Alan Woods, who was among the first to win big money handicapping and wagering on horse racing via sophisticated computer-aided methods, has died in Hong Kong. He was 62.

Woods commandeered a successful gambling operation that allowed him to build a half-billion dollar fortune. This lengthy article, which has a bit of age on it (I first read it a couple of years ago), gives some interesting details about how he managed to extract so much money out of the massive wagering pools in Hong Kong, as well as the lifestyle one lives when he wins a few hundred million at the races.

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I haven’t offered more than a passing glance at a Racing Form past performance since June, so thanks to you guys who keep me updated with interesting horse notes like the following:

More than five years after the 2002 Breeder’s Cup pick six results was won in illicit fashion by past-posting the early legs of the sequence, the integrity of the parimutuel wagering system still leaves much to be desired. At a racing conference one gentlemen showed tangible proof that he was able to wager from Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky on a race at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans more than 45 seconds after the race had started.

Check out the Race 5, 6, 7 Pick 3 on New Year’s Day at Aqueduct. $57,000 pool and only $2 had the winning combination. After scratches (sloppy track) there were only 8, 7, and 8 horses in the three fields, so you would think at least a couple of people would have hit it wheeling with one of the winning longshots, but only a pair of $1 tickets split the entire pool.

Given a forum in The New York Times, the inimitable Steve Crist blasts the corrupt and wasteful OTB system in New York.

That’s it. Your next horse racing update will be some time in the next 365 days or so.

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Here’s another 25 items of interest to those who don’t mind placing a wager or two on the games they enjoy.

1. First downs aren’t the most valuable stat in football, but they can tell you a lot about a team’s ability to sustain offense. In an average performance an NFL team will get 18 or 19 first downs in a game. A look at some first down numbers show some abominable offensive performances last weekend. Five NFL teams had 11 first downs or less. The Vikings had 11 yet somehow managed to beat the Niners. The Rams, Raiders, and Panthers had 10 each in losing by a combined 94-23. The Chiefs were held to a putrid 7 first downs in their 41-7 shellacking at the hands of the Broncos.
2. So what did these clubs have in common? They were all on the road. But more importantly, their starting quarterbacks were Tarvaris Jackson, Brock Berlin, Josh McCown, Vinny Testaverde, and Brodie Croyle. There is simply a dearth of quality quarterbacks in the NFL.
3. The fact that the pass-first quarterback is not exactly the rage in college football isn’t going to do anything to feed better young quarterbacks into the league.
4. In a not-unrelated note, favorites went 12-4 in the NFL last weekend.
5. For a while it looked like Jack Pardee was going to get hired to replace Art Briles (moved on to Baylor) at Houston. And they were serious. Briles will turn 72 during spring practice.
6. Neither of the two “finalists” in the article on Pardee was hired. Instead the Cougar job goes to Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin, who becomes the eighth minority coach in Division 1-A football.
7. While still calling them Breeders’ Cup races, Friday appears to becoming the Cup’s version of the Busch Series. Was there that big of a need for a race for two-year old turf fillies? A mile-and-a-half dirt marathon? Not that I mind having more races to bet on, but there’s some dilution of the title “Breeders’ Cup Champion”, isn’t there?
