Volume 37 Issue 19 Date: December 26, 2018 Murray /Sooners In The Playoffs College Football Recap COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAME PICKS LET'S GO BOWLING! The College Football Playoff is set. Unbeaten and top-ranked Alabama will square off against No. 4 Oklahoma, the Big 12 champion, at the Orange Bowl in Miami in one semifinal matchup on Dec. 29. The other game is also on Dec. 29 and will be at Jerry World in Arlington, where undefeated and second-ranked Clemson will take on unbeaten No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. The winners will collide in the finals on Jan. 7 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern in Santa Clara at Levi s Stadium, the home of the NFL s San Francisco 49ers. Lincoln Riley s squad avenged its only loss of the season a 48-45 setback vs. Texas in the Red River Rivalry by beating the Longhorns 39-27 in Saturday s Big 12 Championship Game at Jerry World. The Sooners will be underdogs for the first time this season. They were dogs three times last year in Riley s first season since taking over for Bob Stoops, compiling a 2-1 record both SU and ATS. OU lost a 54-48 decision to Georgia as a 2.5-point dog in last year s CFP semifinals in Pasadena. This is Oklahoma s richest underdog spot since the 2013 Sugar Bowl, where OU thumped Alabama by a 45-31 count as a 15-point puppy. The Sooners have won outright in both of their most recent situations as double-digit dogs, beating Oklahoma St. 33-24 in Stillwater as 10-point road dogs in the 2013 regular-season finale. These storied programs played a home-and-home series back in 2002 and 2003. OU won a 37-27 decision in Norman as a 12.5-point favorite. The Sooners went to Tuscaloosa the following season and won 20-13 at Bama, but the Tide covered the number once again as a 7.5-point home underdog. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had to leave the SEC Championship Game with a foot injury that s expected to have him sidelined for at least two weeks. Without the sophomore QB, back-up and former starter Jalen Hurts rallied the Crimson Tide from a 28-14 deficit to win 35-28 over Georgia in an epic thriller. Clemson won the ACC title with a 42-10 win over Pittsburgh as a 27.5-point chalk. Dabo Swinney s club is in the CFP for the fourth straight year. Like Bama, Clemson has been a double-digit favorite in all 13 of its games, winning by at least 20 points 11 times. Meanwhile, Brian Kelly s bunch is an underdog for only the second time this season. The Irish beat Michigan 24-17 in its opener as a 2.5-point home underdog. They haven t been double-digit dogs since the 2016 regularseason finale resulted in a non-cover when USC beat them 45-27 as 17.5-point home chalk. Georgia finished No. 5 and Ohio State, the Big Ten champ, was sixth in the final CFP poll. The Bulldogs will meet Texas in the Sugar Bowl, while Ohio State will face Washington at the Rose Bowl. Other New Year s Six matchups include LSU (- 7.5) vs. UCF at the Sugar Bowl and Michigan (-6) vs. Florida at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl.
