Georgia Tech is the reigning ACC champion, but the Jackets lost four of the key members off last year’s team as early entrants to the NFL draft so can the Jackets realistically repeat? It will be difficult considering the ACC’s Coastal Division is loaded this season – Tech opens with a cakewalk against South Carolina State on Saturday. Bet on Georgia Tech’s game on Bodog’s NCAA odds this season.
The Jackets may have one of the best coaches in the country in Paul Johnson, who has been named back-to-back ACC Coach of the Year. Thanks to his triple-option offense, Tech finished second in the nation in rushing offense with 295.4 yards per game last year and third in average time of possession.
There are six starters back on offense, but star RB Jonathan Dwyer and WR Demaryius Thomas are both in the NFL now. But QB Josh Nesbitt is back for his senior year after rushing for 1,037 yards and passed for 1,701 more last year. He also accounted for 28 touchdowns (18 rushing, 10 passing). Tech runs the ball on average more than 82 percent of the time. Dwyer will be tough to replace, Anthony Allen averaged 9.7 yards per carry last season (he moves into Dwyer’s B-Back role), while Roddy Jones has rushed for more than 600 yards in each of the past two seasons. There is no receiver back with much experience, however. Thomas helped keep defenses honest last year; no other Tech player had more than eight catches or one touchdown reception.
There are six starters back on defense, which lost ACC Defensive Player of the Year Derrick Morgan and star safety Morgan Burnett. Tech is switching from a 4-3 scheme to a 3-4 under new coordinator Al Groh, the former Virginia coach.
Georgia Tech’s over/under win total on Bodog is 7.5. Think you know the answer? Be a player and bet at Bodog
The PGA Tour’s second leg of its four-event FedEx Cup playoffs begins Thursday at TPC Boston with the Deutsche Bank Championship, and things seem back to normal in the golf world because Tiger Woods is the betting favorite this week at 7/1 to win on Bodog’s golf odds.
Tiger finished tied for 12th at The Barclays last week for his first Top-20 finish since the U.S. Open back in June. And even more promising was that Tiger had had just one round in the 60s since Pebble Beach but had two such rounds last week: a first-round 65 and final-round 67, in which he needed just 27 putts in each. If Tiger’s putter is working, look out. Tiger is currently 65th in the FedEx Cup points standings and needs to finish likely at least T54 this week to advance to the next tournament. Tiger is a former winner at the TPC Boston, taking home the trophy in 2006 and tying for runner-up a year later. Last year he was T11.
Steve Stricker is the defending champion and is the second-favorite on Bodog’s golf odds at 11/1 this year. Stricker has never missed a cut in 13 tries in FedEx Cup playoff events and finished 17-under 267 here last year. His worst finish at this tournament in the past four years was a T13 and he was third last week at The Barclays.
Can Matt Kuchar win in back-to-back weeks? Kuchar, who is 22/1 this week, leads the PGA Tour with 10 top-10 results and is tops on the money list in scoring average and in all-around ranking. Right now, he’s probably the leading candidate for Player of the Year. Last week in winning at The Barclays, Kuchar played his final 25 holes at 10 under. He was T15 in this tournament last year.
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After a surprising third-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the regular season last year, the Buffalo Sabres mostly stood pat during the offseason. That didn’t do much to help their Bodog NHL futures odds, as their chances at winning the Stanley Cup are a ho-hum 26/1. This is Buffalo’s offseason update.
The Sabres ranked fourth in goals against, mostly thanks to the stellar play of Ryan Miller. Miller enjoyed a career year, going 41-18-8 with a 2.22 GAA and .929 save percentage. That doesn’t even factor in his incredible play during the Olympics, when he led Team USA to a silver medal. Miller should be expected to regress slightly, if only because it’s near-impossible to play as well as he did for a sustained period of time.
