Click Here to Listen Breaking down week 17 from both a handicapping and betting perspective. I pride myself on confusing answers to some of Chad’s more straight forward questions. Yes, you’re...

Follow the author @HardwoodHype on twitter Beef ‘O’ Brady’s: Ball State vs. Central Florida  (St. Petersburg, FL; Fri., Dec. 21, 7:30pm) The game: According to the Mayans, this is college football’s swan song: two teams that only the junkies know a thing about, that combined for seven losses, in about as soulless a venue as one could conceive. Thing is, this could actually be a decent game. After an early season blowout loss at Clemson, Ball State righted the ship and rattled of victories in eight of its next 10, rushing for at least 165 yards (behind Jahwan Edwards –1,321 yards and 14 TDs, with a 6.0 average) in each of those wins. The two occasions on which they failed to eclipse this mark coincided with their two conference losses, by two and 12 points, respectively, at Kent State and at home to Northern Illinois, hardly shameful, as those teams were a combined 16-0 in MAC play. The biggest concern facing BSU today is their qb and his recently broken ankle. While probable, we have to wonder how mobile and effective Keith Wenning will be in the pocket when under duress. Central Florida, meanwhile, winners of eight of its first 10 – the two losses came by combined 10 points at Ohio State and at home to Missouri – is led by a 1,000-yard back of its own, Latavius Murray, who also had 14 TDs and gained 1,035 yards on the ground at a 5.8-per-carry clip. However, the Knights are coming off a pair of crushing defeats to Tulsa (23-21 in conference, 33-27 in the C-USA title game), which, despite the early season moral victories, revealed that UCF owed its hot start as much to a marshmallow schedule (Akron, FIU, Southern Mississippi, Memphis, SMU,...

Because Adam Kramer is more creative this time of year, I stole his write-up to introduce the pod. I can only hope he doesn’t call me the Lynn Hoppes of the sports betting world and accuse me of plagiarism. The On the Line Podcast is back is back, and the bowl season is in out sights. Because there are so many games to discuss, here’s the deal. First, you need to sign up for our bowl pick ‘em contest over at Wagerminds. See how you stack up against Team OTL, and have a shot at winning the MONSTER prizes discussed in this week’s discussion. If you’re wondering what our picks are for the bowl season, you’ve come to the right place. This week we discuss all bowl games up until January 1st, and we’ll be hitting on the rest next week. Consider it the perfect break away from your loved ones. If the widget below doesn’t show, you can listen to the podcast here. Cheers and Happy Holidays,...

Written by Bruce Friedman (follow him on twitter @notthefakeBruce) BUY:   Michigan State (12-18, @ Bowling Green, 12-22, Texas) Calling Michigan St inconsistent to start the year would be an understatement.  They now travel to face Bowling Green who has done well facing the teams on their inferior early-season schedule.  Bowling Green, even on their home court, will not have a chance against the Spartans in this match-up.  After their tilt with BG tonight, MSU takes on a Texas team that looks like a shell of their former selves.  Texas simply cannot find their way as it seems no one wants to step up for them in big games whih should continue against Sparty.  Texas plays North Carolina before MSU and that will beat them up for Saturday’s game.   Xavier (12-19 Cincinnati (N), 12-22 Wofford) Last week I had Marshall in my “BUY” section of Market Watch picks because they have not covered a spread all year and were in a prime spot to contend against the undefeated Bearcats.  However Marshall lost their leading scorer for the game and the final score made it look like a blow-out.  Marshall was in that game until the final 5 minutes where they completely fell apart without a go-to man.  I think Cincinnati may trip up here against Xavier and think I was 1 game premature to fade the Bearcats.  After Cincinnati, Xavier faces Wofford and to put it simply, if Xavier beats Cincinnati I believe they will be pumped and continue that momentum and just thrash Wofford.   SELL:   Wyoming (12-18 Denver, 12-21 UC Santa Barbara) Wyoming has the bandwagon chugging along, they are 10-0 SU and 6-1 ATS.  This week however they face Denver who has been atrocious ATS going 1-5, but after...

Written by James Kempton (follow him on twitter @ukbettingpro) There comes a time in every great sporting dynasty when the tide begins to turn and the continuation of the norm comes under scrutiny. That is the exact situation we see at Arsenal now with boss Arsene Wenger under the microscope once more as yet another trophy-less season beckons. Last week Arsenal faced arguably their greatest humiliation in the successful Wenger led era. A virtual full strength side crashed out of the Carling Cup quarter final away to League Two Bradford City. In previous seasons this would have been accepted because Arsenal historically fielded a weakened team in this competition. Such a strong side sent out by Arsenal suggested they saw this as their biggest chance to gain silverware. That defeat was a crushing blow and turned this game into a massive test of character for his side. The Arsenal fan base can be clearly defined now between the AKB’s and the AKFA. AKB stands for ‘Arsene Knows Best’ and AKFA stands for ‘Arsene Knows F A‘. I can let your well educated minds work out what the FA stands for! This divide now is mainly due to the stubborness of Wenger and has split the fans right down the middle. Around half of which believe that Wenger has the determination, experience and strength of character to arrest the recent slide. The other camp, seemingly growing in number each week, feel it is time to move on and away from Wenger. Ironically, as split as the Arsenal fan base is the statistics for this game are also split right down the middle. All of these background factors makes this such an interesting Monday Night Football in the full glare of the nation live on Sky Sports. This...

