Big Ten brawl pits No. 12 Michigan against Northwestern

NCAA Football Betting Lines

10/05/2011 - Evanston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sporting a 5-0 record for the second straight season, the 12th-ranked Michigan Wolverines will try to keep the good times rolling as they pull into Evanston, Illinois for this week's Big Ten Conference clash with the Northwestern Wildcats.

This is Michigan's first road game after opening the season with a five-game homestand. Coach Brady Hoke's club won its league lidlifter last weekend, whipping Minnesota, 58-0, in the latest installment in the battle for the Little Brown Jug. It was the first shutout for the Maize and Blue since blanking Notre Dame, 38-0, on September 15, 2007.

Hoke was obviously pleased with the effort put forth by his football team in all phases of the win over the Gophers, "We got off to a good start on both sides of the ball. I think up front, the defensive line, the front four, front seven, responded well. And then we were able to move the football and run with the football and Denard (Robinson) threw the football very well, and when that happens it opens up the run game even more."

As for the Wildcats, the unthinkable happened to them last Saturday, as Illinois scored a touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation to earn the Fighting Illini a 38-35 come-from-behind victory. Northwestern led by 18 points midway through the third quarter, but was outscored 28-7 to end the game, and thus its bid to upset the 24th-ranked team in the country. Coach Pat Fitzgerald's team won its first two games of the season, but has dropped its last two.

Fitzgerald was clearly upset with the way his team lost to Illinois, "I am disappointed, obviously, in the outcome and the finish. Lots of opportunities for us to go out and get the job done and we did not."

Michigan owns a commanding 52-15-2 lead in the all-time series with Northwestern, but the Wildcats won the last meeting in 2008, 21-14. The Wolverines have however, gone 27-4 versus the Wildcats in the last 31 meetings.

Michigan RB Vincent Smith put forth a historic effort against the Golden Gophers last weekend, scoring touchdowns rushing, receiving and passing in three of Michigan's first four drives. The team's leading rusher on the day was Fitzgerald Toussaint (11 carries, 108 yards, one TD), and QB Denard Robinson hit the mark on 15-of-19 pass attempts for 169 yards and two scores. Overall, the UM offense churned out 580 yards compared to just 177 for the Gophers.

Although still somewhat early, Robinson likes the makeup of the offense, and its ability to execute the gameplan implemented by the coaches. "We are confident. We have been playing good," said the athletically-gifted signal caller after last week's easy win. "We trust coach Al (Borges) to give us the right play and to make things happen."

Michigan scored on 8-of-9 trips to the red zone and picked up 32 first downs, while Minnesota failed to covert any of its 11 third-down attempts, lost a pair of fumbles and allowed three sacks. For the season, Michigan ranks fourth in the country in scoring defense (10.3 ppg), and its yield in the passing game (175.3 ypg) ranks 14th.

Northwestern QB Dan Persa, who was making his first start of the season last week against Illinois after battling back from an Achilles injury suffered last year, threw for a career-high four TDs before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with another injury. WR Jeremy Ebert was on the receiving end of three of those scoring strikes, and he finished with five catches for 68 yards. The NU ground attack was led by Treyvon Green and Mike Trumpy, who combined for 130 yards on 29 carries.

The Wildcat defense stood tall against the run, allowing just 82 yards, but 391 yards permitted in the passing game proved to be their undoing. Both Brian Peters and Ibraheim Campbell logged double-digit tackles in the contest, finishing with 13 and 10, respectively, and Tyler Scott pounced on a pair of fumbles, while Peters also came up with an INT.

Despite a few positives, coach Fitzgerald was at a loss with regard to the overall play of his defense, "(I am) shocked. Nothing that we didn't work on and nothing that we didn't prepare for, which is probably the most disappointing aspect of the whole day."

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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