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09/28/2006 -
Team-by-team capsules for the Eastern Conference, listed in 2005-06 season order of finish:
ATLANTIC DIVISIONNEW JERSEY DEVILSLAST SEASON: 46-27-9, 101 points. Lost to Carolina 4-1 in conference semifinals.
COACH: Claude Julien, 1st season; 3rd overall, 72-71-17.
ADDED: C Mike Rupp.
LOST: D Tommy Albelin, D Ken Klee, C Viktor Kozlov.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: F Adrian Foster, F Tuomas Pihlman, F Barry Tallackson.
ICING: The Devils still have some maneuvering to do to get under the $44 million salary cap. They just signed LW Patrik Elias ($42 million) and D Colin White ($18 million) to long-term contracts and C Scott Gomez to a one-year, $5 million deal awarded to him through arbitration. RW Brian Gionta, who set a club record with 48 goals last season and young D Paul Martin are still restricted free agents. ... Julien joins Jacques Lemaire, Pat Burns and Larry Robinson as the fourth former Canadien appointed by GM Lou Lamoriello. The other three led the team to Stanley Cups. ... G Martin Brodeur has appeared in at least 70 games in eight straight seasons and nine of 10.
---PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
LAST SEASON: 45-26-11, 101 points. Lost to Buffalo 4-2 in first round of playoffs.
COACH: Ken Hitchcock, 4th season, 130-77-39; 11th overall, 407-243-99.
ADDED: D Nolan Baumgartner, LW Kyle Calder, RW Matt Cullen, C Marty Murray, LW Randy Robitaille, LW Geoff Sanderson.
LOST: LW Donald Brashear, D Eric Desjardins, C Michal Handzus, D Kim Johansson, C Keith Primeau, RW Branko Radivojevic, RW Brian Savage, RW Turner Stevenson, D Chris Therien.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: C Ryan Potulny.
ICING: C Peter Forsberg has been skating on his surgically repaired right ankle and could be ready for the season opener. Forsberg originally was told he needed surgery on both ankles to repair torn ligaments and wouldn't be able to return until January. The Flyers were 35-16-9 with him last season and 10-10-2 without him. ... Primeau, Desjardins and Savage all retired during the offseason. ... Flyers players missed a league-leading 388 games because of injuries last season. G Antero Niittymaki is already out two months because of a hip injured during practice on Sept. 26, leaving the starting job to Robert Esche. ... Calder led Chicago in goals (26), assists (33), points (59), shorthanded goals (2) and game-winning goals (6) last season.
---NEW YORK RANGERS
LAST SEASON: 44-26-12, 100 points. Lost to New Jersey 4-0 in first round.
COACH: Tom Renney, 3rd season, 49-41-12; 5th overall, 88-94-21.
ADDED: C Matt Cullen, RW Adam Hall, LW Brendan Shanahan, G Stephen Valiquette, D Aaron Ward.
LOST: RW Fedor Fedorov, LW Dominic Moore, D Sandis Ozolinsh, D Tom Poti, C Steve Rucchin, C Martin Rucinsky, RW Petr Sykora, LW Chad Wiseman.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: LW Nigel Dawes, C Jarkko Immonen.
ICING: RW Jaromir Jagr helped the Rangers end a nine-year playoff drought by setting club records with 54 goals and 123 points. The points were his most since recording 127 for Pittsburgh in 1998-99. But he underwent surgery on his dislocated left shoulder nearly five months ago and has just been cleared to skate. ... G Henrik Lundqvist was a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie after going 30-12-9 with a 2.24 GAA. Another rookie, RW Petr Prucha, had 30 goals in 68 games. ... Cullen, Shanahan and Ward have combined to win seven Stanley Cups. Cullen and Ward were members of the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes last season. ... Shanahan is two goals shy of 600 for his career while Jagr is nine away. ... Gritty F Jed Ortmeyer was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism during the offseason and is sidelined indefinitely.
---NEW YORK ISLANDERS
LAST SEASON: 36-40-6, 78 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Ted Nolan, 1st season; 3rd overall, 73-72-19.
ADDED: LW Andy Hilbert, D Sean Hill, C Viktor Kozlov, D Tom Poti, C Mike Sillinger, LW Chris Simon, D Brendan Witt.
LOST: RW Eric Godard, D Tomi Pettinen, C Wyatt Smith, G Garth Snow.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: C Petteri Nokelainen.
