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Alabama vs. UNC in Sweet 16 could be highest-scoring March Madness game

Two electric teams that can put up points? Sign us up! See why some experts believe Alabama and North Carolina could combine for a March Madness game to remember.

In a Sweet 16 matchup that many expect to be electric, No. 4 seed Alabama takes on No. 1 seed North Carolina. March Madness games are always very unpredictable, though some will still try to come up with some bold projections.

One prediction that is making the rounds now has to do with the scoring ability of both teams. Could it be possible that this game sets a new all-time March Madness record for the most points scored in a single game? Let’s break it all down.

USA TODAY college basketball experts Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith and Eddie Timanus go as far as saying this contest “will require a second official scorer,” because of how many points there could be.

“OK, this may be a bit of exaggeration. But given the pace that the Crimson Tide love to play at and the ability of the Tar Heels to thrive in an open-court environment, we could be looking at one of the highest-scoring games of the tournament Thursday. Alabama has scored at least 90 points in eight games since the start of February. It has allowed at least 88 nine times in the same span. Don’t expect Alabama coach Nate Oats to go conservative now that the stakes of the tournament have gotten higher. Just sit back and watch the wildness unfold.”

The highest-scoring game in March Madness history was a 1990 round of 32 upset when No. 11 seed Loyola Marymount defeated No. 3 seed Michigan with a final score of 149-115, for a combined total of 264 points. It has the lead by a comfortable margin, with the second-highest-scoring game only having a total of 234 points.

Alabama’s first-round win over Charleston had enough total points to make it the thirteenth-highest-scoring game in March Madness history with a total of over 205.

Let’s face it, the Crimson Tide’s biggest weakness all season has been a lack of defense. In the team’s first two games, Alabama has played spectacular defense, but will that last? If not, it opens the door for the Tar Heels to put up some serious points.

This Sweet 16 contest features the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation (Alabama) and the No. 20 scoring offense (UNC), while also featuring two defenses that aren’t necessarily the strongest.

North Carolina has allowed an average of 70 points per game, which has the Tar Heels ranked No. 70 in the nation. Compared to the Crimson Tide’s rank of No. 345, North Carolina might as well be a brick wall in front of the hoop. Alabama has allowed a whopping 80.9 points per game this season.

Is it likely that a new record is set? Far from it. However, there’s a great chance we see the highest-scoring game of this year’s tournament and possibly have a new entry in the top 10 highest-scoring March Madness games of all time.

Neither team will have this in mind. All that matters is scoring more points than the other team, staying alive, and moving on to the Elite Eight.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM.

Saints somehow open as home favorites ahead of must-win Week 11 Rams game

The Saints somehow opened as narrow favorites at home ahead of their must-win game against the Rams in Week 11:

Huh? We’re already shifting focus to Week 11 on the New Orleans Saints’ schedule, and they’re somehow favored to win their next game after dropping back-to-back losses to start the season at 3-7. Tipico Sportsbook opened its Week 11 NFL lines with the Saints favored by 3 points over the visiting Los Angeles Rams, which is surprising after New Orleans lost by double digits in each of the last two weeks.

But the Rams might be in even worse shape. They’re expecting to be without superstar wide receiver Cooper Kupp for some time after he suffered an ankle injury in Week 10, and quarterback Matthew Stafford may be unavailable as well while managing his own injury. Their defense hasn’t lived up to expectations, either. There’s good reasons for this game opening with a 39-point over/under, suggesting a final tally close to Saints 21, Rams 18.

Regardless of what the oddsmakers are saying about it, this is a must-win game for both teams. The Saints are losing relevance in the NFC South week by week. And the Rams are falling off, too. Both teams are feeling the pain of going all-in chasing a Super Bowl trophy — and frustratingly, only L.A. can say they went the distance. We could go off on a tangent here about you-know-what, but enough ink has been spilled about that to last us a lifetime. Let’s see if the Saints can at least start to earn their way back into fans’ good graces with a win on Sunday against one of their team’s oldest rivals.

