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Boilermakers battle Buckeyes in Big Ten brawlNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/17/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top-10 meet in Columbus tonight, as the fourth-ranked Purdue Boilermakers come calling on the ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Purdue is riding a seven-game win streak, which has improved its season record to 21-3 and its conference mark to 9-3. As a result, the Boilermakers are right in the thick of things in the race for the Big Ten title, sitting just a half game back of first-place squads at Michigan State and Ohio State, which have identical 10-3 league ledgers. Purdue, which is 5-2 in true road games this season, has won its last three away from home, the most impressive of those being a 76-64 triumph at Michigan State on February 9th. The team's most recent outing took place at home this past Saturday, and the Iowa Hawkeyes were no match for coach Matt Painter's club, as they scored a mere 40 points in a 23-point loss to the Boilermakers. As for Ohio State, it is in the midst of a six-game win streak, and the Buckeyes are a perfect 15-0 at home in 2009-10. Their last two games however, took place outside of Columbus, the most recent of which resulted in a 72-53 shellacking of Illinois on Sunday. OSU is 20-6 on the season, and as mentioned above, tied for first place in the Big Ten coming into tonight's conference showdown with the Boilermakers. These two teams locked horns a little over a month ago, with Ohio State handing the Boilermakers just their second loss of the season in a 70-66 final in West Lafayette. The all-time series is knotted at 81-81, but Purdue hasn't won on OSU's home floor since February 7, 1998. Purdue is a productive team at both ends of the floor, averaging 74.5 ppg on 46.1 percent field goal accuracy, while yielding 61.3 ppg on 39.7 percent shooting from the floor by its opponents. The team boasts three double-digit scorers in the form of E'Twaun Moore (17.3 ppg), Robbie Hummell (16.1 ppg) and JaJuan Johnson (14.9 ppg), the latter two spearheading PU's rebounding effort with 7.1 and 7.0 rpg, respectively. Johnson was a beast in the recent rout of Iowa, logging a double-double consisting of 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Moore turned in 11 points and Hummel finished with nine. Moore and Hummel went a combined 7-of-20 from the field and missed all four three-point tries between them. The Boilermakers shot 44.2 percent from the field, despite a dismal 2-of-12 performance from beyond the arc. Defensively, Purdue held Iowa to 29.8 percent field goal efficiency and took full advantage of 16 Hawkeye turnovers. A 15-5 edge in points from the foul line also helped the Boilermakers' cause. The Buckeyes own a similar scoring margin to that of Purdue, netting 74.3 ppg while allowing 60.2 ppg to the opposition. Ohio State is hitting nearly 50 percent of its field goal attempts, which includes a 38.2 percent showing from three-point range, and coach Thad Matta's club enjoys marginal advantages in both rebounding (+1.5) and turnovers (+3.6). There is no denying that Evan Turner is one of the top players at the collegiate level, and despite missing half a dozen games with a back injury, the 6-7 junior is averaging 19.0 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. A 55.4 percent shooter, Turner also serves as the team's primary playmaker with his 116 assists. William Buford (13.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 83 assists), Jon Diebler (12.7 ppg) and David Lighty (12.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 43 steals) round out the unit's double-digit scorers. Ohio State whipped Illinois on Valentine's Day behind a three-point shooting barrage that saw the Buckeyes go 11-of-22 from long range and shoot 53.1 percent from the field overall. Diebler took all 11 of his field goal attempts from beyond the arc, hitting six of them to finish with a game-high 18 points, while Lighty tallied 17 points and Turner notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. OSU held the Illini to 34.3 percent shooting from the floor, which included a dismal 4-of-24 effort from three-point range.
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College Football Betting Tips From a ProWhile 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. |
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