Big Ten brawl pits Buckeyes against Wolverines

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02/18/2012 - Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bitter rivals meet in Ann Arbor tonight, as the sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes challenge the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines in what is an important late Big Ten Conference affair.

Ohio State comes in sporting a 22-4 overall record, and its 10-3 league ledger has it tied with Michigan State for first place entering the weekend. Michigan is 19-7 on the year, and at 9-4 in conference is just a game back in the standings.

The Buckeyes claimed a 78-68 win at Minnesota on Valentine's Day to mark their seventh victory in the last eight games, and improve to 5-3 in true road bouts in the process.

Michigan is a perfect 14-0 at home this season, and the team knocked off visiting Illinois in its most recent outing last Sunday. It was the second straight win for the Wolverines, marking their first winning streak since also prevailing in back-to-back outings at home versus Wisconsin and Northwestern on January 8 and 11, respectively.

This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams, as Ohio State claimed a 64-49 win in Columbus back on January 29 to take a 91-71 lead in the all-time series. The Buckeyes have won the last six meetings, and 15 of the last 17 overall. OSU is 5-2 in the series when both teams come in among the nationally ranked, but the Wolverines are 52-26 in games played in Ann Arbor over the years.

William Buford scored 24 points and Jared Sullinger tallied 23, leading Ohio State to its 10-point win at Minnesota earlier this week. Buford added eight rebounds and five assists to his solid stat line, while Sullinger also grabbed eight boards and converted 10-of-12 free throws. Deshaun Thomas chipped in 12 points for the Buckeyes, who shot 44.6 percent from the field and made good on 22-of-28 foul shots. OSU claimed a 37-32 edge on the glass, and committed just nine turnovers compared to 14 for the Golden Gophers. The Buckeyes are in the enviable position of challenging for the Big Ten regular-season title and possible top seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament thanks to the efforts of Sullinger (17.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg), Buford (15.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Thomas (14.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg), a trio of double-digit scorers who happen to contribute in a host of other ways as well. As a team, Ohio State owns significant margins in scoring (+18.7), rebounding (+7.0) and turnovers (+5.3), with their effort at the defensive end (57.1 ppg) perhaps being its most impressive.

The Wolverines put four players in double figures, led by Tim Hardaway, Jr. with 15 points, as they topped visiting Illinois last weekend in a 70-61 final. Trey Burke added 14 points despite an poor shooting effort (5-of-15, 0-4 from three-point range), Evan Smotrycz came off the bench to tally 13 points and Zack Novak chipped in a dozen for the Maize and Blue, who nailed half of their total shots while holding the Illini to 38.9 percent field goal efficiency. UM lost the battle on the boards (33-27), but committed just nine turnovers compared to 13 for Illinois. The Wolverines claimed a 10-0 edge in points on the break, and they outscored the Illini in the paint, 26-18. Hardaway, Jr. (14.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and Burke (14.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.8 apg) form one of the top backcourts in the Big Ten, but neither has been all that lethal when it comes to hitting their shots, the former doing so just 41.1 percent of the time, and the latter at 43.1 percent. As a team, Michigan is averaging 66.9 ppg in knocking down 46.1 percent of its field goal attempts, while yielding 60.5 ppg and goading the opposition into just shy of 13 turnovers per outing.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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