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Alabama didn’t so much win their game against Tennessee on Saturday as much as they escaped. Despite playing one of their worst games of the year they managed to keep their undefeated season alive as nose tackle Terrance Cody blocked a potential game winning field goal on the last play of the game to preserve a 12-10 victory for the Crimson Tide. Alabama held a tenuous 12-3 lead late in the game before a Tennessee touchdown and recovered onside kick had them facing the specter of the defeat for the first time this season.

College football pointspread players who took Tennessee as +14 road underdogs were in good shape throughout the contest and eventually cashed their tickets. The Vols improved to 4-3 against the spread while the Crimson Tide dropped to 5-3 versus the number. The 22 combined points went well UNDER the posted total of 41′.

After the game, Cody recounted his blocked field goal attempt that saved the day:

“I didn’t really get off the ground. I just reached my arm up. That’s how I got it. I knocked the blocker back. He was on his back.”

First year Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin wasn’t about to call the near miss loss a ‘moral victory’:

“It’s a difficult loss to deal with. You come into a hostile environment and play the No. 1 team in the country, as I said before by far the No. 1 team in the country and the best-coached team around. You come in here and outgain them by nearly 100 yards and miss three field goals. I don’t believe in moral victories, we should have won that game.”

He explained the difficulty that placekicker Daniel Lincoln has getting elevation on his kicks since a quadriceps injury:

“He can’t kick the ball up high. If you kick the ball up high it’s never going to get there, so we can’t allow the penetration up front.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban views the game as a learning experience:

“You talk about how fragile a season is. You’re controlling a game, even though you may say it’s winning ugly. We’re still ahead 12-3 and totally controlling the game with 3 minutes, 29 seconds and the ball. That’s how fragile a season can be. You make one mistake and you have to go overcome it. I hope that there’s a lot of lessons our team can learn from this.”

Alabama has a week off before a tough game at home against LSU on November 7. They’ll play at Mississippi State the following week before a game against FCS Chattanooga on November 21. Tennessee hosts South Carolina next Saturday and Memphis the following week. They’ll play at Ole Miss on November–.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on NFL football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels threw for three touchdowns and the South Florida Bulls used a tenacious defensive effort to upset visiting West Virginia 30-19 on Friday night. Daniels threw for 232 yards and rushed for 104, compiling more yardage individually than West Virginia amassed as a team. Both teams are now 6-2 on the season.

College football betting aficionados who took the Bulls as +3 home underdogs cashed their tickets with the outright victory. Despite their 6-2 record, West Virginia dropped to 2-5 against the spread in their lined games this season while South Florida evened their college football pointspread record at 3-3 in their lined contests. The 49 combined points barely managed to go OVER the posted total of 47′. Both teams have trended toward the OVER this season, with South Florida going OVER in 4 of 6 lined games and West Virginia OVER in 5 of 7.

Daniels had this rebuke for his team’s doubters after the victory:

“I guess a lot of people doubted us and thought we were going to go down the same patch we did the last two years. That was a lot of garbage that our team didn’t listen to.”

The Bulls’ defense limited West Virginia running back Noel Devine to just 42 yards-well under his-0 per game average. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt talked about his team’s priority of stopping Devine:

“We talked a lot about him. We didn’t want to let him get outside — we wanted to keep him hemmed up inside. … He’s such a great back. If he gets out, he’s gone.”

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart didn’t fault his team’s effort in the loss:

“There’s some young hurting guys in there, both physically and mentally. And they should be. That was a hard-fought game. I cannot fault our effort.”

West Virginia safety Robert Sands suggested that no one that the team had faced this season prepared them for the fast and athletic Daniels:

“We haven’t seen a guy like that this year, but at the same time that’s no excuse for our defense. We’ve still got to go out there and make plays. He broke contain too many times, and he burned us.”

South Florida will now have a bye week before playing at Rutgers on Thursday, November 12. They’ll return home to host Louisville and Miami the following two Saturdays. West Virginia will host Louisville next Saturday before playing at Cincinnati the following Friday.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

After a horrible NFL preseason, the Denver Broncos have actually looked pretty good since starting the 2009 regular season campaign. On Sunday, the Broncos used a tough defense and QB Kyle Ortons efficient and mistake free play to top the Cleveland Browns 27-6. The Broncos also had a productive running game, and outgained the Browns by a margin of 449 yards to 200.