ICING: The Isles resembled a three-ring circus during the offseason. First, they abruptly fired GM Neil Smith less than a month after hiring him and replaced him with former backup goalie Snow. Smith was responsible for the team's major signings during the summer. Then on Sept. 12, G Rick DiPietro was signed to an unprecedented 15-year, $67.5 million contract. ... Nolan last coached in the NHL in 1997, the year he won the Jack Adams Award as coach of Buffalo. Last season, he guided Moncton of the QMJHL to its first President Cup. ... The Islanders scored only 230 goals last season, tying them with Boston for fewest in the Eastern Conference. They haven't had a player produce more than 75 points in a season since Ziggy Palffy had 87 in 1997-98. ... Sillinger scored a career-high 32 goals last season while splitting time with St. Louis and Nashville.
---PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
LAST SEASON: 22-46-14, 58 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Michel Therrien, 2nd season, 14-29-8; 5th overall, 91-119-31.
ADDED: D Mark Eaton, LW Nils Ekman, C Dominic Moore, RW Ronald Petrovicky, RW Mark Recchi, LW Jarkko Ruutu.
LOST: LW Eric Boguniecki, G Sebastien Caron, C Shane Endicott, LW Andy Hilbert, RW Konstantin Koltsov, D Lyle Odelein, LW Tomas Surovy, LW Ryan VandenBussche.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: C Evgeni Malkin, D Noah Welch.
ICING: The Penguins won the tug-of-war with Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk over the services of Malkin, the No. 2 selection in the 2004 NHL draft. But his regular-season debut will be delayed because he dislocated his left shoulder during a preseason game and is expected to be sidelined up to six weeks. Combined with C Sidney Crosby, who led the team with 39 goals and 102 points as a rookie last season, the team could have a lethal one-two center punch for the next decade. ... The nine defensemen that finished last season on the Penguins' roster combined for a minus-50 rating. Odelein is the only non-returnee and Eaton was the only addition to the blueline. ... Recchi returns for a third stint with the team. He played 63 games for the Penguins last season, scoring 24 goals and 33 assists, before he was traded to the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
---NORTHEAST DIVISIONOTTAWA SENATORS
LAST SEASON: 52-21-9, 113 points. Lost to Buffalo 4-1 in conference semifinals.
COACH: Bryan Murray, 2nd season; 16th overall, 565-434-140.
ADDED: D Joe Corvo, G Martin Gerber, D Tom Preissing.
LOST: C Tyler Arnason, D Zdeno Chara, G Dominik Hasek, RW Martin Havlat, D Brian Pothier, C Bryan Smolinski.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: C Josh Hennessy.
ICING: The Senators continued their trend of faltering in the playoffs after a strong regular season in 2005-06 by getting eliminated in the second round after tying the club record for wins and points. They have had five 100-point seasons in the last seven campaigns, but have failed to make it to the conference finals. ... Gerber won 38 games for Carolina last season, but was benched in the playoffs in favor of Cam Ward. Ray Emery was 23-11-4 as an injury fill-in for Hasek. ... The Senators were the highest-scoring team in the NHL last season with 314 goals, including 50 from LW Dany Heatley and 43 from C Daniel Alfredsson. ... Corvo, who was expected to fill the void left by Chara's departure, is out up to six weeks with a broken foot.
---BUFFALO SABRES
LAST SEASON: 52-24-6, 110 points. Lost to Carolina 4-3 in conference finals.
COACH: Lindy Ruff, 9th season, 305-267-84.
ADDED: D Jaroslav Spacek.
LOST: RW J.P. Dumont, D Rory Fitzpatrick, RW Mike Grier, D Jay McKee, LW Taylor Pyatt.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: LW Daniel Paille, D Nathan Paetsch.
ICING: Despite injuries to key players, the Sabres qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2001 and advanced to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last season. The effort helped Ruff earn the Jack Adams Award for top coach. ... Buffalo had the second-best penalty-killing team last season (86.6 percent) and third-best power-play unit (21.2). ... Five of the six players who scored at least 20 goals last season are returning. ... C Tim Connolly likely will miss the start of the season because he's still experiencing post-concussion symptoms after being hurt during the playoffs.
---MONTREAL CANADIENS
LAST SEASON: 42-31-9, 93 points. Lost to Carolina 4-2 in first round.
COACH: Guy Carbonneau, 1st season.
ADDED: RW Mike Johnson, LW Sergei Samsonov.
LOST: C Jan Bulis, D Todd Simpson, RW Nicklas Sundstrom, RW Richard Zednik.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: RW Andrei Kostitsyn, C Guillaume Latendresse.
