11/14/2008 - Guadalajara, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angela Stanford continued her recent hot streak with a six-under 66 on Friday that gave her the second-round lead at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Stanford, on the heels of four consecutive top-five finishes that started with a win in September, stood at 10-under-par 134 for a two-shot advantage over McDonald's LPGA champion and world No. 2 Yani Tseng (68).
Meena Lee (69) was in third place at six-under 138 and Karen Stupples (71) was the only other player within five shots of Stanford at five-under 139.
Annika Sorenstam, one of eight first-round co-leaders, managed just a 72 on Friday to lead a group of six players tied for fifth place at four-under 140.
Ochoa, hosting a tournament for the first time, continued to underwhelm with a 71 that left her 10 shots back at even-par 144. The women's world No. 1 -- by all accounts a gracious host -- said she was enjoying her time at her home course, Guadalajara Country Club.
"I just need to make more birdies," she said.
Stanford collected birdies at the right time to move in front of the elite 36- player field. After posting a 68 in the first round, she came out and made four birdies on her front nine Friday.
A close approach at No. 7 and a near-perfect pitch at No. 9 -- both within two feet -- set up her last two birdies on the front nine and gave Stanford a two- stroke lead around the turn.
Her 12-foot birdie putt at the 11th hole produced a four-shot advantage as players behind her took a step back, but Stanford found trouble at the 12th and walked off with her only bogey of the round.
Her lead trimmed to just one stroke by a Nicole Castrale eagle at the 10th -- Castrale would later fade with a trio of bogeys -- Stanford came back with a pair of birdies that increased her cushion to three.
She curled in a long birdie putt at the par-three 13th, rolled in a five- footer at the 14th, then finished the round with four consecutive pars for her two-shot lead.
It marked the second time this season, and the fifth time in her career, that Stanford held the second round lead on the LPGA Tour.
"We have the greatest players in the world here, so I know that I have to keep going," said Stanford, who picked up her second career win Sept. 14 at the Bell Micro LPGA Classic.
Stanford said her recent hot streak has her confidence "through the roof."
"I'm having so much fun hitting the golf ball right now. That's a lot of it," she said. "I'm not really thinking about results."
Sorenstam was tied for second place after she holed a three-foot birdie putt at the 14th, but she went on to bogey three of the last four holes to fall six shots off the pace.
"I'm very happy with the way I played, I just didn't finish today," said Sorenstam.
The third-ranked Swede, nearing her scheduled retirement at the end of the season, is nevertheless still in the hunt with 36 holes remaining. There are only three players between herself and the lead.
"It is encouraging. And we have two more days," said Sorenstam. "Anything can happen."
<< NCAA announces women's Final Four sites from 2012-2016
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced Friday the women's
basketball Final Four sites for the years 2012 through 2016, a list that
includes Denver and Nashville.
Denver will host the women's Final Four in 2012,
<< Cowboys RB Jones out for Sunday
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys will get quarterback Tony
Romo back for Sunday night's divisional clash with the Washington Redskins,
but running back Felix Jones is still out with a hamstring injury.
Jones has not
<< UNI suspends football pair for drug arrests
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley
announced Friday that he has suspended starting wide receivers Johnny Gray and
Victor Williams indefinitely after the two were arrested on drug charges.
The Ceda
<< Reutimann captures first Cup pole for season-ending Ford 400
Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Reutimann recorded his first career
pole in the Sprint Cup Series by taking the top starting spot in Friday's
qualifying for the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reutimann, the
driver
Williams and Kirilenko out for Jazz against Charlotte >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams missed
Friday's game against the Charlotte Bobcats with a left ankle injury that
sidelined him for the team's first six games.
Williams played in the previous tw
Five Florida State wide receivers suspended >>
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida State head football coach
Bobby Bowden announced the suspension of five players on Friday who were
apparently involved in an on-campus fight earlier this week.
All the players will m
Canucks' Bieksa out 2-to-4 weeks >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vancouver Canucks defensemen Kevin Bieksa
will miss 2-to-4 weeks with a fracture of the metatarsal bone in his left
foot.
Bieksa was injured while blocking a shot in a November 4 contest agains
Royals add Arbuckle amid host of roster moves >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals named Mike
Arbuckle senior advisor to the general manager in scouting and player
development on Friday, while retooling their winter roster.
The Royals activated
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting