Friday Trends and Indexes 12/15

[Udog]

NCAAB

Oregon is 8-0, and should have no problem sweeping through last four non-league games, before they open Pac-10 play vs the Beavers in two weeks. They're 2-3 vs spread as favorite so far in season. Eastern Washington has NBA-level player in Stuckey, but rest of club is strictly Big Sky; they're 1-5 on road, losing at Gonzaga (90-75), UNLV (82-79), Washington (90-83), Northridge (102-98) and Santa Clara (91-68); they won 87-66 at Portland. Pac-10 home favorites are 21-23 vs spread. Big Sky road dogs are 16-16 against the spread this season.

[Udog]

NFL

Saturday Quick Look

Dunkel

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16

Game 253-254: Dallas at Atlanta
Dunkel Ratings: Dallas 132.863; Atlanta 129.008
Dunkel Line: Dallas by 4; 46
Vegas Line: Dallas by 3; 43 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Dallas (-3); Over

Long Sheet
DALLAS (8 - 5) at ATLANTA (7 - 6) - 12/16/2006, 8:00 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.


Head-to-Head Series History
There were no past matchups in this series during this time period.

Short Sheet
Saturday, December 16th

Dallas at Atlanta, 8:00 EST NFL
Dallas: 25-12 ATS off a loss by 14+ points
Atlanta: 6-18 ATS at home off a win by 10+ points

** (TC) Denotes Time Change


Cowboys (8-5) @ Falcons (7-6)- Last time Vick played at home, he flipped fans off as he left field; now, after two road wins for Falcons, this is pivotal game in NFC playoff race; Atlanta has outscored last two foes 31-0 in second half, but defensive score sparked comeback in Tampa last week, bailing out inept Atlanta passing game. Only once in last eight games have Falcons led at half; they've lost three of last four games. Dallas had win streak stopped at four by Saint pass offense that averaged 9.7 yds/ attempt last week. Under is 5-0-1 in Falcons' last six games.

[Udog]

Six-Pack for Friday

The NFL Network Edition

Pathetic effort by Seahawks Thursday; Seattle will be the worst team to win its division since.....the Seahawks in '04.

Weather was horrible through the first quarter; the Jumbo Tron blacked out during warmups, the turf was buckling in pre-game, due to drainage problems, but the weather was halfway decent for the last three quarters.

49ers will be fashionable choice next summer to contend for NFC title; Alex Smith has made good progress under his coordinator Norv Turner, and the NFC isn't real strong.

Bryant Gumbel isn't a very good play-by-play guy; twice he called Frank Gore "Al". They should have hired brother Greg; he's a lot better than Bryant at play-by-play.

49ers center broke his leg last night; Gumbel said that he might be done for year. There's two freakin' weeks left in the season, and the guy broke his leg. You think he's done?

In long run, NFL is going to have to cave in on its deal with DirecTV; they're going to be victims of own popularity Too many people want Sunday Ticket to restrict it to those of us lucky enough to be able to receive a satellite signal.

[Udog]

Friday's List of 13:

Random thoughts with weekend here

13) If you're coaching Miami Dolphins, are you OK going into 2007 with Joey Harrington as your starting QB?

12) If you own Miami Dolphins, are you asking why we took Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees?

11) Jeffrey Jordan (son of very famous father) has his college choices narrowed to these four schools: Loyola, Illinois St, Davidson, Illinois-Chicago.

10) USC got PG Gabe Pruitt back, so team that is second in country in effective FG% defense is about to get stronger, just in time for conference play to start.

9) Missouri Valley moved up to #2 in country in conference RPI, which means when Selection Sunday rolls around, they are going to get four or five teams in the Field of 65.

8) Air Force leads country with an effective FG% (3's count as 1.5 baskets) of 63.8%, 2.3% higher than anyone else in the country. And they've played a pretty solid schedule.

7) Allegheny Gators closed out first semester 5-3 when they beat Thiel by seven points Wednesday. Gators are headed to Daytona Beach after Christmas to play two opponents with a combined record of 11-1, so they'll have lot of work to do.

6) Mr Matsuzaka's salary totals $52M; assuming scumweasel agent Boras gets the standard 4%, that makes his take for the whole ordeal $2,080,000, or $346,700 a year. Now its on to see who he can rip off for Barry Zito's services.

5) Rumor has it that Joel Zumaya's wrist/forearm injury during Detroit's playoff run last fall was caused by playing excessive amount of video games. Seriously.

4) Lincoln College scored 201 points against some hapless opponent couple weeks ago, then wondered why people had a problem with humiliating a defenseless foe. Last night, they played someone of similar ability, and lost at Penn St-Altoona 95-86. What goes around, comes around.

3) To me, and maybe I'm old-fashioned, if I am running a team, I want my best player(s) to lead by example. They don't have to be goody-two shoes-types, but they have to be guys who do the things it takes to win. To me, Allen Iverson isn't a guy I'd want my whole team following.

2) He plays his butt off for 48 minutes every night, for sure, and he produces big stats, but maybe there's a reason none of his teammates have developed into supporting stars. If a team's offense is totally dominated by one guy, it is tough to develop secondary options.

1) I think the people who are crucifying the Sixers for trading Iverson are people who care more about entertainment than winning; they enjoy watching him play, and assume he is an easy guy to play with, but he's actually a much better guy for a fantasy team.than a real-life team.

Philly has had four coaches the last four years; is this in any way a coincidence? I think not.

[Dennis14072]

Thanks guys!