Montreal beats Calgary in Grey Cup rematch
Football Betting Lines
07/02/2009 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chip Cox returned a fumble 81 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, sealing Montreal's 40-27 win over Calgary in the season opener for both teams, a rematch of last year's Grey Cup matchup.
The Stampeders posted three wins over the Alouettes last season, including a 22-14 victory in the Grey Cup title game. This time, though, Montreal (1-0) used its defense to turn back Calgary (0-1) to cap the Canada Day contest on a rainy night.
Anthony Calvillo completed 24-of-32 passes for 255 yards with a touchdown and was picked off once for the Alouettes. Avon Cobourne had 107 yards rushing with a touchdown.
Damon Duval was 5-for-5 on field goal attempts for Montreal.
Titus Ryan returned a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown for the Stampeders. Henry Burris, last year's Grey Cup MVP, connected on 17-of-33 passes for 247 yards with a TD and an interception in defeat.
Duval kicked a 13-yard field goal just over a minute into the last quarter, capping a 12-play, 83-yard drive, to give Montreal a 30-27 edge.
A 37-yard field goal from Duval with nearly 10 minutes remaining made it a six-point margin, and the Als thwarted a Calgary drive when Mark Estelle picked off a Burris pass in the end zone with 6:06 remaining.
Instead of moving the ball and killing the clock, disaster struck for the Alouettes as Tristan Black plowed through the line to block Duval's punt, giving the Stampeders the ball at the Montreal 23 with four minutes left. It was Calgary's second blocked punt of the night.
But Montreal came back with another huge defensive stop. Keron Williams knocked the ball out of Burris' hands just as it was coming forward on a pass attempt and Cox scooped up the loose ball, raced the other way for the sealing score with just over two minutes left. Replay was used to confirm the ruling on the field.
Calvillo threw 37 yards for a touchdown to Kerry Watkins, who made a one- handed grab, just over two minutes into the game, and it became 14-0 a short time later on a 10-yard TD run by Cobourne. Duval's 48-yard field goal made it 17-0 with less than five minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Even after Duval connected from 36 yards away early in the second, the 20-0 lead wasn't safe for the Alouettes.
Ryan rumbled down the left sideline for his 104-yard return, and a Burris to Jermaine Copeland four-yard scoring strike had Calgary within 20-14.
Duval was true from 32 yards away and after his single later in the second, he added a 15-yard field goal for a 27-14 margin. Sandro DeAngelis drilled a 33- yard field goal try just before the half ended.
Burris scored on a four-yard run in the opening minutes of the third quarter and DeAngelis made a 41-yard field goal with under 4 1/2 minutes left in the same period to tie the game.
Game Notes
Montreal has had a great deal of success opening the season on the road since 1996, winning all six such contests...Ben Cahoon had six receptions for 65 yards for Montreal, while Nik Lewis made four catches for 87 yards for the Stampeders.
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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro
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.