Tag: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Sunday’s Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills Week 14 NFL matchup, with NFL betting odds, picks and best bets.

Winners of their last eight games, the Baltimore Ravens (10-2) will visit the surging Buffalo Bills (9-3) on Sunday afternoon. It’s a big game for both teams with the Ravens eyeing a No. 1 seed and the Bills hoping to take over the AFC East from the Patriots.

Kickoff from New Era Field will be at 1 p.m. ET.

Ravens at Bills: Week 14 preview, betting trends and notes

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  • Baltimore is 5-1 against the spread in its last six games. The only loss came last week against the 49ers when the Ravens won 20-17 but failed to cover the 6-point spread.
  • The Bills are 4-0-1 ATS in their last five games, including 3-0 in their last three. They are 4-1 straight up in that stretch.
  • The Ravens are 5-3 all time against the Bills, outscoring Buffalo by an average of 22.5-14.
  • The Ravens are 4-1 ATS when facing a team with a winning record.
  • Buffalo is 5-0-1 ATS in its last six games as an underdog and 5-2 ATS against teams above .500.
  • The total has gone under in four of the Bills’ last five games.

Ravens at Bills: Key injuries

Bills T Ty Nsekhe is unlikely to play on Sunday as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.

Ravens at Bills: Odds, betting lines and prediction

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. ET

Prediction

Ravens 24, Bills 17

Moneyline (?)

The Ravens and Bills are two of the hottest teams in the league right now, but Baltimore has been steadier all season and has beaten better opponents. They’ll keep that up this week against a surprisingly tough Bills team that just beat the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving.

Bet the RAVENS (-250) to win outright despite being on the road. They have a great chance to win this game, because Buffalo’s offense will have trouble keeping up.

New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Ravens to win would return a profit of $4.

Against the Spread (?)

The Ravens are 5.5-point road favorites, which suggests the oddsmakers are confident that they’re the better team. Baltimore has been somewhat underwhelming against the spread (6-5-1) this season, but they’ll cover in this one.

Take the RAVENS (-5.5, -110) to cover and win by a touchdown, if not more. Unless Buffalo’s defense shuts down Lamar Jackson, the Bills won’t be able to score enough to match the Ravens.

Over/Under (?)

The over/under of 43.5 points may not seem like a high number for the league’s No. 1 scoring offense in Baltimore, but Buffalo’s defense is legit. The Ravens won’t put up 35+ like they have in four of their last five games, nor will the Bills light up the scoreboard.

Bet the UNDER 43.5 (-110) in this matchup, even as tempting as it is to take the over with the Ravens playing.

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Georgia football SECCG: Expert picks and predictions (UGA vs LSU)

The UGA Wire staff has put together a list of expert picks and predictions ahead of Georgia Football’s game vs LSU for the SEC Championship.

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs have won the SEC East three straight years, earning them their third straight SEC Championship game vs LSU, this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.

Besides former Bulldog Justin Fields and Ohio State, LSU has been the hottest team of the 2019 college football season.  The #2 Tigers are 12-0 on the season including wins over Florida, Auburn and Alabama.

Georgia comes into the game a bit banged up and not exactly peaking at the right time.  The Dawgs will be without senior WR Lawrence Cager who underwent ankle surgery as well as freshman WR George Pickens who was suspended for the first half for on-field incidents.  Those are the Dawgs top two receivers on the year.

D’Andre Swift also left the Georgia Tech game with a shoulder injury but should hopefully be back for Saturday’s matchup.

LSU QB Joe Burrow has been putting up exceptional numbers for the Tigers as he currently sits in 2nd for the Heisman Trophy race.  Burrow has a total QBR of 93.4 and has thrown for 4,366 yards, 44 TDs and 6 INTs on the season.

Kirby will need to draw up a near flawless game plan and Jake Fromm needs to find his guy in a shallow receiving core if the Dawgs want to pull this one out and secure a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The UGA Wire staff has put together a list of score, stat and game predictions ahead of Saturdays matchup.

Here are the picks:

The money makers:

#2 LSU (-7.5) vs #4 Georgia

Game pick: If you think LSU will win and cover, write LSU. If you think LSU will win but not cover, LSU*. If you got Georgia winning, write Georgia.