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Fly Eagles Fly, Is This Nick Foles Deja Vu? NFL BEST BETS OVER 60% WITH LAST WEEK PLAYOFF SPOTS UP FOR GRABS NFL Football Recap -- It was a great day to beat the road teams. Heading into the Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs-Seattle Seahawks the away team was 12-0-2 against the spread (ATS). The Seahawks ended up being the first home team to cover, as they entered the SNF game as short 'dogs (+1) at CenturyLink Field. -- It's more of a coincidence than anything else, obviously, but it's fun if you like numbers. The teams which covered the highest spreads in Week 16 each allowed nine points. The Los Angeles Rams laid the most points (-14) in their 31-9 road win over the Arizona Cardinals. The Minnesota Vikings (-6.5) won and covered 27-9 on the road against the Detroit Lions. The Chicago Bears also posted a 14-9 win against the San Francisco 49ers in a chippy game, covering a 3.5-point number at most shops. -- The game with the highest total on the board was the Kansas City Chiefs-Seattle Seahawks (54.5), and it got off to a bit of a slow start. However, it ended up going well over with 45 total points in the second half. The Pittsburgh Steelers-New Orleans Saints (53.5) game was expected to be a shootout, and it didn't disappoint. While there were 52 points on the board through three quarters, there were some tense moments for a bit in the fourth with just seven total points, but it cashed the over. -- Perhaps the worst bad beat of the season occurred in the Washington Redskins-Tennessee Titans (38) game on Saturday night. It's the kind of game you're likely to see on ESPN's 'Bad Beats' segment with Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve. The Titans were leading 18-16 on the final, last gasp for the Redskins. DB Malcolm Butler picked off a pass with no time left and rather than go down, he worked as hard as possible to run it back all the way for a pick-six. It flipped what should have been an 'under' result to an 'over', and affected some teaser plays, too. -- The 'under' went 2-1 this week after the Monday nighter between the Denver Broncos-Oakland Raiders (43.5) just hit under by a couple of points at most shops. Overall for the 2018 season the 'over' in primetime games is 25-25 (50.0%). Officially, the 'over' finished 25-23-1 (52.1%) in 49 games under the lights in 2017. In 2016, the 'over' in night games went (52.9%) through 51 games. In 2015, the over finished 20-28-1 (41.7%) in 49 primetime games. In 2014, the over went 33-17 (66.0%) in primetime games, and the over was 28-22 (56.0%) in 2013. Injury Report -- Colts TE Eric Ebron (concussion) left the Week 16 battles against the Giants and he entered the league's mandated concussion protocol. -- Falcons RB Tevin Coleman (groin) was unable to return to Sunday's game in Carolina, leaving Atlanta down its top three running backs. -- 49ers RB Matt Breida (ankle) left the Week 16 battle against the Bears after turning an ankle and he was unable to return. -- Texans WR Demaryius Thomas (Achilles') was forced out of Sunday's game in Philadelphia and he might have suffered a long-term injury.
PRO FOOTBALL BEST BET NEW ENGLAND - 13 Over NY Jets by 24 The New York Jets look to play spoiler after losing eight of their last nine games. The New York Jets have lost five of their last six road games. Sam Darnold is completing 57.8 percent of his passes for 2,698 yards, 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Josh McCown and Darnold have combined for 18 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions this season. Robby Anderson and Chris Herndon have combined for 1,222 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns while Quincy Enunwa has 38 receptions. The New York Jets ground game is averaging 101.2 yards per contest, and Isaiah Crowell leads the way with 685 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, New York is allowing 26.9 points and 380.7 yards per game. Avery Williamson leads the Jets with 115 tackles, Jordan Jenkins has seven sacks and Trumaine Johnson has four picks. The New England Patriots look to lockup a top-two seed in the AFC with their 11th victory of the season. The New England Patriots have won all seven home games this season. Tom Brady is completing 65.4 percent of his passes for 4,105 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Brady has one or less touchdown passes in six of his last eight games. Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman have combined for 1,501 receiving yards and eight touchdowns while James White has 83 receptions. The New England Patriots ground game is averaging 127.1 yards per contest, and Sony Michel leads the way with 881 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, New England is allowing 21.5 points and 367.1 yards per game. Kyle Van Noy leads the Patriots with 89 tackles, Trey Flowers has 6.5 sacks and Duron Harmon has four interceptions. The Jets are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 vs. AFC East, 16-7-3 ATS in their last 26 games in December and 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The Patriots are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 vs. AFC East, 37-16-2 ATS in their last 55 home games and 36-17 ATS in their last 53 games overall. The Jets are 