[CNOTES]

Daily Sports Roundup

Sunday, November 15

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Oilers meet the Thrashers, the Rockets take on the Lakers, and the Patriots and Colts renew their rivalry in Indianapolis.

Colliding on the gridiron . . .

The Colts (8-0 SU, 5-3 ATS) will be looking to keep their perfect mark intact on Sunday night when they get a visit from the Patriots (6-2 SU, 4-4 ATS). Indianapolis held on for a 20-17 win over Houston last time out, with Peyton Manning going 34-of-50 for 318 yards passing with one TD and one INT. New England is coming off a 27-17 win over Miami, with Tom Brady throwing for 332 yards and a score. Indy is a 3-point favorite for Sunday, with the total at 49 points.

Early NFL action on Sunday has Atlanta (-1.5) at Carolina, Tampa Bay at Miami (-10), Detroit at Minnesota (-16.5), Jacksonville at the Jets (-7), Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (-7), Buffalo at Tennessee (-7), Denver (-4) at Washington, and New Orleans (-14) at St. Louis. The Saints (8-0 SU, 6-2 ATS) got past Carolina 30-20 last weekend, as Drew Brees threw for 330 yards and a touchdown. The Rams (1-7 SU, 3-5 ATS) finally picked up a win last time out, getting past Detroit 17-10.

Rounding out the Sunday afternoon NFL slate: Kansas City at Oakland (-2), Seattle at Arizona (-9), Dallas (-3) at Green Bay, and Philadelphia at San Diego (-1).

There's one college football game on the schedule for Sunday, with East Carolina at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane are 4.5-point home favorites in that one.

Also, the Canadian Football League has its division semi-final matchups set for Sunday, with British Columbia at Hamilton and Edmonton at Calgary. The Tiger-Cats are listed as 3.5-point home favorites in that first contest, with the total at 51.5 points. The Stamps are then 6.5-point home faves with the total listed at 54.

Tipping off on the hardwood . . .

The NBA offers up four games on Sunday, with Dallas at Detroit, the Clippers at Oklahoma City, Toronto at Phoenix, and Houston at the Lakers. The Rockets fell to 5-4 on the season with a 109-100 road loss to Sacramento in their last game on Friday night. Trevor Ariza poured in 28 points for the Rockets in that defeat. Los Angeles was thumped 105-79 in Denver on Friday night, putting them at 7-2 on the year. Andrew Bynum picked up 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers.

As well, there are four ranked college hoops teams in action on Sunday, with UC Irvine at No. 3 Texas, Valparaiso at No. 6 North Carolina, Loyola (MD) at No. 8 West Virginia, and Portland State at No. 14 Washington. The Huskies slipped past Wright State in their season opener on Friday, winning by a score of 74-69.

Taking a trip around the rink . . .

The National Hockey League has three games on tap for Sunday, with Minnesota at Carolina, San Jose at Chicago, and Edmonton at Atlanta. The 8-9-2 Oilers haven't played since Wednesday, when they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Sabres. Patrick O'Sullivan had the lone Edmonton goal in that loss. The 9-6-1 Thrashers blasted the Kings 7-0 in their last outing on Friday night. Ilya Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov, and Evander Kane each scored twice in that win.

Roaring around the track . . .

Finally, the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series hit the track at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday afternoon for the season's second-last race, the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. Standings leader Jimmie Johnson is pegged as the 7/2 favorite to visit victory lane in Phoenix and sew up the title, with Mark Martin (6/1), and Tony Stewart (15/2) trailing him on that list. Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin are both listed at 9/1 odds on the Vegas chart to take the checkered flag.

[CNOTES]

Bettor's best friend: Today's helpful tips

Sunday, November 15

Passing fancy

The Dolphins Chad Henne facing off against the Buccaneers Josh Freeman doesn’t make many bettors think “shootout,” and combined with an expected 10 mph wind, don’t look for long passes to be on the agenda on Sunday afternoon. The stronger the wind, the more it will play to the Dolphins strength, as the team has the superior running game and defense. Miami is a 10-point favorite with a total of 43.5 points.

Mouth shut

Miami Dolphins boisterous linebacker Joey Porter will not play against the Buccaneers due to a coach’s decision. Porter missed two practices this week, but no other reason was given for this move. Porter, who has 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks this season, has struggled this year for the Dolphins defense, which is ranked 22nd in the league and yielding more than 25 points per game.

Kick it away

It figures with running back Clinton Portis ruled out of Washington’s game against Denver Sunday, the biggest injury news coming from the Redskins involved a punter. The team is horrid at playing field position, ranking 26th in net punting at just 36.4 yards per attempt. But instead of staying with the recently signed Sam Paulescu who averaged 50 yards per punt last week, the team released him to bring back Hunter Smith, who is returning from injury. Another head-scratching move by the Redskins, who are listed at +3.5 with an over/under of 37.