8. Clemens? Of course. Tejada? Obviously. But I wouldn’t have taken 200-1 odds that Hal Morris would have been on that list. Hal Morris had 76 home runs in 3,998 career at bats. It would be a challenge to find a first baseman who played 10+ years in the majors with lower power numbers than Hal Morris. I guess there’s juicing and then there’s juicing correctly.
9. Still no test for HGH in MLB.
10. It is easy to forget exactly how quiet “exam week” is in college basketball. Including the “added” board, there are only 18 total bettable games from Monday through Friday in all of college hoops.
11. My Strategic Sports Publishing basketball selection service is off to another great start this season. We’re hitting over 60% in both college (65.7%) and pro (61.5%) hoops. Since the start of last season in the Sports Monitor’s regular season college basketball rankings we’ve notched a 113-64 (64.5%) mark. For information on this service, call 1-770-649-1078 for rates and details.
12. The vast majority of our college hoops plays are sides, but you may have noticed that college totals are going up later and later, at lower and lower limits, and are moving quicker and quicker?
13. The International Olympic Committee considers illegal gambling to be a significant threat and is eager to work with legal wagering firms in an effort to track the action on Olympic sports. The IOC understands that the paper trail that legal, licensed wagering provides is essential.
14. Yet here in the US, street bookies are once again flourishing due to Bill Frist’s ill-conceived legislation from last fall.
15. Of course offshore and online sports books really aren’t doing that badly, and it isn’t nearly as difficult to withdraw and collect as the media suggests.
16. We’ve been telling you for months now how important the Antigua vs. US case is in front of the World Trade Organization. It looks like a decision may be imminent in the online gambling dispute.
17. Southern Miss hired Larry Fedora as their new head coach. A tip of the hat to Fedora, the former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator.
18. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I actually stole that line from Marc Lawrence, who used it while I was guesting on his radio show.
19. The “calling of the hogs” was the most entertaining part of the Bobby Petrino press conference, but the lack of challenging questions from the “reporters” in Arkansas was the most striking. Tony Barnhart has a few that could have been asked had the sports media in Fayeteville not been so compliant.
20. Petrino’s old boss, Tom Jurich, the AD at Louisville, says that his former coach is now “five for five”, actively looking for a new job each of the past five seasons. That’s just one of the nuggets in Pat Forde’s terrific takedown of Petrino.
21. There are some bad actors on the Falcons, but Warrick Dunn and Joey Harrington, good soldiers throughout a difficult year, offer some illuminating examples of Petrino as a guy who was completely overmatched.
22. Petrino overshadowed a couple of other coaching moves in the SEC this week. A couple of years ago Al Borges was the toast of the town in Auburn, Alabama. But the offensive coordinator was let go by Tommy Tuberville this week.
23. After not capturing the Southern Miss job, Tyrone Nix becomes the defensive coordinator at Ole’ Miss for Houston Nutt. It is a lateral move in title, but a $100,000 raise for Nix. Steve Spurrier might not mind Nix’s departure after the injury-fueled late season collapse by his defense.
24. Handicappers Matty Baiungo and Erik Scheponik share a well-done and successful free selection phone. Call this 24-hour voice mail broadcast at 1-404-250-7555 for solid winning information. I’m a contributor on a similar effort at 1-770-618-8700.
25. Back next week with a bowl-heavy effort. Have a great weekend.