Odds via BetMGM. Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

Jackson Fryburger: UGAWire.com- Georgia

Joe Vitale: UGAWire.com-  HBTFD

James Morgan: UGAWire.com- LSU*

Jackson Stone: UGAWire.com- LSU

Henry Sillen: UGAWire.com- Georgia

Garrett Shearman: UGAWire.com- LSU*

Over/under (54.5) 

If you think the total will go over, over. If you think the total will go under, under.

Jackson Fryburger: UGAWire.com- Under

Joe Vitale: UGAWire.com-  Under

James Morgan: UGAWire.com- Over

Jackson Stone: UGAWire.com- Over

Henry Sillen: UGAWire.com- Over

Garrett Shearman: UGAWire.com- Under

Score prediction:

Jackson Fryburger: UGAWire.com- Georgia 27, LSU 24

Joe Vitale: UGAWire.com- Georgia 24, LSU 20

James Morgan: UGAWire.com- LSU 34, Georgia 27

Jackson Stone: UGAWire.com- LSU 35, Georgia 24

Henry Sillen: UGAWire.com- Georgia 31, LSU 28 OT

Garrett Shearman: UGAWire.com- LSU 26, UGA 20

Want to get in on the action? Place your bet now at BetMGM.

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Aaron Murray provides insight into D’Andre Swift’s health ahead of SECCG

Georgia football great Aaron Murray discussed D’Andre Swift’s shoulder injury ahead of the UGA vs lsU SEC Championship.

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D’Andre Swift has been dealing with a shoulder injury for part of the season and re-injured it after fumbling during Georgia’s win over Georgia Tech last weekend.

The injury is described as a shoulder contusion, which is something that only time will allow to fully heal.

But time is not on Swift’s side, so when he plays this weekend he will be doing so in some pain.

Aaron Murray, while on his show powered by CampusLore, provided some insight into Swift’s current health status, citing a “little birdie in the locker room.”

Aaron Murray explains how Georgia can beat LSU in the SEC Championship

Georgia football great Aaron Murray explains how the Bulldogs can win the UGA vs LSU SEC Championship Game.

Georgia’s all-time leading passer Aaron Murray played in two SEC Championship Games during his time as a Bulldog.

In 2011, Murray actually played against LSU, a team that had a smothering defense and an average offense. This year, it’s the other way around.

Nobody is giving Georgia much of a shot in this game, despite its defense being the best in the nation.

Murray, when breaking down the Georgia vs LSU matchup with former Bulldog punter Drew Butler, made mention of how defense has always won championships and then pondered whether or not that will still be the case on Saturday.

On their show, the Punt and Pass Podcast, powered by CampusLore, Murray went into detail on how Georgia can win the ball game. He noted that the Bulldogs coaching staff has to let Jake Fromm, who has struggled at times this season, just go out there, sling the ball around and do his thing.

Watch the clip here.

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Notre Dame Football: PFF Ranks Irish In Top 10

Notre Dame checks in just ahead of Wisconsin and Penn State who come in at nine and ten respectively while the same Michigan team who beat Notre Dame 45-14 in late October checks in at 11.

Notre Dame football fans have been a bit frustrated and upset that despite going 5-0 in the month of November, their Fighting Irish squad only moved up to the fifteenth spot in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, two whole spots higher than they were rated five games ago at the start of November.

It won’t get them out of the Camping World Bowl and into the Cotton or Orange Bowls, but there was one place that does see them as a top-ten team in the nation.

Pro Football Focus released their latest PFFELO rankings following Week 14 of the college season and threw some significant praise Notre Dame’s way, ranking them seventh.

In their summary of the 10-2 Fighting Irish, Pro Football Focus offered the following:

It was back to a below-average passing grade for Ian Book, who had previously strung together three quality performances in an otherwise up-and-down 2019 campaign. The Fighting Irish still covered on Saturday thanks to a defensive touchdown with under a minute to go. The Fighting Irish defense didn’t quite live up to lofty preseason expectations, though, as we had them ranked as the top overall defensive unit in the country in the preseason. They have dropped to third in our opponent-adjusted unit ranking and are only represented by one honorable mention on the PFF All-American team. – Pro Football Focus on Notre Dame

I hadn’t previously seen that PFF had Notre Dame ranked as the best defensive unit in the country before the season started but that’s a bit surprising.  Not that the unit wasn’t still very good outside of one awful night, but as we saw replacing the likes of Jerry Tillery, Drue Tranquill and Julian Love was a lot to ask, especially early on.