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 meetings and the underdog is 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 meetings. The under is 7-1 in Patriots last 8 games overall. The over is 4-0 in Jets last 4 games overall. The New England Patriots will lockup a top-two seed with a victory here and have played their best ball at home. The New York Jets have failed to cover four of their last six games when a double-digit underdog. The New England Patriots have covered 15 of their last 19 games when a double-digit favorite. The Jets hung around with the Patriots a couple of weeks ago and eight of the last 10 meetings have been decided by 14 or less points. Not so fast my friend. A focused Brady, Belichick and a home team Patriot squad with something to gain is our choice in this spot. Projected Score: New England 34, NY Jets 10 42.5-6.5 Dallas Cowboys New York Giants PRO FOOTBALL LEANER PICKS The Giants are 4-0-1 ATS L5 vs NFC and 5-1-1 ATS L7 overall. With the Giants playing better and the Cowboys pretty much locked in right now, we have to side with New York to bang out a cover here. 44.5-9 45-7.5 51.5-1 38.5-3.5 40-7 Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Atlanta Falcons Tampa Bay Bucs Miami Dolphins Buffalo Bills Jacksonville Jaguars Houston Texans Everything and we mean everything points to the Saints in this matchup except for one thing. The underdog is 8-1 ATS in the last 9 meetings between these two teams. Fade the public and take the Panthers. The Lions have been held to 20 or less points in each of their last 6 games and have lost their last 4 games by an average of 10 points. The Packers have shown signs of life offensively lately. Take the Packers. Atlanta has looked pretty good in their last couple of games, but part of that is due to the fact that they ve played a couple of bad teams. Speaking of bad teams, Tampa certainly qualifies. Take the Falcons. Neither Miami nor Buffalo is all that intriguing at this point, and both offenses are stuck in molasses. On paper, the Dolphins have more talent and since they re getting a few points. We're going with Miami here. The Jacksonville Jaguars have covered eight of their last nine games when an underdog of at least seven points. The Houston Texans are 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 games when a favorite of at least seven points. Take the Jags. 54 Oakland Raiders -13.5 Kansas City Chiefs The Raiders hung around with the Chiefs in the meeting earlier this year and AFC West games overall usually are tight. Kansas City has been shaky recently and continues to get gashed defensively. We lean with the Raiders. -6.5 42 Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Philadelphia has dispatched two playoff-level teams in their last pair of games, and it seems they re heating up at the right time. We're going to stick
41-6 Cleveland Browns Baltimore Ravens with the Eagles to fly Eagles fly. Eagles get the cover here. The Browns beat the Ravens in OT this year. The Browns would love to stick it to the city of Baltimore. AFC North is going to be exciting this week. Can the Browns save their hated rivals the Steelers? Maybe, take the points. 45.5 Cincinnati Bengals -14.5 Pittsburgh Steelers The over is 4-1 in Steelers last 5 home games. The Steelers have also scored 30 or more points in four of their last five home games, so they can do most of the heavy lifting. Go over the posted total. 41-5 Chicago Bears Minnesota Vikings We're getting five points with a Bears team that doesn't allow anything easy and three of their four losses have been decided by three or less points. We have to take the points even though the Vikings will be in battle mode. -6.5 Los Angeles Chargers 41.5 Denver Broncos Denver s loss to Oakland was a low point in the season as the Broncos simply looked lost. Quite simply, we're just backing the team with more to play for, so we'll lay the points with the Chargers in this spot. 38.5-14 Arizona Cardinals Seattle Seahawks Arizona under is 4-1 in their last 5 division games. And the underdog is 6-0-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings between these two teams. Russell Wilson should be pulled early in this game along with nicked up Seahawks. Take the points. 50-10 San Francisco 49ers Los Angeles Rams The Rams smoked the 49ers by 29 points earlier and have the offensive firepower to do the same again. While the 49ers have played hard, they've only scored 20 or less points in seven of their last 11 games. Take the Rams. 8:25 PM ET -2.5 44 Indianapolis Colts Tennessee Titans Getting Tennessee as a dog at home is tempting, considering that the Titans are 6-1 SU at homeseason. At this time, we are leaning to the home dog Titans. DJ will study this game long and hard for his guaranteed MNF pick. ONLY ONE GRIDIRON GOLD SHEET BEST BET THIS WEEK Best Bet NFL New England - 13 Dear Subscribers, Thanks to all of you and we are happy to have given you another very lucrative winning season of Gridiron Gold Sheet. Good luck to all of you, and from our entire staff, we wish you have a very Happy New Year. Don't forget about our bowl issues and of course, this weekends playoff selections including DJ's Bowl Game of the Year selection. My Pres Bowl Game of the Year goes off on New Years Day. Gridiron Gold Sheet Dennis Stagliano