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As we head into the weekend, here are 25 more observations from the sports and wagering worlds.

1. Sorry, but no critiques of the BCS here. Rather, the effort will be to give you some stuff you didn’t already know rather than just shoot fish in a barrel.
2. Though Peter King of Sports Illustrated apparently disagrees. Yes, he really wrote, “The BCS worked out. Ohio State-LSU is the game I want to see for all the marbles.” King frequently uncovers worthwhile NFL tidbits, but his college football thoughts couldn’t be any more laughable.
3. It is difficult not to root for the service academies so it is tough to see Paul Johnson leaving Navy.
4. But if he had to leave I’m glad he’s coming here to Atlanta to coach Georgia Tech, I’m looking forward to studying him up close. It will be fascinating to see how he implements an offense that is more pass-oriented than his Navy attack, which would often only feature 4 or 5 passes per game. Johnson is a sharp cookie and the ACC is ripe for the taking, with a lot of programs in real down cycles right now.
5. Some of the decision makers at Georgia Tech wanted to give the job to Will Muschamp, Auburn’s defensive coordinator. He’s a sharp young coach but the concern was that the Tech fan base wouldn’t accept someone who played and coached at Georgia. Worth noting that Vince Dooley was an Auburn man, while Bo Schembechler was an assistant coach at Ohio State for five years before coaching at Michigan (with Miami-Ohio in between.)
6. Muschamp may be Arkansas bound. The Hogs have been turned down by their first four choices to replace Houston Nutt, and Nutt had turned them down, as well, refusing a two-year extension.
7. How does Iowa State lose by 35 to Drake? Everyone got a lot of laughs at the Larry Eustachy Party Pix a few years back, but Eustachy’s fall devastated that basketball program, as he had the Cyclones cooking for a few years.
8. Basketball has extraordinary changes of fortune within individual games. Providence notched a 98-89 win over Boston College last weekend in which they led 62-38, allowed BC to come back with a 38-8 run, and then Providence closed the game through the overtime on a 28-13 tear.
9. The emotion of that comeback took a toll on PC, as the Friars were wiped out by Rhode Island on Tuesday night then lost as a favorite to South Carolina on Thursday.
10. Gauging a team’s emotion is always critical down the stretch in the NFL season, and this season more than ever, as the leaders of all eight divisions are up two games or more.
11. Poker pro Chip Reese, who died this week at the relatively young age of 56, was a phenomenal sports bettor as well. Sports betting is a leak for a lot of “poker pros” but it was a consistent source of income for Reese.
12. Swing..and a miss. For various reasons I liked the Suns/Raptors game under the total on Wednesday night. I lost by a mere half-a-hundred as the Suns were red-hot and uptempo in a 136-123 win.
13. Despite that humiliating loss, basketball is going really well again this year. The NBA is 60% and college is well over 60%, for a combined mark of 64%+. For rates and details on our basketball selection service call 1-770-649-1078.
14. In 84 attempts Dolphin rookie John Beck’s longest completion has been 22 yards. Beck has started three games and Miami has yet to score an offensive touchdown behind the BYU rookie.
15. Miami’s opponent this week, the Bills, haven’t exactly been tearing it up offensively themselves, with an abject refusal to throw the ball downfield. With the forecast reading “snow to ice” on Sunday in Orchard Park, is this an automatic under, or is it the kind of “obvious” play that doesn’t work?
16. Have you ever seen a team show up their coaches like Baltimore did following the Rex Ryan timeout from the sideline on Monday night? As Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston opines, this team “constantly complains like a bunch of babies.”
17. I’ve gotten some “what are these betting exchanges you write about?” feedback. A serviceable explanation is offered by the BBC.
18. And while I haven’t been following the race-fixing case over there at all, horse owner Miles Rodgers looks to be quite the action junkie.
19. Remember the “kid on Christmas morning” glee emanating from the nation’s capital when Joe Gibbs was hired. Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?
20. I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing rushing statistics in the NFL, and here’s an example why. The two best NFL teams based on net yards per rush differential are the Vikings (run for 5.6, give up 3.0, for a net differential of +2.6) and the Ravens (run for 4.0, give up 2.9, for a differential of nearly +1.2). The two best teams on the line of scrimmage are both struggling.
21. Conversely, the top four teams in net yards per pass differential are the Cowboys (pass for 8.5, give up 5.9, for +2.6), the Steelers (+2.3), the Patriots (+2.1), and the Colts (+1.9). Though we’re dealing with statistics in retrospect, this should tell us something, shouldn’t it?
22. The Steelers passing numbers are impressive, particularly their pass D (4.8 yards per attempt is best in the league), but the Men of Steel have played the easiest schedule in the league according to several power ratings, including Sagarin’s.
23. Handicappers Matty Baiungo and Erik Scheponik share a well-done and successful free selection phone. Call this 24-hour voice mail broadcast at 1-404-250-7555 for solid winning information. I’m a contributor on a similar effort at 1-770-618-8700.
24. Since the average sports fan has so little interest in horse racing, more than ever before the pro bettors are competing against each other, making it hard to make the kind of money that they used to. Not addressed in this article is how these big guns wouldn’t even be playing if it weren’t for rebates, which are more hush-hush than ever before.
25. I’m off to coach the Arizona Wildcats for the rest of the hoops season. Have a great weekend.

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Hold onto your hat (or grab the No-Doz). Here are 25 more observations on everything in the orbit of the sports wagering world.

