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February 9th College Football news ... Welcome to Betting college football, the site dedicated to helping you score a profit on college football betting.

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CFB: BCS Championship Game: TEXAS vs. ALABAMA (8:10 PM ET, FOX)
2010-01-07

Only one of the last five BCS Championship games was decided by single digits. That game was also the last time the title contest was held in Pasadena. Texas is hoping for an encore performance of that magical night, a 41-38 upset of USC behind quarterback Vince Young. It’s Colt McCoy’s turn now, as he plays his final game for the Longhorns. They are the underdog though, of 3.5-points according to Sportsbook.com. The line has generated heavy action, and over 80% of it has come in on Alabama, according to the BETTING TRENDS page.

He is undefeated in bowl games, part of a five-game bowl winning streak for head coach Mack Brown’s club. Alabama hopes to make the SEC proud by giving the league its sixth title game SU and ATS victory versus no defeats. The Crimson Tide are just 3-5 SU and 2-6 ATS in their L8 bowl games, though. They are 5.5-point favorites and the chalk has won two straight title games, snapping a stretch of five straight upsets.

Alabama and Texas have racked up quite a few trophies during the past month. Both teams desperately want to add one more.

In a star-studded, powerhouse matchup of unbeaten teams, the top-ranked Crimson Tide and No. 2 Longhorns meet for the BCS championship at the Rose Bowl on Thursday night.

While fellow undefeated teams TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State may have felt slighted by being shut out of the title game, the BCS could not have delivered a more high-profile matchup. Coach Nick Saban's Tide feature Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and six first-team All-Americans, while Mack Brown's Longhorns rely on star quarterback Colt McCoy and an equally loaded roster.

Texas (13-0) is seeking its second BCS championship in five years.

Texas, though, faces a daunting task against Alabama (13-0), which dominated defending BCS champion Florida 32-13 in the SEC title game Dec. 5, snapping the then-No. 1 Gators' 22-game winning streak.

No Tide player had more success this season than Ingram, who rushed for a school-record 1,542 yards and 15 touchdowns. The sophomore ran for 113 yards and three scores against Florida to help him claim college football's highest individual honor - the first Heisman for an Alabama player.

Ingram is hoping to lead Alabama to its first national title since 1992.

While the Tide try to pound Texas into submission with a ground game that ranks 12th nationally with 215.8 yards per game, their focus on defense will be McCoy.

The senior, who returned to school this year with hopes of winning a national championship, threw for 3,512 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 70.5 percent of his passes. The Maxwell Award winner as the nation's best all-around player, who also won the Walter Camp player of the year award, McCoy directs a passing attack that was tied for 14th in the nation with 279.7 yards a game.

McCoy's top target is receiver Jordan Shipley, who had 106 catches for 1,363 yards and 11 scores, though Malcolm Williams, James Kirkendoll and Dan Butler all contributed at least 445 yards receiving.

McCoy also was Texas' second-leading rusher with 348 yards behind Tre' Newton (513), and Cody Johnson rushed for 12 touchdowns. The Longhorns' deep and versatile attack, though, should get its stiffest test of the season from an imposing Alabama defense.
Paced by Butkus Award winner Rolando McClain, the Tide were No. 1 in the country in scoring defense at 11.0 points per game and second in total defense at 241.8 yards a contest. McClain piled up a team-high 101 tackles - 12 1/2 for a loss - along with four sacks and two interceptions.

Alabama boasts a formidable secondary, led by Javier Arenas (12 tackles for loss, five sacks) and Mark Barron (seven interceptions). Sophomore defensive end Marcell Dareus recorded a team-high 6 1/2 of the Tide's 31 sacks.

Defense isn't exactly a weak spot for the Longhorns, either. They ranked first in the country with 62.9 rushing yards allowed per contest and third with 251.8 yards given up per game.

That could put pressure on Alabama's efficient quarterback, Greg McElroy, to come up with a big performance. The junior, who passed for 2,450 yards with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions, faces a Texas team allowing 188.9 yards per game through the air - 23rd in the nation.

The Longhorns topped the Football Bowl Subdivision with 24 interceptions, led by junior Earl Thomas with eight - tied for second in the country - and fellow safety Blake Gideon with five. Texas forced those INTs in part because of a pass rush that racked up 41 sacks, paced by Sam Acho (nine) and Lamarr Houston (seven).

