Announcement

**Udog** · 06-08-2017, 07:48 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

— Bob Stoops resigned after 18 years as Oklahoma’s football coach; 33-year old Lincoln Riley will be the Sooners’ coach this fall.

— Jake Lamb was the first big leaguer to 50 RBI this season.

— Masahiro Tanaka’s last five starts: 0-5, 10.72. Have to wonder if he is hurt.

— Dallas Keuchel (illness) was scratched from start with the Astros last night.

— Orioles 9, Pirates 6 (11)— Trey Mancini didn’t play until the 9th inning, but he knocked in five runs with two homers in two at-bats and Baltimore got a walk-off win here.

— Found re-runs of Green Acres on late night TV this week— tremendous!!!

Golden State 118, Cleveland 113– Warriors outscored Cleveland 11-0 over the last 3:10 of the game.

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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Some early college football knowledge…….

I went grocery shopping the other day; first thing I bought was a college football magazine. Here are some of the things I learned from that magazine……

13) There were 21 head coaching changes this offseason, including Texas-Oregon-Baylor.

12) Michigan State went from +14 in turnovers in 2015 to -5 last year, and the Spartans slipped to 3-9; the bounce of the ball can be fickle.

11) Michigan has a +9.1 yard advantage in field position, best in the country; they forced 3/outs on 34% of opponents’ drives last year.

10) Kansas has lost 41 straight road games; their last win on foreign soil was at Texas-El Paso in 2009. At least they’re not paying Charlie Weis anymore.

9) LSU scored an average of 37.9 pts/game in its eight wins, 9.3 in its four losses. Still think that firing Les Miles was a bad move for them.

8) Louisville averaged 7.2 yards per play last year, but has only four starters back on offense. Luckily for them, one of the four is QB Lamar Jackson. Oklahoma (7.5) was the only team in the country to average more yards per play.

7) Arkansas allowed 7.9 yards per play in SEC games, the worst of any team in the country in their conference games.

6) Difference between college football and college basketball; Athlon has 27 guys on its 1st team All-American football team (offense/defense/specialists)— three sophomores, 12 juniors, 12 seniors.

In basketball, the top two teams of consensus All-Americans: two freshmen, two sophomore, four juniors, only two seniors.

5) Average yards per play in college football last year was 5.8. Last time Wake Forest averaged more than 5.2 yards per play was 2009.

4) Tulsa ran the ball for 10+ yards on 103 plays LY, compared to 60 the year before, a big part of why scored 5.3 pts/game more than in 2015 ad increased their win total from six to 10.

3) West Virginia has only three starters back on defense; 59% of their tackles last year were by seniors. Mountaineers going to have to score a lot more points to compete this season.

2) By way of comparison, freshmen/sophomores made 52% of Oregon’s tackles, part of why they forced only 12 turnovers, but they should improve this season with those players returning and hopefully improving under a new coaching staff.

1) Washington Huskies covered their games last year by an average of 8.9 points per game, best in the country. Arizona failed to cover its games by an average of 10 points per game.

**Udog** · 06-08-2017, 07:49 AM

NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 5 Betting Preview: Predators at Penguins

Nashville Predators at Pittsburgh Penguins (-155, 5.5)

Series tied 2-2

The Pittsburgh Penguins' high-octane offense looks to get back on track in Thursday's Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the visiting Nashville Predators after being stuck in neutral for the previous two contests in the Music City. Captain Sidney Crosby ended his Stanley Cup Final drought of 12 games without a goal by tallying in Monday's 4-1 setback, but Pittsburgh was outscored 9-2 in Games 3 and 4 to see the best-of-seven series knotted at 2-2.

"We're confident our team will respond the right way, as they always have all season long," coach Mike Sullivan said of the Penguins, who have seen Phil Kessel and Bryan Rust mired in respective six-game goal droughts while former Predator Patric Hornqvist has failed to tally in his last five. "I believe we have great leadership in our room. We've got good players. They understand the circumstances and we've felt as though, with each game that we've played here, our team game is getting stronger." Nashville's Frederick Gaudreau continued his brilliant series by scoring the decisive goal for the second straight contest, joining fellow rookie Jake Guentzel of Pittsburgh by accounting for all four-game winning goals in the Stanley Cup Final. "(Gaudreau's) been unbelievable for us, just the way he's come in and he's been so good with the timely goals and so composed," Predators captain Mike Fisher said of the 24-year-old, who had one assist in nine regular-season NHL games in his career.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS

LINE HISTORY: Oddsmakers opened the Penguins as -148 favorites and they have been bet up slightly to the current number of -155. The total for Game 5 is set at 5.5.