Unlisted Showtime

The Lakers have gotten off to one of the best starts in the league, but are just 3-6 ATS this season. And beware backing Los Angeles coming off a loss. The Lakers lost on Friday night to Denver, and the last time they dropped a game – to Denver on Oct. 30—the team failed to covert spread in each of their next three games. Los Angeles, which hosts Houston on Sunday, is listed at minus-9.5 with a total of 204.5.

Everybody scores

The Phoenix Suns have been running and gunning all season, averaging 111.3 points per game. But at home, the team is even better, scoring more than 120 points in each of three games in their own gym and going 2-1 ATS. On Sunday, the Suns host another offensive-minded team, Toronto, which shoots nearly 48 percent from the floor and averages almost 108 points per game. The Suns are listed at -7 with a total of 232.5 points.

Blood in the water

The San Jose Sharks are finally playing like Pacific Division favorites. San Jose hasn’t lost in regulation since Oct. 22, a span of 10 games, and is 8-2 SU during that span. The team also is a solid 7-4-0-1 on the road this season and is second in the league with 67 goals. Meantime, Chicago has given up 12 goals in its past five games, dropping two. The Sharks are listed at +105 with a total of 5.5.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Niagara was already put in the 8 a.m. slot and the 6 a.m. slot was available. I honestly thought it was a good time slot."

--St. Peter's coach John Dunne on playing Monmouth at 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning on ESPN as part of the network's "24 Hours of College Basketball" event.

[CNOTES]

Six-pack for Sunday

-- Cornell made 10-18 3-pointers won 71-67 at Alabama; that's going to bump them up a slot or two in the seedings come March.

-- Creighton led 46-41 at halftime in Dayton, but Flyers rallied in the second half and beat the Bluejays 90-80.

-- Apparently part of the reason Hornets fired Byron Scott was due to fact they think he spent too much time golfing and not enough being the head coach of the Hornets. now Chris Paul is out for a while and New Orleans' season is a certified trainwreck.

-- Indiana upset the Celtics, fourth straight win for the Pacers.

-- Nets are now 0-10, worst start by an NBA team in seven years.

-- Good thing the Knicks passed on Brandon Jennings; the rookie had 45 points Saturday, IN THE SECOND HALF!!!! Jennings was shut out in first quarter, still scored 55 points in 129-125 Milwaukee win.

[CNOTES]

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday....

13) My pet peeve in football is ballcarriers who stretch out to try and put the ball over the goal line, even though they're a yard or two away-- it exposes the ball to defenders and causes as much trouble as it solves, plus a lost fumble in that situation is very deflating. Kansas State was in 3-3 tie Saturday when one of their WRs lost the ball trying to score but instead he fumbled into the end zone, giving Missouri a huge break.

12) Have never heard a team get ripped the way the ESPN guys ripped into South Florida Thursday night, during their 31-0 loss at Rutgers.

11) Speaking of ESPN, they've become nauseating in their drumbeating for both NASCAR and soccer; during every college football game, they promote that week's NASCAR race, which is fine, but then announcers engage in useless banter about it, pretending they know something about racing. It is obvious that most of them don't.

Then there is ESPN putting soccer scores on the crawl at the bottom of the screen all day Saturday-- no one gives a rat's ass whether Nigeria and Kenya played a scoreless tie, or if Venezuela beats Trinidad/Tobago.

10) Since they like to have the ball to start the game but most teams like to kick off first, Iowa has gotten the opening kickoff in 113 of 134 games under Kirk Ferentz; with a freshman QB starting for first time Saturday, Ferentz uncharacteristically elected to kick off to start the game.

9) Michigan lost its last six games against I-A opponents.

8) Ole Miss ran the ball for 359 yards in Rebels' 42-17 win against the Tennessee Volunteers, as Dexter McCusker ran amuck on Kiffin's D. Not the best week in the history of Tennessee football.

7) Not only did TCU crush Utah 55-28, but Clemson won again; since the Horned Frogs won at Clemson, every Tiger win helps them out.

6) Someone has to explain to me why ESPN interviewed Charlie Weis after Pitt beat Notre Dame Saturday, but they didn't interview the Pitt coach, Dave Wannstedt. Is Charlie really that freakin' interesting?

5) Nevada ran ball for 461 yards in a 52-14 rout of Fresno State; hard to believe the 7-3 Wolf Pack was 0-3 at one point this season.

4) North Carolina scored two defensive TDs in their 33-24 upset win of Miami in Chapel Hill.

3) Minnesota nipped I-AA South Dakota State 16-13 Saturday, in game with no offensive TDs. Each team's defense scored a TD.

2) Duke got off to fast start, leading Georgia Tech 10-0; they lost 49-10 to the Yellow Jackets, who more and more look like Barry Switzer's old Oklahoma teams, the way they pitch the ball late in the option game.

1) It bears mentioning that Temple won its eighth game in a row Friday night, drilling Akron 56-17. Not too long ago, it took the Owls two or three years to win eight games. They're going bowling this season.