It also won’t help that Buffalo lost a few bodies in its defensive corps. Toni Lydman (Ducks) and Henrik Tallinder (Devils) vacated during free agency, leaving Buffalo searching for depth on the blue line. Jordan Leopold and Shaone Morrisonn were both signed this summer, and the Sabres might look to the farm system, too; Mike Weber, a late-season call up a few years ago, has a shot to crack the lineup in 2010-11.
Buffalo also added a defensive presence up front in the form of Rob Niedermayer. The veteran center comes over from New Jersey and is a great role player; he’ll play special teams, shut down opposing forwards and add a leadership element to the locker room. He’s not a star by any stretch of the imagination, but Niedermayer is a useful player.
The Sabres ranked 10th in scoring last season despite lacking a bonafide superstar up front. Still, six players had between 42 and 69 points. The team is hoping for a breakout from former first-round pick Drew Stafford, who managed just 14 goals in 71 games last year.
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This game may not mean much to the Oakland Athletics on Bodog’s MLB odds, but the New York Yankees are in a heated battle with the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League East title. New York (+125) is 7-1 against Oakland (-145) this year.
New York will send the disappointing A.J. Burnett (9-12, 5.17 ERA) to the hill. Burnett never got it going this season. The hard-throwing righty was prone to brutal slumps, like a 0-5 June and 0-4 August. Burnett has allowed at least six runs in three of his last five starts, including a nine-run, 3.1-inning effort in his last outing. He has faced Oakland once this year, allowing a pair of runs through seven innings. That brought Burnett’s career numbers to 3-3 with a 3.81 ERA in eight career starts against the A’s.
The Yankees haven’t hit a great average against Oakland this year, but they’ve done a solid job producing runs. Nick Swisher has been the best of the Bronx Bombers, batting .393. Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter must both step up; they’re each hitting .154 or less.
Oakland will counter with Brett Anderson (3-5, 3.32 ERA). Anderson has been plagued with brutal run support; despite posting a 3.41 ERA in August, he went just 1-3 and the Athletics lost four of his five starts. Anderson finally lapsed in his last start, allowing four runs in two innings against the Rangers. The young lefty has faced the Yankees three times in his career—all last year—and allowed 12 runs and 24 hits in 19 innings.
The Athletics' lineup has been horrendous against New York this season; Oakland owns a .184 average and 20 runs scored in eight games against the Yanks. In fact, no everyday player is hitting higher than .269 against the Yankees this season.
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In a rematch from two years ago, Mzonke Fana and Cassius Baloyi will hook up in the ring to fight for the vacant IBF-junior lightweight crown.
Baloyi got the better of Fana two years ago. Also known as “Mr. Shy Guy,” Baloyi enters the bout with a 37-4-1 record, including 19 victories via knockout. The 35-year-old fighter topped Fana in a 12-round split decision when they met in April 2008. Baloyi defended his title just once, though, before falling to Malcolm Klassen in a seventh-round TKO. Since then, Baloyi earned a unanimous decision over Roberto David Arrieta. In the meantime, the junior lightweight belt has become vacated (Klassen lost it to Roberto Guerrero, who vacated the title to help his wife’s battle with leukemia). Overall, Baloyi is 5-1-1 in his last six bouts.
Fana is chasing one last shot at glory. The 36-year-old fighter was essentially a nobody until 2007, when he surprised Klassen for the World Junior lightweight title in 2007. The South African brings a 27-3 record into his matchup with Baloyi, including 10 victories via knockout. Fana, also known as the Rose of Khayelitsha, has won his past two bouts; a sixth-round TKO over Jasper Seroka in his last bout and a third-round TKO against Victor Manon in August 2008. The fight before that, of course, was the loss to Baloyi. That’s the only loss Fana has suffered in his past eight fights.
Most believe Fana lost the fight in 2008 because of a slow start. Had he been more aggressive from the outset, his backers believe, Fana never would have lost the crown. Baloyi’s team is preparing for just such an approach this time around; his trainers have been touting improved footwork heading into the match.
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