Individuals with an interest in playing a bet on NFL football were rewarded by backing Denver as -3 home favorites, and the Broncos easily covered the pointspread. The Broncos are now 2-0 both straight up and to the number, while the Browns dropped to 0-2 straight up and against the spread. The 33 combined points went UNDER the total of 39.

Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil led the effort with four sacks in one half, tying a Denver franchise record. Veteran linebacker Andrea Davis marveled at his dubiously named teammates performance:

“Man, that was amazing. You don’t see a guy get four sacks in one half. He really turned it on.”

Dumervil maintained that hes still not 100% comfortable in the Broncos new 3-4 defensive scheme:

“Yeah, I guess I’m a linebacker now. It’s fun, though. I get to play linebacker and I still get to do what I love — rush the passer. I’ve found my niche. … It makes me a complete player.”

Denver coach Josh McDaniels added his praise for Dumervil:

“You are reaching for him but he can get his hands on you first and he’s got leverage and he can get underneath you and just push you back to the quarterback. His skills set is pretty much alone in this league.”

Browns coach Eric Mangini dismissed suggestions that hed consider changing his starting QB, saying that he was looking for improvement throughout the entire team:

What I’m looking to do is play better across the board. The offense had nothing to do with the two long defensive plays. That’s a risk you take when you blitz.”

The Browns have scored only one touchdown in their last 33 quarters of football, while Denver has allowed only one touchdown so far this season.

Cleveland will face another tough defense on the road this weekend, heading to Baltimore for a game against the Ravens. The Browns are a +13 road underdog in that contest, with the total set at 38. Theyll return home to play in-state rival Cincinnati the following Sunday before traveling to upstate New York to face the Buffalo Bills on October 11th. Denver will play at Oakland this week, with the Broncos installed as -1 road favorites and the total set at 36.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

The Carolina Panthers finally got one in the win column on Sunday afternoon, using a furious second half comeback to defeat the slumping Washington Redskins 20-17. Washington led 17-2 early in the third quarter before Carolina scored the final 18 points of the game to earn the victory. Jonathan Stewart’s eight yard fourth quarter run for a touchdown with a successful two point conversion completed the Panthers comeback.

NFL betting devotees who backed Washington as +5 road underdogs were finally rewarded for their faith as the Redskins covered for the first time this season. The Redskins are now 1-4 against the spread while the Panthers remain winless against the money at 0-4. The 37 combined points just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 38. Washington has gone UNDER in four of five games this season, while Carolina evened their NFL totals mark at 2-2 on the year.

Redskins coach Jim Zorn is now on the hotseat after another defeat. The Redskins started the 2008 season 6-2, but are only 4-9 since then. The biggest problem this year has been offensive productivity”heading into this game the Redskins were averaging a mere 14 points per game. By that metric, the 17 points they put up in the first contest under new offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis has to seen as a marginal improvement.

The victory, meanwhile, may have taken at least some of the pressure off of Panthers QB Jake Delhomme who is suffering through an awful season. Delhomme threw for 181 yards against Washington with one touchdown and one interception. Delhomme now has eight interceptions in four games this season, contributing greatly to the -8 turnover margin that the Panthers took into Sundays encounter. After the game, he expressed relief at getting a win under his belt:

“Anything that could have gone wrong the first month or so has gone wrong. We’ll take it any way we can get it.”

His Washington counterpart Jason Campbell was efficient, if not spectacular, with 145 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. In another bright spot for the Redskins, Clinton Portis scored his first rushing touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter. He had caught a pass for a touchdown to open the Washington scoring in the first quarter.