The Longhorns, of course, barely made it to Pasadena, narrowly avoiding an upset by Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game with a 13-12 victory Dec. 5. Hunter Lawrence kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired after McCoy and Texas nearly allowed the clock to run out on an incomplete pass on the previous play.

A 2008 loss to Texas Tech, coming on an improbable touchdown pass with 1 second left, likely kept the Longhorns from playing for the championship.

Texas did not handle Nebraska's fierce pass rush well, allowing McCoy to be sacked nine times, and Brown hinted at lineup changes after what he saw as a team-wide subpar performance against the Cornhuskers - especially with Alabama's formidable pass rush up next.

Alabama has played in an NCAA-record 57 bowl games and is tied with USC for the most wins with 31. Texas has the second-most bowl appearances with 49.

The Longhorns have dominated the Tide in eight meetings, going 7-0-1. The last matchup came in the 1982 Cotton Bowl, a 14-12 Texas win.

StatFox Steve has this to say about the game: Ask yourself this…throughout this entire season, was there ever a point where you said: Alabama is clearly this year’s national champion? Now sure the Tide has looked dominant at points, but there were also several times where their offense looked like a middle of the pack unit. Texas certainly never had that problem up until the Big 12 championship game. The key is the Longhorns still won, thus setting up a battle of unbeaten teams. In that sense, is one team clearly better than the other here? I say no, and in a game of such high stakes, laying the points with the lesser offensive club just doesn’t make sense. The StatFox Outplay Factor Ratings show Texas at +28.5, Alabama at +22.7. The wrong team may be favored.

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Series Trend: It’s no secret that the SEC is in search of its fourth straight national title. What people might not know, however, is that SEC teams have never lost in the BCS Championship game in five tries overall, three times pulling the upset as underdogs. The OVER is 4-1 in the last five title games. If the Big 12 has anything going in its favor, and Texas in particular, it’s that the last time this game was played in Pasadena was the famed Texas win over USC in ’05.

CFB: Fiesta Bowl - BOISE STATE vs. TCU (8:10 PM ET, FOX)
2010-01-04

Two of this year’s bowl games were rematches of a year ago. For Boise State and TCU, the stakes are much higher this time, as the teams step up from the Poinsettia to Fiesta Bowl. Strangely there’s no Goliath in this battle of two “David’s,” with both teams having crashed the BCS party by going unbeaten. Of course, with pointspreads in play, one team has to play the role of favorite, and that is TCU (-8). That line seems to have done its job, as according to the Sportsbook.com Betting Trends page, action was split down the middle at last check.

The Horned Frogs were dominant on both sides of the ball, and boast the country’s No. 2-ranked defense in yards per play. Boise State did its best work on offense, scoring 44.2 points per game, ranking No. 1 nationally. In terms of bowl success, it’s all TCU, which owns a 5-1 SU and ATS record in its L6. The Broncos are 1-4 SU and 3-2 ATS in their L5.

Many of us would like to have seen these non-automatic qualifying teams compete against BCS conference teams, especially since the two met just one year ago with TCU defeating Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl, 17-16. Regardless, the Fiesta Bowl still presents an interesting matchup. The Horned Frogs have a dominating defense, allowing just 12.4 points and 233 yards per game. TCU can also put points on the board, winning by 36.6 points per game and going 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS down the stretch. Nobody has been better on the offensive end this season than the Broncos, however, who average a nation-best 44.2 points per game. Sixty-eight percent of the public is backing Boise State as of press time. I’ll call for a dominant TCU victory as defense wins out. TCU 41, Boise State 24.

Top FoxSheets.com ATS Trend
TCU is 15-6 ATS (+8.4 Units) as a favorite over the last 2 seasons. The average score was TCU 37.0, OPPONENT 10.6 - (Rating = 1*)

Top FoxSheets.com Total Super Situation
Play Under - Any team against the total (BOISE ST) - in a game involving two good rushing teams - both outrushing opponents by 50+ YPG, in a non-conference game between two teams from second tier division 1-A conferences. (28-6 since 1992.) (82.4%, +21.4 units. Rating = 3*)

FIESTA BOWL Series Trend: Five different conferences boast Fiesta Bowl victories over the last five seasons, not a surprising trend considering underdogs are on a 6-2 ATS run in the series. In past Fiesta Bowl games with pointspreads of 5.5-points or more, the underdog has covered seven of nine. This year’s line shows TCU -6.5. In regards to totals, where the posted number closes is a strong indicator of the result, as in games with posted numbers of 5 or higher, the UNDER is 6-2, in games below 51, the OVER is 7-2.