ICING: C Saku Koivu has looked strong in the preseason, showing no ill effects from a serious eye injury that occurred during Game 3 of the Canadiens' first-round playoff series against Carolina. ... The trade of G Jose Theodore led to the emergence of G Cristobal Huet, who led Montreal to the playoffs after recording a league-best .929 save percentage and seven shutouts in 36 games. The former Los Angeles Kings castoff was rewarded with a two-year contract. ... RW Michael Ryder followed up his 25-goal rookie campaign with 30 tallies in 2005-06. The same could not be said for C Mike Riberio, who disappointed with 16 goals and 51 points last season.
---TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
LAST SEASON: 41-33-8, 90 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Paul Maurice, 1st season; 10th overall, 268-307-99.
ADDED: D Hal Gill, D Pavel Kubina, C Michael Peca, G Andrew Raycroft.
LOST: C Jason Allison, G Ed Belfour, D Aki Berg, RW Tie Domi, D Alexander Khavanov, C Eric Lindros, D Luke Richardson, C Clarke Wilm.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: D Brendan Bell, D Carlo Colaiacovo, C John Pohl, RW Aleksander Suglobov, D Ian White.
ICING: The pressure is squarely on Raycroft, the former Calder Trophy winner who slumped mightily with the Bruins last season by going 8-19-2 with a 3.71 GAA. Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Mikael Tellqvist are competing for the backup job and could possibly start if Raycroft gets off to another slow start. ... The Leafs finished the season 9-1-2, but missed the playoffs by two points. It was their first non-playoff year since 1998. ... The Leafs are hoping C Alexander Steen and C Kyle Wellwood can improve from their strong rookie seasons and provide much-needed depth scoring. ... Maurice, who was promoted from the AHL squad, guided Carolina to the 2002 Stanley Cup finals.
---BOSTON BRUINS
LAST SEASON: 29-37-16, 74 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Dave Lewis, 1st season; 5th overall, 100-48-21.
ADDED: D Wade Brookbank, D Zdeno Chara, D Nathan Dempsey, RW Shean Donovan, LW Jeff Hoggan, D Paul Mara, RW Mark Mowers, C Marc Savard, LW Petr Tenkrat, D Jason York.
LOST: D Nick Boynton, RW Tom Fitzgerald, D Hal Gill, C Travis Green, RW Brad Isbister, LW Dan Locater, LW Shawn McEachern, G Andrew Raycroft, C Marty Reasoner, D David Tanabe.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: LW Petr Kalus, C Phil Kessel, C Yan Stastny, D Marc Stuart.
ICING: The Bruins overhauled their organization with a new general manager, coach and impact players on both sides of the ice. Chara, a free agent from Ottawa, automatically becomes the No. 1 defenseman and could serve as captain while Savard is coming off a career year with 28 goals and 97 points for Atlanta. ... G Hannu Toivonen, the team's first-round pick in 2002, is competing with G Tim Thomas to see who steps in for the departed Raycroft. Toivonen was 9-5-4 with a 2.63 GAA last season before spraining his ankle in January, while Thomas showed promise filling in for the injured Raycroft with 12 wins and a 2.77 GAA. ... RW Glen Murray slumped to 24 goals last season after averaging 37 in his previous three campaigns.
---SOUTHEAST DIVISIONCAROLINA HURRICANES
LAST SEASON: 52-22-8, 112 points. Won Stanley Cup 4-3 over Edmonton.
COACH: Peter Laviolette, 3rd season, 72-48-14; 5th overall, 149-116-33.
ADDED: G John Grahame, RW Trevor Letowski, D David Tanabe, RW Scott Walker.
LOST: C Matt Cullen, G Martin Gerber, RW Mark Recchi, C Josef Vasicek, D Aaron Ward, C Doug Weight.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: None.
ICING: The defending champs already have injury woes. LW Cory Stillman could miss up to 40 games after having surgery in August to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, D Frantisek Kaberle had shoulder surgery on Sept. 11 and is out at least four months and D Bret Hedican is still recovering from hip and hand surgery. ... G Cam Ward played in only 28 regular-season games last season, but still won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He will inherit his first full-season starting job. ... Aaron Ward's departure and the injuries will put more pressure on D Oleg Tverdovsky to show he can still play in the league. Tverdovsky, who signed a three-year contract before last season, played sparingly in the playoffs. ... C Eric Staal was one of the seven 100-point scorers in the league last season.
---TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
LAST SEASON: 43-33-6, 92 points. Lost to Ottawa 4-1 in first round.
COACH: John Tortorella, 7th season, 164-165-42; 8th overall, 164-168-43.
ADDED: D Andy Delmore, F Zdenek Blatny, G Marc Denis, F Eric Healey, G Johan Holmqvist, D Doug Janik, C Andreas Karlsson, D Filip Kuba, D Luke Richardson.