Written by Bruce Friedman (follow him on twitter @notthefakebruce) BUY: Marshall (12-15, Cincinnati) The Thundering Herd welcome the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats to Huntington Saturday in what looks to be walk in the park for Cincy.  This is the highest Cincinnati has been ranked in years (12th), but could could they get caught looking ahead against a Marshall team that has failed to cover the spread yet this year??  Yes, thats is right, Marshall is 0-6-1 ATS this year.  Now granted, Cincy is only 3-2 ATS, but they have still met Vegas expectations at least once.  Cincy should be over confident before they even make the trip, whereas Marshall will be ready to pull off an upset (wishful thinking).  This will be a game similar  to Illinois-Western Carolina where I stated that Illinois already knew they won and played down to the Catamounts with the dog cover never in doubt.  We will not have to sweat Marshall in this game, take the points and grab lunch. USC (12-15 UC Riverside) Trojans are coming off a 5-game losing skid with the last two losses against formidable teams in New Mexico and Minnesota. UC Riverside should be just what the doctor ordered to help the Trojans get back in the win column.  I believe this is a matchup that USC desperately needs to get back on track and will come out knowing that they need to handle their business.  Look for a surprisingly decisive win for the offensively challenged Trojans. SELL: Indiana (12-15 Butler) Butler visits the Hooisers in what should be a fairly interesting game.  Butler brings their “we can beat anyone” mentality against the best team in the country and I believe they will compete.  When I say compete, I tend to mean compete witinh the number.  Indiana has...

by James Kempton (follow him on twitter @ukbettingpro) This Sunday sees the two current giants of the EPL meeting head to head at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester. Host Manchester City trails their fierce rival Manchester United by three points but this gives them the opportunity to draw level at the top of the table with the Red Devils. Conversely this match offers United to chance to put the clear daylight of a full six points between them and the Blues.  Six points would be a large gap for City to claw back, even at this stage of the season. Both teams suffered defeats in midweek action in the Champions League.  Although United’s defeat at home to Cluj was arguably more surprising, the loss for City away against Borrussia Dortmund signalled the end to their embarrassing European campaign for the season.  City’s tally of three points is the lowest by an English side in the group stage of the competition. Could such European humiliation lead to a big response from Roberto Mancini’s City players? Maybe but I am not sure I can trust their apparent fractious dressing room to respond so positively. This season their play has been indifferent but credit to them as they continue to pick the points up. You know you will get a committed and honest performance from United under Sir Alex Ferguson. The current market prices have City as quite strong favourites but rather than oppose them outright I sense another market may offer better betting opportunities. At first glance there has been an equal distribution of the over/under 2.5 goal line in recent meetings as 5 have hit the over with 7 going under that line. However, when you drill down a bit deeper into the statistics there...

Written by Bruce Friedman (follow him on twitter @notthefakebruce) BUY: Kentucky (12-4, Samford, 12-8, Portland) Another college hoops season begins and Kentucky are the same old Wildcats.  They can never seem to cover an early season game anymore, win-less ATS to start this season as well.  Coming off their first road game in which they were dominated by Notre Dame, they returned home to face Baylor who took advantage of Kentucky’s lack of finishing at the tin.  Numerous times Kentucky had a tip-in missed or squandered bunny making it hard to watch.  However, now welcome Samford and Portland to Lexington and I believe Kentucky will take out their frustrations on these small schools to get their kinks out before their match-up with Louisville at the end of the month. Connecticut (12-4, NC State, 12-7, Harvard) UConn is a team that is in limbo, they cannot go to the Tourney this year but still are showing plenty of fight early in the year.  They beat Michigan State to open the season, later beat Wake Forest before losing to New Mexico, their only loss of the season.  Unfortunately, the only game UConn covered was their opener, SU winners as an 8-point dog.  They now face NC State at MSG who enter off a tough loss of their own against Michigan.  I think that UConn will be able to hang with NC State and should be able to beat the Wolfpack.  Harvard is next up after NC State for the Huskies and the Crimson are no stranger to early season struggles so far.  They lost to a Vermont team that may be better than we all thought in a surprisingly high-scoring affair.  Havard was also blown out at St. Joe’s but did get back in the win...