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Saints vs. Falcons 2021 odds: New Orleans opens as road favorites

Saints vs. Falcons 2021 odds: New Orleans opens as road favorites at Tipico Sportsbook

It’s finally New Orleans Saints game week. This isn’t some exhibition kickoff in preseason — the black and gold will suit up against their biggest rivals in a matter of days, not weeks or months. And expectations are high. The Saints have opened as 5.5-point road favorites against the Atlanta Falcons at Tipico Sportsbook, which is interesting. The game’s low over/under (42.5) is a little concerning. That suggests a final score in the neighborhood of New Orleans 24, Atlanta 19. Opposing teams held the Saints to 24 points or fewer in nine games last season, including three of Jameis Winston’s first six starts.

New Orleans has made real upgrades on offense at wide receiver (in drafting Chris Olave and signing Jarvis Landry, while mending fences with Michael Thomas) but they took a step back at left tackle in parting ways with Terron Armstead. Credulous oddsmakers don’t seem confident that Winston will take a big step forward in such circumstances, but they do see the Saints’ winning formula.

That’s easier said than done against a talented offense. The situation Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota has found himself in isn’t that different from Winston’s circumstances. The two top picks in the 2015 NFL draft have won, lost, and regained starting jobs in the NFL while playing for a couple of different teams. Now Mariota is leading an offense stocked with dangerous pass catchers like Kyle Pitts, Cordarrelle Patterson, and rookie draft pick Drake London. It’s going to be a big test for a Saints defense replacing all three of last year’s top safeties, swapping Marcus Williams, Malcolm Jenkins, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson for Tyrann Mathieu, Marcus Maye, and a small platoon of slot corners.

As for other opening lines across the NFC South: the Carolina Panthers are favored by a field goal at home against the Cleveland Browns, as are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. But the Bucs-Cowboys game features one of the highest over/under point totals of the week (50.5), so there’s some potential for fireworks in the

Odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook; check USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list (lines last updated Monday at 8:36 a.m. ET).

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Alabama vs. Utah State: Prediction, point spread, odds, best bet

The Alabama Crimson Tide plays the Utah State Aggies on Sep. 3, and if you’re looking to do some last-minute betting research, you’re in luck! We’ll give you the latest point spread, money line odds and over/under number, as well as the information you’ll need to make the smartest bet at Tipico Sportsbook.

The game starts at 7:30 PM EDT and can be seen on SEC Network

Utah State enters the game 1-0 after defeating the UConn Huskies 31-20 in their week zero season opener. For Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide, this will be the start of their 2022 campaign as they have their sights set on a record nineteenth national title.

Betting odds for CFP national championship, per Tipico Sportsbook

With roughly one week to go, here are Tipico Sportsbook’s odds for the CFP national championship.

Alabama enters the national championship game against No. 3 Georgia as the top-ranked team in all of college football. However, the Crimson Tide is not the favorite to win the title.

According to the Tipico Sportsbook, Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are 2.5 point favorites (-120) over the Crimson Tide (+100).

The over-under sits at 52.5 points.

Georgia is the outright favorite (-150), while Alabama’s underdog odds are at (+122) as of 12:42 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 3.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 10, at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook

Visit our free to play game lobby at Daily Ticket, Powered by Tipico Sportsbook

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

Saints open as home underdogs for prime-time Bills game on Thanksgiving

Tipico Sportsbook: Saints open as home underdogs for prime-time Bills game on Thanksgiving

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Tipico Sportsbook released its opening lines for Week 12’s games, and they aren’t favoring the New Orleans Saints to snap their three-game losing streak. The Saints are 4.5-point underdogs at home with the Buffalo Bills visiting the Caesars Superdome on Thanksgiving night. Take that with the over/under (46.5) and there’s an implied final total of Buffalo 26, New Orleans 21.

That would line up with the Saints’ recent history, in which they’ve really struggled to put points on the board until the opposing team has the game in hand. New Orleans has scored 53 of their 75 points over the last three games in the fourth quarter once their opponents stopped taking them seriously.

They can’t risk that approach against a good — but vulnerable — Bills team. Trevor Siemian imploded under pressure against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he played well enough to keep the Saints competitive in his first two starts. It became a different story once his supporting cast was whittled down by injuries to Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Terron Armstead, and Ryan Ramczyk.

If just two of those players can return by Thursday the offense should get back on schedule — or as close as they’re getting at this point in the season. But the defense needs to be on top of their game against Josh Allen and his loaded receiving corps. It’s tough to see a path to victory if they give up as many points to Buffalo as they did Philadelphia. The offense just doesn’t have enough firepower to keep up.