PROBABLE GOALIE MATCHUP: Pekka Rinne vs Matt Murray (PIT)

Rinne - W/L: 14-6, GAA: 1.88, SAVE %: .932
Murray - W/L: 5-3, GAA: 2.08, SAVE %: .925

INJURY REPORT:

Predators - D P. Subban (Probable Thursday, ankle), LW C. Wilson (Questionable Thursday, lower body), C R. Johnasen (Out for season, thigh), LW K. Fiala (Out for season, leg).

Penguins - RW P. Hornqvist (Questionable Thursday, wrist), C N. Bonino (Questionable Thursday, lower body), RW T. Kuhnhackl (Out indefinitely, lower body), D C. Ruhwedel (Out indefinitely, concussion), K. Letang (Out for season, neck).

ABOUT THE PREDATORS: Franchise goaltender Pekka Rinne silenced critics by turning aside 50 of 52 shots in his last two games to improve to 9-1 at home in the postseason, but his play in Pittsburgh leaves plenty to be desired. The three-time Vezina Trophy finalist has yielded at least four goals in each contest en route to losing all five of his career decisions in the Steel City, including eight tallies on 36 shots collectively in Games 1 and 2. Rinne's defense has been up to the task in the last two contests, but P.K. Subban's availability for Game 5 could be in question as the blue-liner was not on the ice to begin practice Wednesday after blocking Evgeni Malkin's shot late the third period in Game 4.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS: In a move that parallels that of Nashville coach Peter Laviolette prior to Game 3, Sullivan refused to reveal the identity of his starting netminder for Game 5 after Matt Murray yielded eight goals on 58 shots in the last two contests. For his part, the 23-year-old Murray admitted he wouldn't spill the beans even if he was in on the secret, telling the team's website Wednesday that "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." Murray has posted a 5-3 mark with a 2.08 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in the past nine games after missing the first two rounds of the playoffs because of a lower-body injury, with veteran Marc-Andre Fleury recording a 9-6 mark with a 2.56 GAA and .924 save percentage.

TRENDS:

* Predators are 0-4 in the last four meetings in Pittsburgh.
* Home team is 7-0 in the last seven meetings.
* Under is 4-1-2 in Penguins last seven games after scoring two goals or less in the revious game.
* Under is 5-1-3 in Predators last nine Thursday games.

**Udog** · 06-08-2017, 07:53 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Thursday, June 8

Nashville @ Pittsburgh

Game 9-10
June 8, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Nashville
13.412
Pittsburgh
11.577
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Nashville
by 2
4
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Pittsburgh
-145
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Nashville
(+125); Under

NHL
Long Sheet

Thursday, June 8

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NASHVILLE (55-34-0-13, 123 pts.) at PITTSBURGH (64-28-0-13, 141 pts.) - 6/8/2017, 8:00 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
PITTSBURGH is 6-4 (+1.5 Units) against the spread versus NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
PITTSBURGH is 6-4-0 straight up against NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
5 of 10 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+0.2 Units)

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NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, June 8

Home team won first four Finals games, and last seven Nashville-Pittsburgh tilts overall; Penguins are 10-4 in last 14 games with Nashville- five of last seven series games went over. Predators lost three of last four road games; they lost last four games in Steel City, outscored 18-8- under is 8-4-2 in their last 14 games. Pittsburgh won its last five home games. Under is 3-2-1 in their last six games. Penguins won Cup LY and in 2009; they’re 4-1 overall in Stanley Cup final series. Nashville is in its first Stanley Cup final. Predators are 4-12 on power play in series; Penguins are 1-16.

Stanley Cup final
Nashville-Pittsburgh
Pitt 5-3, -$160, O5.5
Pitt 4-1, -$140, U5.5
Nash 5-1, -$150, O5.5
Nash 4-1, -$135, U5.5

NHL

Thursday, June 8

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
NASHVILLE vs. PITTSBURGH
Nashville is 14-6 SU in its last 20 games
Nashville is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games on the road
Pittsburgh is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Pittsburgh is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games when playing Nashville

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Announcement

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 6/8

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 6/8

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