Dortmund maintains lead atop Bundesliga
Soccer Betting Lines
02/11/2012 - Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund escaped its match at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to maintain its lead at the summit of the German Bundesliga.
Dortmund's 15-game unbeaten run in German league play has helped the club overtake Bayern Munch for top spot in the Bundesliga as the Black and Yellows enjoy a two-point lead over the the European giants.
The lone goal of the match came from Japanese star Shinji Kagawa as he notched his seventh goal of the campaign just before the break. A scoreless second half ensured that Kagawa's strike held up as the game-winner.
With Bayern also taking three points on Saturday, the table remains unchanged at the top as Dortmund sits in pole position with 46 points, followed closely by Bayern on 44 points.
Bayer Leverkusen has not picked up a win in its last three league outings as it remains in sixth place on 31 points.
Bayern Munich 2, Kaiserslautern 0
Munich, Germany - Bayern Munich claimed a 2-0 win over Kaiserslautern on Saturday to keep pace with Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table.
Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller provided the goals in the first half with Gomez scoring in the sixth minute and Muller breaking his goal drought in the 30th minute.
Bayern Munich sits two points adrift of Dortmund in fist place, holding down second place on 44 points. Kaiserslautern has lost two straight and sits third from bottom on 18 points.
Stuttgart 5, Hertha Berlin 0
Stuttgart, Germany - Stuttgart cruised to comfortable 5-0 victory over Hertha Berlin on Saturday as the home side appears to have banished its poor run of form.
A four-goal first half led Stuttgart to its first league win since Nov. 20 as two goals from Martin Harnik guided the Reds to a vital win.
Vedad Ibisevic and Shinji Okazaki scored a goal apiece in the first half and Levan Kobiashvili conceded an own goal in the second half to complete the rout.
Stuttgart, with 26 points, sits in ninth place, while Hertha Berlin remains just two points above the relegation zone after suffering its fourth straight loss.
Monchengladbach 3, Schalke 0
Monchengladbach, Germany - Three first-half goals powered Monchengladbach to a 3-0 win against Schalke at Borussia-Park on Saturday.
Marco Reus opened the scoring after just two minutes, Mike Hanke extended it with a goal in the 15th minute, and Juan Arango tacked on a third goal in the 32nd minute as the home side grabbed all three points in convincing fashion.
Monchengladbach maintains its third-place position in the Bundesliga as it keeps pace with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. It also climbs above fourth-place Schalke as the two sides are now separated by just two points.
Mainz 1, Hannover 1
Mainz, Germany - Hannover narrowly claimed a point at the Coface Arena on Saturday as it needed a late goal to draw 1-1 with Mainz.
The home side went in front through Mohamed Zidan after just seven minutes, but it was canceled out by Artur Sobiech's equalizer in second-half stoppage time.
Hannover preserves its unbeaten run in Bundesliga play, which is now at eight games. The club goes tied with Bayer Leverkusen on 31 points. Mainz, meanwhile, has drawn two successive league matches and sits five points above the drop zone.
Werder Bremen 1, Hoffenheim 1
Bremen, Germany - Werder Bremen struck late to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim at the Weserstadion on Saturday.
Jannik Vestergaard gave the visitors the lead in just the fourth minute, a lead that lasted until the dying moments when Bremen struck through Austrian striker Marko Arnautovic.
With four straight draws, Werder Bremen sits fifth in the table on 33 points. Hoffenheim has tied four of its last five league games and occupies a mid- table position on 25 points.
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Pressey scored 19 points behind four three-pointers and No. 4 Missouri used a second-half surge to down No. 6 Baylor, 72-57, on Saturday. Marcus Denmon and Michael Dixon added 16 points and six
<< Heels bounce back with solid effort against Virginia
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Zeller had 25 points and No. 5 North
Carolina got a bounce-back, 70-52 win over 19th-ranked Virginia on Saturday.
The Tar Heels (21-4, 8-2 ACC) pulled away in the second half, wiping away the
taste
<< No. 15 Florida State holds off Miami
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bernard James scored 18 points, pulled
down six rebounds and blocked four shots, helping the 15th-ranked Florida
State Seminoles hold off the Miami-Florida Hurricanes, 64-59.
Michael Snaer and I
<< Jardine, Syracuse top UConn
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoop Jardine hit four three-pointers en route
to 21 points, leading second-ranked Syracuse to an 85-67 victory over
Connecticut at the Carrier Dome.
Dion Waiters added 18 points and Kris Joseph fol
<< Kuric lifts Louisville over West Virginia
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Kuric hit the tying three-pointer as
part of a late Louisville run, then made a critical steal in the closing
seconds to help the 24th-ranked Cardinals notch their sixth straight win
with a
Starkville, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gerald Robinson netted eight of his 13 points in overtime and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 20 points and eight rebounds as Georgia upset No. 20 Mississippi State, 70-68. Dee Bost had a chance
Callahan's hat trick helps Rangers beat Philly again >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Callahan's second career hat trick
helped the Rangers continue their winning ways against the Flyers this season,
as New York exited Philadelphia on Saturday with a 5-2 victory.
Marian Gaborik add
Panthers top Devils in Jersey >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils surely won't miss seeing
Florida's Kris Versteeg for the rest of the season.
Versteeg put the Panthers ahead in the second period with his fifth goal in
four meetings against New Jer
Montpellier joins PSG at the top of Ligue 1 >>
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montpellier scored three second-half
goals in the span of 14 minutes en route to a 3-0 win over Ajaccio at the
Stade de la Mosson on Saturday.
The victory moves Montpellier level on points wit
Seguin, Bruins take down Predators in SO >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored in the
shootout and the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3, on Saturday
afternoon.
Bergeron, Daniel Paille and Milan Lucic had goals in regulation as the
2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
Las Vegas Sports Lines
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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