1. I never would have bet on the Texans last week had I known that their offensive coordinator was more interested in the Texas A&M job than he was in attacking the Cleveland Browns defense.
2. And where has a head coach imported from the NFL worked in college football? Pitt? Syracuse? Notre Dame? Nebraska? There’s a big difference in coaching college kids and NFL men, and if you haven’t experienced campus in the last five years things have changed in an awful lot of ways.
3. Mike Price’s potential return to Washington State makes an awful lot of sense.
4. Tyrone Nix’s return to Southern Miss makes an awful lot of sense.
5. But Nix should be careful. 14 straight winning seasons got Jeff Bower shoved out the door. Bower, who reportedly turned down opportunities over the years for big-time ACC and SEC jobs to be loyal to Southern Miss, deserved much, much better.
6. Slick Rick Neuheisel is being pushed for the Georgia Tech job by Brian Billick. Tech is sure to jump at the chance to hire a guy who left a trail of probation and lawsuits everywhere he’s been, right? Someone tell Billick that Tech’s looking for fiery, not sleazy.
7. The Mark Mangino success story is remarkable. The Kansas coach worked the most mundane jobs imaginable while trying to break into coaching. He was 1-9 in his lone year as a high school coach in Pennsylvania. When those folks ran him out of town Mangino, at age 35, moved his wife and three kids to take a grad assistant job at Kansas State paying less than $1,000 a month. Who would be crazy enough to do that?
8. But the best nugget may be the fact that the hefty (I’m being kind with the language here) Mangino used to whip up on Bobby Stoops in racquetball, though that has “fool the reporter” written all over it.
9. Only three teams in college football have outgained every opponent, and they all play on Saturday. But that yardage dominance hasn’t translated into pointspread success for BYU, Hawaii, and West Virginia. BYU is 5-5 to the number with a1-AA opponent leading to an unlined game. Hawaii played a pair of lower division teams, and are 4-5 spreadwise in the rest. West Virginia is 6-4-1 to the spread when you call Marshall a push and Cincy a loss. 15-14-1 against the spread for three teams that are a combined 31-2 straight up show once again that the pointspread can be a great equalizer.
10. Of course it isn’t always a great equalizer. The Patriots (9-2 ATS) visit the Ravens (1-10 to the number) Saturday.
11. New England continues to break new barriers in the pointspread world. They’re the largest ever non-replacement road favorite this week.
12. Can you imagine the volume of play that flew in on the under, quarters under, first half under, and team totals under when the condition of the field in Pittsburgh became apparent on ESPN during the delay right before game time? My personal favorite was an alternate total of under 30.5 at +240.
13. What time do you think the FieldTurf salesman was at Heinz Field on Tuesday morning?
14. Mike Tomlin showed a lot of stubbornness Monday night. He was determined to pound the ball heading into the game and didn’t let the fact that his offensive linemen couldn’t get any traction or the fact that Big Ben was on his way to an 18 for 21 night get in the way of his plan. Though completing passes at will, the Steelers ran 29 times despite the lack of success on the ground.
15. Roethlisberger should be bigger than this. Speaking of his former coordinator, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, Roethlisberger says, “so many coordinators in this league have such big egos. They don’t want to listen to their players.” C’mon Ben, you won a Super Bowl with the guy. Why so petty?
16. After the Celtics beat up on the Heat on Friday night, Miami’s professional football and basketball teams dropped to a combined 4-22. Their counterparts in Massachusetts improved to a combined 24-2.
17. The depth of the freshman class in college basketball is stunning. And it goes beyond the previously famous Mayos, Gordons, Beasleys, Loves, and Roses. Coaches on good teams and bad at the major, mid-major, and low-major levels are all raving about their own kids and their opponents as well. There are simply dozens of freshmen who are stepping into college basketball with amazing readiness.
18. Another sign of the growing maturity of college hoops players is the fact that it has been a few years since the first game back from an Alaska or Hawaii tournament was an automatic bet-against. Rather than taking a week to recover from, these jaunts are proving to be just another road trip for the modern college hoopsters.
19. As sleazy as so many of the overbearing AAU programs are, you have to admit that they’re preparing these kids for the rigors of big-time college basketball.
20. UMass 107 Syracuse 100 in regulation? The last time Syracuse scored 100 points in a game and lost was in 1968, when Niagara’s Calvin Murphy hung 68 points on them.
21. We won our only game in hoops on Friday night and are hitting better than 60% on the season. This is after at 90-52 (63%+) college basketball record for my Strategic Sports Publishing selection service last season. Call me at 1-770-649-1078 for details. I’m also pinch hitting for Dave Fobare on the hotline, a free broadcast at 1-770-618-8700. Dave will return when his health does.
22. Steve Crist, formerly the racing writer for the New York Times, is not pleased with his former employer for editorializing that betting the horses is akin to squandering one’s life.
23. Personality shown by an ESPN personality is rarely tolerated, so the reaction from Bristol had to be pretty stiff on this one. On a recent Friday night telecast, Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman mentioned that their sideline reporter Rob Stone was taking over ESPN’s bowling telecasts. They proceeded to trash the sport and everything about it. You have to think that the folks at the Worldwide Leader weren’t thrilled. Sharp catch by Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union. Apparently bowling fans are up in arms over Stone, who admits to very little bowling knowledge. Stone takes over for the always-solid Dave Ryan, who is now doing a lot more college football sideline work and basketball play-by-play.
24. Want to bone up on your international bureaucracy, particularly the background on why the WTO has some sway over US internet gambling policy? Well here you go.
25. Thanks for reading this far. Good luck this weekend. And be careful.