The Panthers will now try to string together a short winning streak as they head to Florida next Sunday to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Theyll return home the following week to face a struggling Buffalo Bills team before going back on the road to play the Arizona Cardinals. The Redskins will play their next two games at home and then enjoy a bye week. Theyll welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to FedEx Field next Sunday, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles the following week. Theyll return to action after the bye week on November 8th, taking on the Atlanta Falcons at The Georgia Dome.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer specializing in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, flower arranging and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel missed the first game of the NFL regular season, and his status remains questionable for the teams second game of the year against the Oakland Raiders. Although he appeared to be running more briskly and favoring his knee less in practice this week, Chiefs coach Todd Haley maintains that hes still a game time decision. In addition to playing without their starting quarterback, Kansas City is woefully lacking in playmaking wide receivers.

The bright spot in all of his misery was the play of Brodie Croyle in the opening week loss to Baltimore. Croyle completed 16 of 24 passes for 177 yards and two TDs against the fearsome Ravens defense. Still, Haley is anxious to get his #1 quarterback in the lineup and says that Cassel is working hard to make that a reality:

“Matt is doing everything he can to be ready. I would hope I would know a little sooner this week, although right now I can’t give a definitive answer. But the player’s doing everything he can to be ready, which generally helps speed the healing process.”

Haley also spoke of the teams struggles at the wide receiver position:

“We’re looking and digging all the time. If there’s somebody out there we think makes us better, we’re going to do what’s necessary to get that done. I’m looking for guys that do it the way we want it done. Talent is the great separator. There may be some guys who are doing everything the way we want it done, but maybe they’re just not good enough. Then there’s some guys who potentially can be really good, but they’re not doing it the way we want it done.

“I want physical receivers just like I want physical players at every other position and guys that help block in the run game and are football players, not just pass-catchers.”

That comment was a thinly veiled reference to the teams top receiver, Dwayne Bowe, who was demoted to third string in the preseason.

Cassel, who has improved over the course of the week, commended his backup on his performance:

“I think Brodie played the type of game he had to play to give us a chance to win.

After facing the Raiders on Sunday, the Chiefs face a pair of tough NFC East opponents as they take on the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles in successive weeks. Several reports suggest that Haley is now weighing his options and trying to decide whether Cassel would benefit more from an extra week of rehab or getting a game under his belt.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and NFL football handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow shook off the effects of a concussion suffered against Kentucky two weeks ago and returned to lead the #1 ranked Gators to a hard fought 13-3 victory over #4 ranked LSU. Tebow got a good deal of help from a nasty Florida defense, and the largest crowd in LSU history (93,129) left disappointed as the Bayou Bengals offense was almost completely shut down.

College football betting enthusiasts who backed Florida as a -9 road favorite weren’t able to breathe easy until the final whistle, but eventually enjoyed a payday with the narrowest of pointspread covers. The Gators improved their ATS record over the past three years to a glossy 22-7 and they’ve covered 8 of their last 9 on the road.

After the game, Tebow characteristically explained that he tried to play smart but without fear:

“I tried to play smart. I told him, I said, when we were talking to Coach [Urban] Meyer, I said, ‘I’m not going to go out there and play tentative or scared. That’s not me.’ I did try to play smart but I wasn’t scared or timid at all.”

Tebow was also not the least bit intimidated by the huge crowd of LSU partisans:

“This place is one of my favorite stadiums to play in. It just gets your adrenaline going, then to play against a great defense like that.”

Tebow returned to practice earlier this week, but wasn’t medically cleared to play until a few hours before gametime. Even then, he was listed as a game time decision. Coach Urban Meyer talked about the difficult decision he had to make:

“It was a tough deal and I kept saying, ‘Would I play my son?’ You know Tim,” Meyer said. “It was, ‘Let me play. Let me play.’ Nonstop.”

Gators safety Will Hill said that the defense knew that they’d have to play well regardless of their quarterbacks status:

We knew Tim would suit up but we didn’t know if he would play, but we didn’t care. The defense knew what we had to do to come out and win this game.”

LSU receiver Brandon LaFell blamed his teams mistakes for the loss:

Those guys have a pretty good defense. We had a ton of chances, then we would get a mistake … Too many mistakes.”

Florida has now won 15 games dating back to last season. They’ll try to keep that winning streak going next weekend as they host the University of Arkansas. LSU will take a bye weekend before returning to action against Auburn on October 24.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.