2011 R+L Carriers Bowl to Become a Classic
The Louisiana Superdome will come to life on December 17th as the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl begins. The San Diego State Aztecs face the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns in a battle to the finish. The Aztecs come into the game with an 8-4 record and a 4-3 record in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs average 29.8 points per game on offense and 24.4 points per game on defense.
The Aztecs are headed up by senior quarterback Ryan Lindley (2,740 yards – 52.5 completion pct – 20 td's / 8 int – 122.9 rating). The running game is in great hands with phenom sophomore RB Ronnie Hillman (287 carries – 1,656 yards – 19 td's). Hillman had a 99-yard touchdown run in a losing effort against Wyoming on October 29th. Hillman reminds some watchers of previous Aztecs phenom and latest NFL Hall Of Famer Marshall Faulk who also ran up and down opposing teams in the early 1990's.
The Ragin' Cajuns defense will have their hands full in trying to stifle Ronnie Hillman on the ground. Both defenses will surely get a workout in this shootout of two strong squads. The two-way threat of Gautier versus the running game of Hillman will be a spectacle. Both schools will want to put a lot of points on the board in this game.
Hornets Unable to Defeat Lakers, Eliminated from the Playoffs After Six
After a couple of shocking losses to Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets, the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped their series up tonight with a 98-80 win.
The defending NBA champs finally started playing like it in the final two games of the series, and cruised to some easy victories over the Hornets.
The Lakers were ahead by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter and easily rolled over the Hornets, maintaining an 18 point lead at the end of the night.
Magic and Hawks Players to Serve Suspensions in Game Four
With an important game four match-up coming up on Sunday, the Orlando Magic will be without the services of their starting point guard Jason Richardson.
NBA officials announced today that Richardson and Atlanta center Zaza Pachulia will both serve a supension due to their altercation at the tail end of game three.
Western Conference NBA Playoffs Progress After Game 1
While most of the top teams in the Eastern Conference came out on top of their respective first games of the playoffs, the Western Conference seemed a bit more shaky.
Both the Spurs and Lakers dropped their games, while the Mavericks and Thunder went on to win their matchups.
But all things considered, the losses over the weekend were not all that surprising.
Saints against Seahawks on Saturday
For the first time in three years there is a double-digit underdog at football wagering website for a Wild Card playoff game. The Seattle Seahawks are 10.5 point underdogs at home on Saturday against the Saints. You are able to make an Nfl bet on this match at the sports book. There's lots of heat heading into Washington this weekend as the Seattle Seahawks kick off the postseason excitement as the simply team to enter the playoffs with a losing record. They hold the biggest long shot deficit prospects of wining the Super Bowl title this year, but they've got let it be known that they're not going down without a competition.
NBC has the television coverage of the two Wild Card games on Saturday with the New orleans saints and Seattle Seahawks being the first game. The last time an Nfl team was a double-digit underdog in the Wild Card round was three years ago when Tennessee was gaining 10.5 points on the road. In this case the Seattle Seahawks are gaining 10.5 points at home. The Seattle Seahawks are the first Nfl team to win a division with a losing record so it is not too shocking to see them gaining big points especially when they're facing the reigning Super Bowl champion New orleans saints.
The oddsmakers might adjust this line somewhat bit if Matt Hasselbeck gets the start for Seattle as opposed to Charlie Whitehurst. Whether that is wise or not is yet another story as Hasselbeck is no better than Whitehurst. There is no way that bettors are going to take Seattle no matter who is at qb. That doesn't mean Seattle can't cover though as anything is possible in football. The Seattle Seahawks performed at New Orleans earlier this season and the New orleans saints won 34-19 in a match that was actually fairly aggressive. Hasselbeck threw for 366 yards in that game. The one edge that Whitehurst has is mobility and that can be a thing as to who starts on Saturday.
Can Any of the NFL Wild Cards Win the Super Bowl in 2011?
Football odds give the Seahawks virtually no chance to win the Super Bowl but now that they have made the playoffs they will seek to prove the experts wrong with the odds NFL.
The Seattle Seahawks will host the New Orleans Saints on Saturday in the NFC wild card playoffs. Sports Gambling opened with New Orleans as a 10.5 point favorite and with a total of 44.5. The game will be telecast on NBC at 4:35 PM ET.
New Orleans has a record of 11-5 straight up and 7-9 with the NFL odds and an even 8-8 split on totals. The Saints edged out Tampa Bay for the wild card spot and finished 2 games behind Atlanta in the NFC South.
As defending Super Bowl champions the Saints proved to be an overlay on the board most of the season as they suffered from the combination of too much public attention that drove up their price along with injury problems and an overall dropoff in play. One area of the Saints game that did not dropoff was their defense as it ranked 4th overall in the NFL and 7th for points allowed.
Injuries decimated the backfield as the Saints ranked 28th in the NFL for rushing. The lack of a reliable running game put more pressure on Drew Brees and he passed for over 4600 yards. The Saints covered just 2 of their last 6 games with the NFL lines.
Seattle enters action with the wild card weekend odds at 7-9 straight up and against the spread with an 11-4-1 mark over the total on over unders. The Seahawks were fortunate to play in the NFC West as they were the division champions after scoring a 16-6 home payout over St. Louis to end the season.
Charlie Whitehurst played at quarterback in last week's win with the football odds but coach Pete Carroll doesn't know if he will stick with Whitehurst or go back to Matt Hasselbeck for this game. Seattle ranked 28th for overall offense and 27th for overall defense. Before their win over St. Louis, Seattle had lost 5 of their previous 6 games. The St. Louis game snapped Seattle's 8 game over streak on totals.