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Here’s this week’s Top 25, covering the NFL, college football, the NFL, and the financial speculation that accompanies the games.

1. In handicapping the Alabama/Auburn game, you’ve got to make a decision on the mental state of Alabama’s players, and on the statements Nick Saban made this week that have since been overshadowed by his September 11th/Pearl Harbor kerfuffle. Is Nick Saban’s ranting and raving about his players’ lack of commitment going to spur them on to a peak performance? Or has the tuneout factor already contributed to the three-game losing streak, including Saturday’s Louisiana-Monroe disaster?
2. Alabama and Georgia compete in recruiting quite a bit. If you’re a senior in high school you can spend the next four or five years playing where the assistants feel compelled to advise players to let the verbal attacks of the head coach go “in one ear and out the other.” On the other hand, you could play for a coach who lets you run on the field after TD’s and decide what color uniform you want to wear. Which would you choose?
3. And where was Mark Richt’s sudden motivational wizardry when I bet on his Bulldogs at Tennessee a few weeks ago?
4. When Oregon lost dual-threat QB Dennis Dixon, the offense all but ground to a halt behind big, immobile backup Brady Leaf. It is a very similar situation to earlier in the year, when Utah’s dual threat Brian Johnson got hurt and the Utes struggled behind big, immobile backup Tommy Grady. I understand that offensive systems change while players are in the program, but how are these teams stuck with backup quarterbacks incapable of running the offense?
5. Poor Oregon. Before Dixon’s injury the Ducks looked unstoppable, going for 186 yards on their first 18 plays from scrimmage. The rest of the game saw 277 yards on 79 plays. That’s 10.3 yards per play before Dixon’s injury, 3.5 yards per play afterwards.
6. Yes, the Ducks had 97 snaps, with 54 passes and 43 runs. How about those clock rules?
7. You knew in August that Kansas vs. Missouri was going to be the game of the year, didn’t you?
8. Kansas didn’t “sell” their home game to have it at Arrowhead, it just happens to be the first year of an effort to make Kansas City the host of this rivalry every year. While the Oklahoma/Texas, Georgia/Florida environments are a lot of fun, I’m sure the Jayhawks would love to have this game in Lawrence. There will be more Kansas fans at the game than Mizzou fans, as this was part of the Kansas season ticket package, but not Missouri’s.
9. A lot of wise guy money has gone down in flames trying to beat both Kansas (easy schedule) and Missouri (annual November collapse), as the expected corrections never materialized.
10. Tennessee is playing for the SEC East title, and has beaten Kentucky 22 straight times, the longest series streak in the nation, yet the Volunteers are the slight underdog on the road, though favored by less than the home field advantage.
11. If Kentucky wins, the longest losing streak in a series will belong to…..Kentucky. The Wildcats have lost to Florida 21 consecutive times. As you know, Navy’s win over Notre Dame broke the previous longest streak.
12. If you played with Mark Read of what was then called Darwin All Sports back in the mid-to-late 90’s, you won’t be surprised to hear that he’s still complaining about the Australian government’s regulation of bookmakers.
13. Things continue to heat up in the US government’s battle with the World Trade Organization over internet gambling.
14. Five NFL games are lined in the double digits this week, and it won’t take a lot of betting action to make it six, with the Chargers favored by 9 over the punchless Ravens.
15. The big spreads seem warranted, as it just happens to be a week where the best are meeting the worst, but the scoring margins are outside historical norms as well. In the past, usually around 39% of NFL games were decided by 6 or less, this year fewer than 32% of games have a final margin of less than a touchdown.
16. Eli Manning takes a lot of heat in the media cauldron of the Big Apple, but he made just about every right decision on Sunday. In the win over the Lions he hit seven different receivers in the first 21 minutes of the game. That’s Bradyesque.
17. I think the professional gamblers who have been fading the Patriots on a weekly basis are probably finally ready to get off a sinking ship. This may be a team that simply defies all situational handicapping logic. Without the wise guys keeping things in check (remember the huge line move on the Redskins three games ago?) the Patriots lines may really get into the stratosphere…at which point the pro gamblers will say, “you know….”
18. Ron Jaworski’s commentaries on poor quarterback scouting, and his complaints about “former defensive linemen” evaluating quarterbacks were interesting. And unless Alex Smith gets coached up in a hurry he looks like a colossal bust.
19. Or you could just let other teams develop quarterbacks for you. When Brodie Croyle got the call for the Chiefs on Sunday it was the first time that Kansas City had started a quarterback that they drafted since Todd Blackledge’s last start for the Chiefs in 1987.
20. With Mario Williams starting to show that he does actually have some potential, and DeMeco Ryans one of the better young players in the league, the Texans D has some good young pieces. They could use some veteran leadership, but with every starter in his twenties, this looks like a unit with a future. Dunta Robinson’s absence (torn ACL, injured reserve) hurts, but there are some definite building blocks in Houston.
21. Stay classy, New Jersey.
22. After 13 years of trying, legislation allowing slot machines at racetracks in Maryland has passed, but must be approved by voters in a referendum. Surrounded by slot-fueled purses in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, Maryland horse racing is fighting for its life.
23. And you horse guys won’t want to hear this, but a sport that requires subsidies to simply exist doesn’t have a bright future.
24. Bookies will tell you that guys who haven’t bet since last year come out of the woodwork at Thanksgiving. There’s just something about sitting around on Turkey Day that brings out even the most casual bettor, I guess.
25. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

