In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the feint of heart
NCAA Football Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal- caller.
Considering big expectations follow the sport's marquee position, it only intensifies for the quarterback who is replacing a highly accomplished senior.
Such situations will be prevalent this coming season across the Football Championship Subdivision.
There are some big shoes to fill nationally.
Whoever steps in for Bo Levi Mitchell at Eastern Washington faces one of the more daunting tasks. Mitchell, of course, was the Most Outstanding Player in the Eagles' 2010 FCS championship game win and captured the 2011 Walter Payton Award (sponsored by Fathead.com) as the nation's outstanding player.
His successor, who is trying to replace Mitchell's 7,505 passing yards and 70 touchdown passes of the last two seasons, could be either junior Anthony Vitto or redshirt freshman Vernon Adams.
Vitto has more experience in offensive coordinator Aaron Best's system and holds the top spot going into spring practice in late March, but Adams is more mobile - he passed for 5,234 yards and rushed for another 1,263 yards in his final two high school seasons - and was the scout team's offensive player of the year this past season.
The situation could change if Kyle Padron, who unseated Mitchell as SMU's starting quarterback in 2009, comes to EWU. The big Texan (6-foot-4, 233 pounds) is seeking to transfer from SMU and is expected to visit with the Eagles' program.
Lehigh's Chris Lum tied for second behind Mitchell in the Payton Award voting and his replacement is much more set with senior Mike Colvin. He has good size - 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds - with excellent arm strength. He already has played in 22 career games, often as a change of pace run/pass-option quarterback.
Colvin has rushed for seven touchdowns in his career, although he struggled in his only career start, replacing an injured Lum in a game at New Hampshire two years ago.
Northern Iowa's Jared Lanpher played well against Youngstown State last season - throwing for 238 yards and two touchdowns - when he started in place of an injured Tirrell Rennie. The redshirt sophomore saw action in four other games and could have the inside track to replacing Rennie this coming season, although redshirt freshman Sawyer Kollmorgan has also impressed coaches since he arrived on campus.
At Chattanooga, quarterback B.J. Coleman hopes to be NFL-bound, but he missed a lot of time as a senior because of a shoulder injury. It opened the door for Terrell Robinson to replace him and win Southern Conference Freshman of the Week honors three times last season. He's a run-first quarterback, having rushed for 417 yards and thrown for only 336 yards.
Robinson will have competition from redshirt freshman Jacob Huesman, son of Mocs head coach Russ Huesman. His playing style is similar to Robinson's.
New Liberty head coach Turner Gill has to replace do-everything quarterback Mike Brown. The most experienced of the Flames' returnees is redshirt senior Tyler Brennan, who has appeared in 22 career games - often in mop-up time - but was injured during the second half of last season. He's more of a drop- back passer than the dual-threat Brown.
Redshirt junior Brian Hudson is also a pocket passer and has the strongest arm among the signal-callers. Still another of Brown's possible successors, redshirt sophomore Gabe Henderson, follows the Brown script in that he was a wide receiver in 2010 - catching 10 passes - before transitioning to a quarterback last year, when he was a redshirt.
Josh Woodrum, coming off his redshirt freshman season, has the high school accolades, though not the experience of his Liberty teammates.
Jackson State signed one the FCS' top incoming freshmen last week in Lamontiez Ivy out of East St. Louis. He will get a shot at replacing Casey Therriault, although 6-5 redshirt senior Dedric McDonald has been the backup for two years and redshirt sophomore Tevin Chapman is a good runner who is also experienced in the system.
Jacksonville has to replace Josh McGregor, who ended his career 23rd on the all-time FCS list with 11,230 passing yards and sixth in touchdown passes with 111. Trevius Folston and Kade Bell are returning, but a signee or two will join them at the Pioneer Football League power.
The 6-7 Folston backed up McGregor as a freshman last season, while Bell, the son of Jacksonville head coach Kerwin Bell, redshirted in his first season.
Plenty of other FCS programs are looking for a new starting quarterback after losing a key senior. Included are New Hampshire (Kevin Decker), Central Arkansas (Nathan Dick), Norfolk State (Chris Walley), Georgia Southern (Jaybo Shaw), Richmond (Aaron Corp) and Wofford (Mitch Allen).
Also, there's Holy Cross (Ryan Taggart), Samford (Dustin Taliaferro), Furman (Chris Forcier), Indiana State (Ronnie Fouch), Maine (Warren Smith), Portland State (Connor Kavanaugh), Southeast Missouri State (Matt Scheible), South Dakota (Dante Warren), Brown (Kyle Newhall-Caballero), Yale (Patrick Witt) and Butler (Andrew Huck).
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Papiss Cisse's Newcastle debut may have come a bit earlier than expected, but he sure gave fans on Tyneside something to get excited about. The Senegal international was the most expensive signing in a subdued Janua
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Associated Press men's college basketball poll.
The Wildcats, who first had a two-week stay at No. 1 starting in late
November, are the top team in t
<< Meara signs with the Red Bulls
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officially signed goalkeeper Ryan Meara after selecting the goalkeeper in the
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<< Upcoming schedule for Saturday's winners in flux
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This past Saturday had a trio of major
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In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the faint of heart >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the s
Warriors waive Barron >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have waived center
Earl Barron and recalled forward Chris Wright from the Dakota Wizards of the
NBA Development League.
Barron averaged 2.0 points in just two games for the
Cards ink Cora to minor league deal >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have signed infielder
Alex Cora to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
Cora appeared in 91 games for Washington last season and batted .224. He's
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as their new offensive coordinator on Monday.
Daboll joins Kansas City after serving as the Miami offensive coordinator in
2011. His team had a 1,000-yard r
What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
How to Read Point Spreads
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
MySportsbook.com Posts Heisman Trophy Odds
With 3,919 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a mere seven interceptions last season, combined with a powerful South Bend Heisman legacy, odds makers at MySportsbook.com have given Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn the best Heisman Trophy odds at 5-2.
Quinn isn’t the only big man on campus this season. Oklahoma junior running back and 2004 Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson, listed at 7-2, rushed for a combined 3,033 yards in his first two years as a college player and will give Quinn a run for his money.
This online sportsbook has also listed Troy Smith, Ohio State senior quarterback, as another strong favorite to win the 72nd Heisman Trophy. A 7-1 bet, Smith threw for 2,282 yards last season and also led the Buckeyes to a convincing 34-20 victory over Quinn and the Fighting Irish in last season’s Fiesta Bowl.
Current betting odds Heisman trophy are:
| Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame) Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma) Troy Smith (QB, Ohio State) Michael Bush (RB, Louisville) Steve Slaton (RB, West Virginia) Brian Brohm (QB, Louisville) Chris Leak (QB, Florida) Mike Hart (RB, Michigan) Ted Ginn (WR, Ohio State) Darius Walker (RB, Notre Dame) Drew Tate (QB, Iowa) Marshawn Lynch (RB, Cal) Kenny Irons (RB, Auburn) Chad Henne (QB, Michigan) Kyle Wright (QB, Miami) Drew Stanton (QB, Michigan State) Kenneth Darby (RB, Alabama) JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU) Drew Weatherford (QB, Florida State) Blake Mitchell (QB, South Carolina) Reggie Ball (QB, Georgia Tech) |
5-2 7-2 7-1 10-1 10-1 12-1 12-1 18-1 18-1 20-1 30-1 35-1 35-1 40-1 50-1 50-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 |
For complete NCAA Football odds visit MySportsbook.com.