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Saints open as road favorites for Week 7 at Seahawks

Tipico Sportsbook: Saints open as road favorites at Seahawks in Week 7

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The New Orleans Saints are trending in a very different direction from this week’s opponent, and that’s reflected in the opening line from Tipico Sportsbook. New Orleans is visiting the Seattle Seahawks for a Monday night game on Oct. 25 which the Saints are favored to win by 5.5 points — taken with the initial over/under of 44.5, that projects a final tally close to New Orleans 26, Seattle 20.

That would be the fourth-lowest scoring game of Week 7, behind only Broncos-Browns, Jets-Patriots, and Panthers-Giants. It would also be the lowest scoring output by the Saints in a victory this season; Jameis Winston has quarterbacked the Saints well enough to compete in nearly every game they’ve played, while Geno Smith is fresh off the heels of a frustrating overtime loss on Sunday night.

With a number of starters expected to return from injuries over the next few weeks, the offense should take several steps forward. Bolstering the offensive line with Erik McCoy and Terron Armstead while upgrading the receiving corps with Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith will be huge. We’ll have to wait and see who makes their return this week as the injury report begins to update on Wednesday.

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Oddsmakers favor Saints to stomp Giants in low-scoring Week 4 game

Tipico: Saints favored to stomp Giants in low-scoring Week 4 game

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Things look good for the New Orleans Saints in Week 4. After taking care of business on the road, they’re headed back to New Orleans for their true home opener at the Caesars Superdome against the New York Giants with a 2-1 record.

And things haven’t gone well for Big Blue. The Giants are one of two NFC teams still chasing their first win after the first three weeks (along with the Detroit Lions), but at least they can chalk up John Mara’s hamfisted no-taunting rule as a win. They aren’t beating anyone of the field, but at least they aren’t being laughed at about it between snaps anymore.

So what’s the scoring outlook on Sunday? Tipico Sportsbook has favored the Saints by 7.5 points with a very low over/under of 42.5 points — tying two other games for the week’s smallest output. It comes out to an implied final tally close to New Orleans 25, New York 17.

That feels generous for a Giants team that put up just 14 points on the Atlanta Falcons last week. Atlanta has the NFL’s third-worst scoring defense (94 points allowed in three games) and they still found ways to force five New York punts. Daniel Jones has an even greater challenge against the Saints’ third-best scoring defense (42 points allowed so far), so good luck to him.

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Saints not favored to beat Patriots in week’s 2nd-lowest over/under

Tipico: Saints not favored to beat Patriots in week’s 2nd-lowest over/under

What are we in for when the New Orleans Saints match up with the New England Patriots? Tipico Sportsbook isn’t counting on a barn burner, posting their second-lowest over/under of the week (42.5). Only one game is expected to feature a lower scoring output when the Jets and Broncos kick off (41.5).

And Tipico has the Patriots as home favorites, but only barely. New England is favored by 2.5 points over the visiting Saints, having scored just 16 points in Week 1 and 25 points against the Jets in Week 2. Mac Jones’ offense is hardly a high-flying unit. Can New Orleans capitalize on that?

The defensive matchup is in the Saints’ favor, but they’ve got to prove they can move the ball on offense once Bill Belichick takes away Alvin Kamara. Carolina showed last week that New Orleans doesn’t have the firepower to adapt when their best player is smothered in coverage. Now it’s on Sean Payton to course-correct. We’ll see soon whether he’s up to the task.

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Saints open up as road favorites against Panthers in Week 2

Tipico: Saints open up as road favorites against Panthers in Week 2

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Demolishing the Green Bay Packers in front of the football world will do a lot to raise your profile. But oddsmakers aren’t predicting a blowout when the New Orleans Saints fly out to Carolina. While Tipico Sportsbook opened up by favoring the Saints by 3.5 points in Carolina, an over/under of just 44.5. That suggests a finally tally near Saints 25, Panthers 21.

It would outperform the 19 points that Carolina managed to score on the New York Jets last week. And it would be a big drop from the 38 points New Orleans just dropped on the Packers, a defense that outplayed the Panthers last year by nearly every measure.

So, yeah, that feels like a generous line for the Panthers. It’s anyone’s guess how well Sam Darnold will play against the Saints, especially now that Christian McCaffrey is healthy. But they’ll have to make big strides after all the trouble the Jets gave them in Week 1.

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