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The bombs that seem to drop in the Breeders’ Cup every year make it a pretty attractive wagering proposition. I like horses, but am way too busy during football season to pay any attention to them. This combination makes me a sucker for hot tips from smart people on Cup Day (or this year, Days).

In the 8th Race, The Mile, two different smart guys I know gave me #4 Host, and they both seem to like him a lot. While it is not notable for thoroughbred sharpies to land on the same horse, what is notable is the odds. Host is listed at 30-1 on the morning line. I know nothing other than the fact that a couple of people like him. Still, based on the odds alone, Host might be worth a look.

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25 observations on, football (mostly), baseball, horse racing, and the sports betting world.

1. LSU is a tremendous team, with their only loss being on the road in overtime despite playing 5 teams currently 22nd or higher in the BCS rankings. The Tigers outgain opponents by over 200 yards per game on average. Yet they’ve failed to cover five in a row. The lesson? Beware September’s undisputed champion, as the pointspread is a great equalizer.

2. In taking on Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn, LSU has played five teams tougher than any individual opponent that undefeated Ohio State, Boston College, Kansas, Arizona State, and Hawaii have faced prior to this week. BC/Virginia Tech and Cal/Arizona State change that this weekend.

3. College scoring has skewed downward in recent weeks. Overs were rolling with the new rules early, but in conference play, with the great familiarity between opponents, scoring has lessened considerably. In fact, there have now been more unders than overs on the season, despite the big tear that over bettors enjoyed early.

4. CBS’s Spencer Tillman takes a break from predicting that all the Top 10 teams will win easily to talk about the how the Generation Y athlete needs to be motivated differently than their predecessors were.

5. Matt Forte of Tulane is a prime candidate for our annual Deonce Whitaker Award. Whitaker used to put up sick numbers at San Jose State with nobody noticing, and Forte is doing the same. After going for 342 yards on 38 carries at SMU on Saturday, Forte now has an incredible 753 yards rushing in his last three games.

6. Forte’s production is greatly enhanced by playing in Conference USA. Of the 12 teams allowing the most yards per game in 1A college football, 6 of them are CUSA entrants.

7. If you lost track of them after Stanford’s cataclysmic win over Southern Cal as 41-point underdogs, the Cardinal pulled off a win as a double digit dog in Tucson last week. As bad as they’ve been the past few years, Stanford is 9-3 as a road dog since the departure of Buddy Teevens.

8. It is every worse than you think it is at Nebraska. The 4-4 Huskers have been outgained in every single game since their opening win over Nevada. In the last three weeks they’ve been outscored by 88 points and outgained by 579 yards. Despite all this, coach Bill Callahan claims to be doing “an excellent job in every area.”

9. The losing leaves some Nebraska fans pleased, as at least it has them closer to a new coach.

10. Nick Saban thoroughly outcoached Phil Fulmer Saturday. Despite losing 5 players due to a surprise suspension involving textbook sales, Bama jumped the Vols early, opening with an onside kick that led to a field goal. The subsequent Bama TD drive was aided by a 4^th down offside call as Alabama motion confused Tennessee. A 3^rd down incomplete pass was canceled out by a Tennessee roughing the passer violation. And that was just the beginning. Folks in Miami don’t have much to say about him, but at this level he sure can coach.