LOST: C Martin Cibak, LW Chris Dingman, G John Grahame, D Pavel Kubina, LW Fredrik Modin, Darryl Sydor.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: Blatny.
ICING: The Lightning's top five forwards can match any in the league. RW Martin St. Louis is still dangerous despite struggling with inconsistency last season, C Brad Richards reached a career-high 91 points in 2005-06 and C Vincent Lecavalier scored 35 goals for the first time. ... Denis, acquired in a trade from Columbus, won the goaltending battle over veteran Sean Burke, who cleared waivers and was reassigned to the AHL. Holmqvist is the likely backup. ... C Tim Taylor was named the team's eighth captain. ... Veteran C Rob DiMaio had a concussion during the preseason, paving the way for highly touted C Eric Perrin to stick with the big club.
---ATLANTA THRASHERS
LAST SEASON: 41-33-8, 90 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Bob Hartley, 4th season, 93-89-21; 8th overall, 286-207-69.
ADDED: G Fred Brathwaite, G Johan Hedberg, C Niko Kapanen, C Jason Krog, C Glen Metropolit, C Steve Rucchin, LW Jon Sim, RW Kyle Wanvig.
LOST: C Serge Aubin, RW Peter Bondra, G Mike Dunham, RW Francis Lessard, D Jaroslav Modry, RW Ronald Petrovicky, C Marc Savard, G Steve Shields, C Patrik Stefan, RW J.P. Vigier.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: D Braydon Coburn, D Marc Popovic.
ICING: The Thrashers had their first winning record in franchise history last season and missed the playoffs by two points, but a repeat performance will be a challenge with the losses of Savard and Bondra. The team acquired mostly defensive forwards during the offseason. ... G Kari Lehtonen has to remain healthy for the Thrashers to have any chance of claiming their first postseason berth. The second overall pick in the 2002 NHL entry draft won 20 games last season, but missed 41 contests with groin and ankle injuries. ... RW Marian Hossa had a career-high 92 points in his first season in Atlanta. ... LW Ilya Kovalchuk's offensive production has increased in his each of his first four seasons, reaching 52 goals and 98 points in 2005-06.
---FLORIDA PANTHERS
LAST SEASON: 37-34-11, 85 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Jacques Martin, 2nd season; 13th overall, 444-360-130.
ADDED: D Bryan Allen, G Craig Anderson, G Alex Auld, G Ed Belfour, RW Todd Bertuzzi, LW Ville Peltonen, D Ruslan Salei.
LOST: D Jamie Allison, D Sean Hill, D Alexander Karpovtsev, D Lukas Krajicek, G Roberto Luongo, G Jamie McLennan, C Serge Payer, RW Jon Sim.
ROOKIE TO WATCH: D Ari Vallin.
ICING: Mike Keenan shocked the organization by resigning as general manager on Sept. 3, leaving Martin to handle both the coaching and GM duties. ... The Panthers have a new goalie tandem this season. Auld, who came from Vancouver in the Luongo deal, had a career-high 33 wins in 2005-06 and will compete for the starting job with the 41-year-old Belfour. ... C Olli Jokinen reached career highs with 38 goals and 89 points last season and was rewarded with a four-year deal worth $21 million in March. His previous high in points was 65 in 2002-03. ... The Panthers went 18-11-0-3 against the Southeast Division last season.
---WASHINGTON CAPITALS
LAST SEASON: 29-41-12, 70 points. Out of playoffs.
COACH: Glen Hanlon, 3rd season, 44-71-21; 3rd overall.
ADDED: LW Donald Brashear, D Brian Pothier, LW Peter Vandermeer, LW Chad Wiseman, RW Richard Zednik.
LOST: D Mathieu Biron, C Jeff Halpern, D Ivan Majesky, RW Brian Willsie, D Nolan Yonkman.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: RW Tomas Fleischmann, C Alexandre Giroux, D Mike Green, C Jakub Klepis.
ICING: The Capitals could have been the most exciting last-place team in 2005-06 with LW Alexander Ovechkin electrifying the league with 52 goals and 106 points en route to winning the Calder Trophy as the top rookie over Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. ... Popular RW Richard Zednik is back for a second stint in Washington, while 22-year-old Alexander Semin also returns after deserting the team for Russia before the lockout. ... Despite Ovechkin's 52 man-advantage points, the Capitals had the fifth-worst power-play in the league last season at 14.7 percent. ... Washington was one of two teams that allowed more than 300 goals last season. Pittsburgh was the other. ... G Olaf Kolzig is back for a 15th NHL season - all with the Capitals.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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