Wisconsin riding 14-game home opener win streak

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/10/2010 -

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -Wisconsin wants to shoot down the No. 1 comparison that's sure to be made Saturday when the 11th-ranked Badgers take on San Jose State: How would Wisconsin fare against Alabama?

The Spartans lost 48-3 to the top-ranked Crimson Tide last Saturday and San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre believes Wisconsin and Alabama are similar in style.

``They both have very good running games, they both have really good tailbacks, have experienced quarterbacks that know what they're doing. Defensively, they fly around,'' the coach said. ``It's going to be a very stern test.''

Wisconsin is a 38-point favorite against the Spartans and the Badgers only want to talk about winning their 15th straight home opener.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said people naturally will compare the two scores, but they've kept that chatter out of the locker room.

``It's a thought that goes through your mind,'' Bielema said. ``But you're more focused on what San Jose State is doing.''

One big difference in this game is that the Spartans will face Wisconsin's John Clay after avoiding reigning Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram last week.

The 252-pound Clay ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries in a 41-21 victory over UNLV in Las Vegas last Saturday.

``As you watch teams play them, they have to tackle him low. If you tackle him high you have no chance,'' MacIntyre said. ``The guy's a big, strong running back. The good thing about it is the second-teamer they bring in is only 5-11, 242, so they get a little smaller as it goes.''

That would be sophomore Montee Ball, who went for 79 yards and two more touchdowns on 16 carries. Freshman James White added 59 yards on 11 attempts and caught three passes for 37 yards.

Besides the running backs, Wisconsin's offensive line averages 323 pounds and the Badgers debuted a backup offensive lineman, Ryan Groy, as their newest fullback at 6-foot-5 and 307 pounds. Groy later switched uniforms at UNLV and played on the offensive line in the second half.

``The first series, we tried to ram it down their throats,'' said Groy, who took about 15 snaps at fullback. ``I was used a lot more than I thought I would be. I was really excited about it.''

Wisconsin is looking closely at making changes on its offensive line and quarterback Scott Tolzien said the competition is a sign of depth. The left side is set with pro prospects Gabe Carimi at left tackle, John Moffitt at left guard and Peter Konz at center.

On the right side, former walk-on Ricky Wagner, who earned a scholarship last week, is challenging starting tackle Josh Oglesby. Bill Nagy and Kevin Zeitler remain in competition for the guard slot there.

``Competition brings out the best in you,'' Tolzien said. ``The most eye opening thing for me is to see how those guys work. ... They don't say too much, they just grind and work and work and work.''

San Jose State quarterback Jordan Le Secla will need to be more efficient against the Badgers after the Spartans converted just 1 of 13 third-down attempts. MacIntyre said many of those failed conversions were his team's fault, not the defensive effort of Alabama.

San Jose State has netted more than $1 million for the games against Alabama and Wisconsin after reportedly turning down a $450,000 guaranteed game at Arizona State for a much sweeter offer from the Badgers. MacIntyre wishes the Spartans were playing closer to home, but said it's important to play marquee programs.

That means traveling more than 1,700 miles each way in consecutive weeks and starting Saturday's game at Camp Randall Stadium when it's 9 a.m. back in California.

``I think it's worth it for the athletic department and our young men to play in those type of games and that type of atmosphere,'' MacIntyre said. ``They'll use (the money) for our programs and help with the budget situation. We are in the black and that's part of the reason, which is good for our whole university, not only athletically but academically.''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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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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