11. Georgia people are yapping that even though they get half the tickets, Jacksonville isn’t a neutral site for the annual battle between Bulldogs and Gators. Funny, you don’t hear Oklahoma people whining about Dallas being favorable to the Longhorns, do you?

12. It was pretty remarkable to have the opportunity to get better than 2-1 odds in the World Series on a team that had won 21 of 22 games, but Game 1 of the Series showed that maybe the oddsmakers knew what they were doing. The Rockies couldn’t have looked any rustier off of their 8-day layoff.

13. The flow of the postseason was really damaged by the unnatural made-for-TV off days. In addition, it is terribly late to just be staring the Fall Classic. The 1975 World Series that the Red Sox lost to the Reds went seven games, had three rainouts between Games 6 and 7, and still wrapped up on October 22nd. This year’s didn’t even start until October 24th.

14. Sunday night in the NFL we saw how a bye week can completely interrupt a team’s flow. The Steelers were rolling into their off week while the Broncos were wheezing. The bye week proved to be momentum-interruptus, as Pittsburgh’s superior stats meant nothing. It was a victory for situational handicapping over matchup edges.

15. At -17, the Patriots were the biggest road favorite since a the 1987 player’s strike, when the replacement Niners were favored at the replacement Falcons by 23.5. The only time this year they’ll possibly threaten that is their game at the Bills. Games at the Colts, the Ravens, and the Giants will be much more competitively priced.

16. Will the Pats go undefeated? Obviously the game at Indy on November 4th is a huge stumbling block. But the season-ending Saturday game at the Giants is interesting. A win in Indy and chances are good that New England will have nothing to play for that final week of the campaign. Meanwhile, in a competitive division there’s every chance that it will be a critically important game for the Giants, who are a Wembley Stadium win over 0-7 Miami away from hitting their bye week with a 6-2 mark.

17. Trying to get Bill Belichick’s goat is becoming a cottage industry in the media. In the post game press conference, Sal Paolentonio was accusing him of running up the score at the same moment that the Texans took the lead after trailing by 25 in the fourth quarter. For the record, Belichick initially replaced Brady with Matt Cassel on the Patriots’ second drive of the second half.

18. Joey Porter has been a big-money free agent bust for the Dolphins. And finally taking a taste of success he wasn’t going to let the fact his club was getting blown out interfere with his personal histrionics. After picking up his first sack of the season in the second quarter he did the “kick the dirt” sack dance he believes that he was known for in Pittsburgh. On the next play a Tom Brady TD pass to Randy Moss made the score 35-7. Nice touch by Porter, however, to donate $5,000 to a youth basketball team for “at risk” kids.

19. Keyshawn Johnson was pretty tough with his cousin Chad Johnson in their “Sunday Conversation” on ESPN. It was a refreshing change from the enabling that Michael Irvin used to do in the same slot. Folks in Tampa Bay would probably have liked to see today’s Keyshawn Johnson interview the Keyshawn Johnson who was such a cancer on the Bucs that they paid him to stay away from the team late in the 2003 season.

20. Vikings Coach Brad Childress doesn’t seem to be the best in-game strategy guy in the league. He made a horrid decision to challenge a call in the third quarter in Dallas. Marion Barber scored on a 1-yard TD run to pull the Cowboys to within an extra point of a 14-all tie. Though the immediate replays showed that it was a definite touchdown. Childress tossed the challenge flag before he could even hear from his coaches in the booth. A challenge and a timeout, both wasted.

21. You horse guys shouldn’t have some of the problems you had in the Triple Crown getting horse bets down, as the account wagering rivalries seem to have settled down just a bit, with every major player accepting Breeders Cup bets as a result.

22. And it is never a bad idea to check in with Andy Beyer on a big racing day.

23. Our horse handicapper Dan Branham is offering his Breeders Cup selections for $79. Call my office at 1-770-649-1078 to sign up.

24. Who knew? Betting action points on rugby is big in South Africa, where the government may abolish taxes on sports betting next year. .

25. The Breeders Cup is great, but obviously our focus remains on football. My weekly newsletter The Max has 12 thoroughly researched pointspread selections. You get The Max delivered to your inbox every Monday night through the Super Bowl for only $89. For further details or to have your questions answered call 1-770-649-1078.

Thanks for reading. Good luck this weekend, and be careful.

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