CFB: Alamo Bowl - MICHIGAN STATE vs. TEXAS TECH (9:00 PM ET, ESPN)
2010-01-04

Texas Tech players are insisting that the Mike Leach controversy will not be a distraction to them in the Alamo Bowl game vs. Michigan State. Still, minus their long-time head coach, you have to wonder whether they are capable of pulling it together to beat the Spartans, much less cover the heavy TD-chalk line they are laying at Sportsbook.com.

The Alamo Bowl game has been one of the few lately that Big Ten fans can actually look forward to. Their teams are 8-5 SU and 10-3 ATS in the L13 editions. Unfortunately, this is the last time for the immediate future that the conference will be in the game, with the Pac-10 stepping in. Big Ten teams boast a 20-9-1 ATS record in their L30 bowl games as an underdog of four points or more, often the case in this bowl series. For this year’s game, Michigan State (6-6) is a seven-point underdog to Texas Tech, which finished 8-4. Ironically, it is the Spartans with the edge in several offensive categories, including pass yards per attempt. Tech has lost its L4 bowl games ATS and is 0-2 SU and ATS in its L2 Alamo Bowl appearances.

Sometimes analysis is right in front you and that makes breaking down a game simple. Texas Tech is the No. 2 passing team in the country and Michigan State is 103rd at stopping the pass. The Red Raiders are an ordinary 2-4 SU and 3-3 ATS versus other bowl participants. However, the Spartans are 1-4 SU and woebegone 0-5 ATS taking on the five teams they played that have postseason appearances. The Michigan State roster is thinner since it played its last game due to suspensions, but rallying the troops doesn’t protect a squad that played poorly against better competition and one that can’t stop passing teams. Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach has not covered his last four bowl games (2-2), but that stops against an undermanned Michigan State club. Play Texas Tech.

Top FoxSheets.com ATS Trend
MICHIGAN ST is 19-37 ATS (-21.7 Units) in road games in the second half of the season since 1992. The average score was MICHIGAN ST 23.4, OPPONENT 31.3 - (Rating = 1*)

Top FoxSheets.com Total Trend
TEXAS TECH is 17-6 OVER (+10.4 Units) versus excellent offensive teams - averaging >=6.25 yards/play since 1992. The average score was TEXAS TECH 31.9, OPPONENT 34.7 - (Rating = 1*)

ALAMO BOWL Series Trend: There are a few significant patterns that have formed in the Alamo Bowl series. First, the Big Ten team is 8-5 SU & 10-3 ATS in the L13 games. Second, the underdog is on a 6-7 SU & 8-5 ATS run, and third, UNDER the total has converted in nine of the 13 years. The last four times the point spread was greater than a TD, the dog covered. All signs point to a low-scoring Michigan State ATS win.

CFB: Liberty Bowl -ARKANSAS vs. EAST CAROLINA (5:30 PM ET, ESPN)
2010-01-04

On the surface, a SEC vs. Conference USA bowl game matchup would figure to be a mismatch, but East Carolina is C-USA’s best team while Arkansas was a middle of the pack team from the SEC. Still, oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com see enough in the Razorbacks to make them 8-point favorites.

East Carolina captured its second straight Conference USA title by beating Houston in the league championship game. The reward of that accomplishment…a date with a SEC foe in the Liberty Bowl. In last year’s game, East Carolina lost to Kentucky, playing as a three-point favorite. In the 2010 edition, the Pirates are a 7.5-point underdog to Arkansas, which could be big for bettors, as they are 22-10 ATS in the pup role under head coach Skip Holtz. His team comes into the game at 9-4 and played its best ball at the end, going 6-1 SU and 5-2 ATS in its L7. The Razorbacks also played well down the stretch though, going 4-1 SU and ATS in their final five, while scoring 44.8 points per game. They have won just two of their L9 bowl games though and are 3-6 ATS.

