom Jose Fernandez. The 20-year old is making his case for Rookie of the Year as he comes in at 5-4 with a 2.72 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 16 starts. He throws in the upper 90's, averaging nearly 95mph on his fastball and he's striking out more than a batter per inning. The St. Louis Cardinals will definitely have their hands full. They faced Fernandez about a month ago and were beaten by him soundly. Fernandez struck out 10 batters in seven innings in that game and he only allowed two earned runs. I expect more of the same today and we get an excellent underdog price on the Marlins. The Cardinal will also be without their leader Yadier Molina, who is nursing a knee injury, making this price even sweeter.

We have the Spurs for a series play here for the NBA Finals, and we still think that is the right call. We have always been of the thinking that the Spurs win one of the final two games in Miami. Everyone is saying that the Spurs

We expect the Spurs to win two out of three at home, and then they will have to go back to Miami and win one of two on the road to win this series. We don

We like the Spurs here for all the same reasons we did for Game 1, and as long as the oddsmakers keep making favorable lines for the Spurs, they are the play. We just think that the Heat are way overrated. Ever since the start of the season the public bettors and media have just wanted to hand them the trophy. But they have not lived up to those lofty expectations. Their record setting winning streak during the regular season was impressive. However, they did beat up on plenty of cellar dwellers from the Eastern Conference during this winning streak. And any team can get hot during the regular season. The Clippers won 17 games in a row at one point, and Memphis, New York and Denver all had long winning streaks as well. That winning streak just cemented in everyone

Just think this opening line is a joke. This is only a couple points off what the Heat were favored by at home against Indiana. So you are trying to tell us that the well-rested Spurs are only two points better than the Pacers in this situation? Yeah, right. We think with the rest that the Spurs have had that they should be +2 here, max. We think this series is much closer than the oddsmakers do, and the Heat have really struggled in Game 1s in these playoffs. They took care of the Bucks in Round 1, but Milwaukee was one of the worst playoff teams we can remember. They lost straight up to a battered Chicago club in Round 2 and then needed a buzzer-beater by LeBron to win by one in the Conference Finals against the Pacers. We think there is a great chance the Spurs can steal a Game 1 victory here. This team has had nine days off between their sweep of Memphis and the start of Game 1. San Antonio is 8-1 straight up and 6-3 against the spread when playing on three or more days rest this season. Just think that the Spurs are more battle-tested here. They swept a Memphis team that was probably better than the Indiana team that took Miami to seven games. Miami had its peak during its long winning streak during the regular season, but the Spurs seem to be hitting their stride now and peaking at the right time. And with the best coach in the game and an older team of veterans, you have to feel as if all this time off is a real advantage for the Spurs. Just think Miami is overrated. Yeah, they had that long winning streak, but the Clippers won 17 games in a row this season, and that didn

Even though we liked the Pacers in Game 5, we just saw something in that game that made us think that this series is over here in Game 6. The Pacers looked real worn down, and it looks like the Heat finally found the right defensive formula to stop this Pacers team. The 35-point second half effort on the offensive end really was more of a result of strong defense by the Heat instead of just poor shooting. And this team just seems to be worn down after maybe overachieving a bit early in this series. Miami knows the Spurs have been getting tons of rest and that San Antonio is the type of team that can really take advantage of that extended time off. We just think that the Heat know how crucial it is to close this series out on Saturday night to avoid a Game 7, especially with the way the Pacers played Games 1 and 2 in Miami.

It

Just think that the Grizzlies are going to win one game in this series, and this is probably it. This is definitely the best value we have seen for the Grizzlies in this series after three straight wins by San Antonio. While the Spurs have basically dominated this series, these teams are still very close together talent-wise, and the Spurs might ratchet down their focus a notch since they pretty much have this series in hand now that Memphis would need four straight wins to take this series. The Grizzlies seem like a very proud team, and we know they won

We were on Indiana for Games 1 and 2 as we thought the bookies

In our eyes the Spurs have been the most dominant team in the playoffs. Some would argue that Miami earns that distinction, but we don

We like the Pacers for the same reasons we took them in Game 1 of this series. We definitely think these teams are closer than the oddsmakers and general public, and we expect Indiana to really challenge the Heat again in this game. They were one mistake in OT away from winning Game 1 straight up, and we expect another strong effort from them tonight. The Pacers have now covered three of the four meetings between these teams this season, winning two in the regular season by double digits. This team is probably the toughest matchup in the east for the Heat as they are the best rebounding team in the league and also one of the two best defensive teams, and teams like that have given the Heat problems. This is the first real test that Miami has faced in the playoffs. The Bucks were not even a deserving playoff team in our eyes, and the Bulls were a shell of the team they could be with numerous injuries, even to the players that were on the court. The Pacers were tested with two tough series against better-quality opponents, and we have to admit we were surprised with the way they dispatched New York, who we thought would win that series. Miami made it look easy against overmatched competition, but we think that the Pacers are in better form right now (although the Heat are clearly the better team, but we just think this series will be a battle all the way and not the Miami cakewalk everyone expects). Game 1 was on pace to go under until a high-scoring fourth quarter and overtime, and we expect this game to play out mostly like the first three quarters with a strong defensive effort from both teams. And with a game that should be very low scoring, the points with the underdog become all that more valuable.