Hogs host Warhawks in non-conference action
NCAA Football Betting Lines
09/08/2010 - Little Rock, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks of the SEC will attempt to knock off the UL-Monroe Warhawks, a team from the Sun Belt Conference set to open its season.
In December, ULM announced Todd Berry as the program's 14th head coach. Berry, who was the program's offensive coordinator from 2004-05, spent the last three seasons calling plays at UNLV. He inherits a club that is in a rebuilding mode, as the Warhawks split their 12 games a year ago. Few starters return on defense for ULM, and while the offense is a bit more experienced, there is no doubt that the squad enters this opener as a huge underdog.
As for Arkansas, it began the campaign with a 44-3 thrashing of Tennessee Tech, an FCS squad.
"I like the way we came out of halftime, because we started to settle down and run the ball better," said coach Bobby Petrino after the triumph.
Petrino is in his third year at the helm at Arkansas and has obviously made an impact in a short time considering the team came into the season with its highest ranking since 1990. The Razorbacks went 8-5 overall in 2009, including posting their first bowl victory since 2003, a 20-17 win over East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl.
Arkansas has won all eight of its previous meetings with UL-Monroe, the most recent of which took place in 2008.
It will be interesting to see who starts and finished the game at quarterback for ULM. Trey Revell was the starter last season and ranked third in the Sun Belt in passing efficiency. The 6-4, 222-pound Revell is a dual threat, throwing for 1,739 yards and rushing for 311 more last year, but a late-season slump and thumb injury has opened the door for redshirt freshman Kolton Browning. The frosh showed enough in the spring to be considered the lead candidate.
"This is pretty much a quarterback driven offense and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on those guys intellectually in what we are asking the quarterback to do, in relation to what they have done in the past," said Berry.
The key player for the ULM offense is tailback Frank Goodin, who is less than 900 yards shy of becoming the program's all-time leading rusher. The 5-9, 211- pound Goodin earned Second Team All-SBC honors a season ago, rushing for 1,126 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Using a 3-3-5 scheme, ULM boasted one of the best defensive units in the Sun Belt last season and ranked 44th nationally in total defense (347.0 ypg). Seven starters are now gone, leaving the Warhawks with a major rebuilding project.
"We don't care who plays, we are going to put the best players out on the field based on what fits our system," stated Berry.
The Warhawks welcome back only a single starter along the defensive line, but he is a good one in Troy Evans. Only one starter returns to the linebacking corps as well, but the secondary is a little more settled with two starters and some experienced depth welcomed back. Safety Darius Prelow has all-league potential and he started to emerge as a force last season.
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett began his 2010 Heisman campaign in style against Tennessee Tech last weekend, completing 21-of-24 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns.
"The first win is always the toughest one," said Mallett. "You never know what to expect the first game out. Tennessee Tech did some things well in the first half, but we were able to adjust in the second half and played really good defense."
Ronnie Wingo Jr., Dennis Johnson and Broderick Green each had a score on the ground while Joe Adams finished the game with six catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Arkansas totaled 519 yards of offense in the clash, but the level of competition obviously wasn't up to SEC standards.
Defensively, Arkansas limited Tennessee Tech to 79 rushing yards on 43 carries, an impressive showing by any standards. The pass defense was solid as well, allowing just a 50 percent completion rating. While the Razorbacks did fail to come up with a single takeaway, they posted a pair of sacks and battled for four quarters.
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Mountain West Conference schedule against the UNLV Rebels at Rice-Eccles
Stadium in Salt Lake
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schedule already out of the way, the fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs now focus
their attention on the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech in a non-conference
showdown at Amon
<< Sooners and Seminoles meet in Top-25 showdown
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tiop-25 showdown in Norman this weekend, as the 10th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners
play host to the 17th-ranked Florida State Seminoles.
The Seminoles got the Jimbo Fisher
<< Yellow Jackets and Jayhawks square off in Lawrence
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 15th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
take their act on the road for the first time this season, as they invade
Lawrence this weekend, for a showdown with the Kansas Jayhawks in an ACC/Big
XII non-conferenc
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Virginia Cavaliers will play their first-ever game in the state of California on Saturday night, as they take on the 16th-ranked USC Trojans in a non-conference affair. Last weekend's opener against Ric
Bragging rights on line as West Virginia visits Marshall >>
Huntington, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - State rivals will square off in Huntington
on Friday night, as the Marshall Thundering Herd welcome the 23rd-ranked West
Virginia Mountaineers to town.
On opening weekend, West Virginia cruised past Coastal
Grief-stricken Cowboys face tall task in clash with Longhorns >>
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a game overshadowed by tragedy, the grieving
Wyoming Cowboys take on the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns in a non-conference
affair.
On Monday, 19-year-old Wyoming freshman linebacker Ruben Narcisse was killed
Spartans face another uphill battle in bout with Badgers >>
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Spartans continue their early-
season trek through some of the most treacherous waters imaginable as a week
after taking on the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide, they
head north to bat
Traditional national powers collide in Tuscaloosa >>
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the premier matchups on the 2010
college football docket takes place in Tuscaloosa this weekend, as the top-
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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
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