Top-25 foes collide in SEC showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/28/2012 - Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A top-25 matchup is on tap in the SEC, as the 14th-ranked Florida Gators welcome the 18th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs to Gainesville.

Billy Donovan's Gators enter this contest with a four-game win streak in tow. Florida opened league play with a loss at Tennessee, but has run the table since, including a hard-fought 64-60 victory at Ole Miss this week.

The Bulldogs are playing well of late also with wins in two straight and four of their last five games. Rick Stansbury's team moved to 4-2 in conference play with a 76-72 victory over LSU in Starkville this week.

Florida leads the series 57-49, but Mississippi State has won four of the last five meetings. The two teams have split the last four games in Gainesville.

Arnett Moultrie tied a career-high with 28 points and recorded his SEC-leading 12th double-double with 12 rebounds, as MSU topped LSU at home. Jalen Steele came off the bench to tally 15 points, Rodney Hood added 13, while Dee Bost just missed a double-double with nine points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. The Bulldogs aren't the most potent scoring team in the league at 73.8 ppg, but the one-two punch of Moultrie and Bost has been difficult to contain. Moultrie is fourth in the SEC in scoring (17.1 ppg) and first in rebounding (11.2 rpg). Bost ranks fifth in the SEC in scoring (16.0 ppg), while pacing the Bulldogs in assists (4.7 per game) and steals (2.2 per game). Hood (11.5 ppg) adds depth in the backcourt, while Renaldo Sidney (10.1 ppg) does the same up front.

The Gators have thrived at the offensive end of the floor this season, netting 81.3 ppg (seventh nationally), thanks in large part to its .405 shooting from three-point range (13th nationally). A large portion of that comes from standout guard Kenny Boynton, who ranks second in the conference in scoring at 18.0 ppg, while already amassing 70 three-pointers thus far. Bradley Beal and Erving Walker add to the team's scoring deluge from the outside with 13.9 and 12.8 ppg, respectively. The frontcourt is anchored by center Patric Young (11.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and forward Erik Murphy (10.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg). Florida recorded just its second road win of the season with the four-point decision at Ole Miss this week. The Gators trailed by 16 points in the first half and 10 at intermission, but turned up the heat defensively in the second half and fought their way back for the win. Ball movement was a huge plus for the Gators, who recorded 21 assists on their 24 total baskets. Young led the way with 15 points. Boynton added 12, while Walker just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine assists.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

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.