Quarterback Ryan Mallet transferred from Michigan and needless to say, the move was a smashing success. Mallet led the Hogs’ explosive offense to some pretty impressive numbers, 6.8 yards per play and 37 points per game. If it wasn’t for a couple of gut-wrenching three-point road losses to Florida and LSU, Arkansas would have certainly been placed in a high-profile bowl. East Carolina, led by 20th-year senior Patrick Pinkney (just kidding, it only seems that way), won its last six conference games to capture a second consecutive C-USA title. The real question here is whether the Pirates’ average defense (allowing 22 points per game and 386 yards per game) can slow down the explosive Razorback attack. Most likely the answer is no and Arkansas will prevail in a shootout.

Top FoxSheets.com ATS Trend
Skip Holtz is 13-5 ATS (+7.5 Units) versus good offensive teams - averaging >=5.9 yards/play as the coach of E CAROLINA. The average score was E CAROLINA 28.8, OPPONENT 27.4 - (Rating = 1*)

Top FoxSheets.com Total Super Situation
Play Over - All teams where the total is greater than or equal to 63 (ARKANSAS) - in a game involving two average teams (within +/- 50 YPG of their opponents) after 7+ games, in non-conference games. (24-4 over the last 10 seasons.) (85.7%, +19.6 units. Rating = 3*)

LIBERTY BOWL Series Trend: The last three Liberty Bowl games have matched the SEC vs. Conference USA, and not surprisingly, the SEC has swept those contests 3-0 SU & ATS. What is more surprising is that C-USA was the favorite in each of the last two seasons. Overall, underdogs have covered seven of the last 10 installments of this series. The UNDER shares that same mark over the last decade, but has alternated with the OVER in the last six years.

CFB: Papa Johns Bowl - CONNECTICUT vs. SOUTH CAROLINA (2:00 PM ET, ESPN)
2010-01-04

The Papa Johns Bowl matches the SEC and the Big East as Connecticut takes on South Carolina. The Gamecocks are 5-point favorites after opening at -4.5, thanks to 71% of the betting action at Sportsbook.com going their way. The Huskies have been nearly automatic though for bettors this season, and it would be crazy to think they won’t be motivated to compete here.

Connecticut was the nation’s best spread-covering team in 2009, going 10-2 against the number, including 6-0 ATS as an underdog. Backers of the Huskies in the Papa John’s Bowl will look to go to the well one more time, as UConn plays as a 5-point underdog to South Carolina. Both teams boast 7-5 records, with the Gamecocks having played one of the toughest schedules in the country, loaded with eight eventual bowl teams. They were 3-5 SU but 5-3 ATS in those games. Strangely, this is just the fourth time this season that head coach Steve Spurrier’s team will have played as favorites. South Carolina is 22-3 SU and 15-9 ATS as chalk in his tenure, including 1-1 in bowl games. For the Huskies, this is a fourth-ever bowl game and they are 2-1 SU and ATS prior.

If you believe in the old saying “a trend is your friend,” then there’s only one way to go here. UConn was a perfect 6-0 ATS as an underdog in 2009. Picked to finished near the bottom of the Big East standings, head coach Randy Edsall’s crew overachieved on its way to a third consecutive bowl game. Spurrier and South Carolina continued their recent trend of fading down the stretch, losing four of their last six to ruin a 5-1 start. In fact, the Gamecocks are 0-6 ATS on the road in the second half of the season over the last three years, including an average loss of 37-17. There really isn’t a stand-out player of note on either of these teams and statistically, both are ordinary on both sides of the ball. Factoring all that in, the best play is to follow the trend and take the points.

Top FoxSheets.com ATS Trend
Randy Edsall is 39-25 ATS (+11.5 Units) as an underdog as the coach of CONNECTICUT. The average score was CONNECTICUT 19.9, OPPONENT 30.4 - (Rating = 1*)

Top FoxSheets.com Total Super Situation
Play Under - All teams where the total is between 49.5 and 56 (CONNECTICUT) - in major bowl games (played in January), in a non-conference game between two teams from major division 1-A conferences. (58-24 since 1992.) (70.7%, +31.6 units. Rating = 3*)

PAPA JOHN'S BOWL Series Trend: The Big East has won all three previous games of the Papa John’s Bowl series, being favored each time by at least 5.5-points. The ATS ledger is split 1-1-1. All three previous games went UNDER the total. This will be the first time that the game is played in January and the first time that the Big East is the underdog.