Notre Dame checks in just ahead of Wisconsin and Penn State who come in at nine and ten respectively while the same Michigan team who beat Notre Dame 45-14 in late October checks in at 11.

I won’t spoil the whole poll, you should check out their site for the full rankings but I will share that their lack of Baylor support at 17 is more than a bit surprising.

 

5 reasons why Georgia beats LSU in SEC Championship

Here are five reasons why Georgia football beats LSU in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday in Atlanta.

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With the biggest game of the year in college football on the horizon, Georgia vs LSU in the SEC Championship, we preview five reasons why the Bulldogs could take down the Tigers on Saturday.

Nobody is giving the Dawgs a chance this weekend, but key players on this team have defied the odds for the past three seasons.

I have faith. Here’s why:

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Georgia football injury report ahead of SECCG vs LSU

Georgia Football full injury report ahead of the SEC Championship Game this Saturday December 7th @ 4:00 p.m. on CBS.

Last Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech was the largest margin of victory Georgia has ever beat the Yellow Jackets by, but it didn’t come without a price.

As if losing WR Lawrence Cager for the rest of the season to an ankle injury wasn’t bad enough, the Dawgs star RB and engine to their offensive game D’Andre Swift got placed on the injury report for the first time all season. On top of that WR George Pickens got himself suspended for the first half of the SEC Championship Game by the SEC for throwing punches.

All of this sounds like bad news for Dawgs fans, but Kirby Smart has faced a little bit of adversity in his time in Athens.  Kirby has lost his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, top 5 receivers, a 1,000 yard rusher, a Jim Thorpe Award winner and has nearly 70% freshmen and sophomores on his team this year (youngest in all of SEC).

All of this and he still has the Bulldogs playing for a College Football Playoff for the third year in a row.  Pretty incredible if you ask me.

Here’s Georgia’s full injury report ahead of the 2019 SEC Championship Game against LSU.

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What LSU media is saying about Georgia ahead of SEC Championship

Here is what the LSU media is saying about Georgia football ahead of the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.

No. 4 Georgia (11-1) takes on No. 2 LSU (12-0) this Saturday in the SEC Championship Game, in case you have not heard.

It will be a battle of two completely different teams. For LSU, the Tigers make their living on an explosive offense that centers around the arm of Joe Burrow.

For Georgia, the Dawgs play defense and they play it so well that they allow an average of 10 points per game.

It’s the nation’s best offense vs the nation’s best defense, and I for one cannot wait.

I took a little dive into the LSU media to see what their writers are saying about Georgia and the SEC Championship matchup that is Burrow vs the Dawgs D.

Wilson Alexander – The Advocate

Title: LSU thumped No. 2 Georgia last year; this time, Tigers are favored — and Bulldogs remember

Their styles are almost opposites of each other. Georgia wants to run the football behind a massive offensive line; LSU has smashed school passing records with five-receiver sets. Redshirt freshman outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari said Georgia has not faced a similar offense. But the Tigers have not faced a better defense.

This time, LSU will have to play inside a stadium familiar to the Bulldogs, who are aiming for their second conference title in three seasons. The Tigers think Georgia wants payback for last year.

Read full post here.

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Notre Dame Football: Ole Miss Coaching Search Includes Irish Assistant

a Notre Dame assistant has now been linked to an SEC opening.
And it’s not Clark Lea.

We’ve been on the lookout for star Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea as coaching changes have been happening all around college football. The former Vanderbilt fullback won’t return to his alma mater since the Commodores didn’t make a coaching change but a Notre Dame assistant has now been linked to an SEC opening.

And it’s not Clark Lea.

247Sports is reporting that as of Tuesday night that Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long has emerged as a candidate to fill the Ole Miss head coaching vacancy.

Long has been at Notre Dame since 2017 when he took over as offensive coordinator.

Long began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Louisville in 2007 before stays in various positions at Arkansas, Illinois, Arizona State and Memphis.

Long went to Memphis with Mike Norvell in 2016 and spent one season there before headed to South Bend to call Notre Dame’s offense which he has had great success with, helping guide the Irish to now three-straight 10-win seasons.

My initial thought is that yeah, you hate to break-up something that is working but in all honesty – what is Notre Dame’s offensive identity this year?

There is something to be said with being able to get by somewhat on the fly, but it’s hardly a unit that dominates in any one capacity.

My initial thoughts upon reading this are more “Thank goodness it’s not Lea” than it is “Don’t leave, Chip!”