Allen, Brohm set records as eighth-ranked Louisville outscores MTSU

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/07/2007 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Allen set a school record with 275 rushing yards and scored twice, as eighth-ranked Louisville survived a first-half scare and downed Middle Tennessee, 58-42, at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Brian Brohm threw for a career-high 401 yards on 25-of-39 passing and had five touchdown passes for Louisville (2-0), which led just 38-35 at the break. Mario Urrutia and Gary Barnidge each finished with well over 100 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns apiece.

Phillip Tanner rushed for 144 yards and three TDs while Joe Craddock threw for 290 yards and two scores for Middle Tennessee (0-2).

After trading blows with the Blue Riders for the entire first half, Louisville was finally able to gain some breathing room in the third quarter.

Art Carmody upped the advantage to 41-35 with a 30-yard field goal to cap an 11-yard march. Brohm then connected with Urrutia for a 22-yard TD completion with 2:51 remaining in the stanza to increase the lead to 13.

Carmody added another 30-yarder with under 30 ticks left in the third that made it 51-35.

Tanner started the fourth with a 79-yard burst up the middle to bring Middle Tennessee within nine.

Harry Douglas hauled in Brohm's final touchdown pass of the night moments later, however, and the defense held from there.

Louisville opened up the game with an 81-yard touchdown strike from Brohm to Barnidge.

Middle Tennessee, though, struck right back on the ensuing possession, as Craddock and DeMarco McNair hooked up for a 78-yard TD pass to tie the game.

The big-play dynamic continued in the next sequence, with Brohm finding Urrutia for a 71-yard TD to put the Cardinals back in front.

The Blue Raiders coughed up the ball on the subsequent kickoff, and Louisville capitalized with a five-yard Allen touchdown run to establish a 21-7 edge.

That hardly spelled the end for the Blue Raiders, who sliced their deficit to seven with Tanner's 23-yard scamper to pay dirt.

On Louisville's next scoring drive, Brohm connected with Harry Douglas, but he fumbled and Barnidge recovered for a score with less than six minutes to play in the first quarter to give Louisville a 28-14 lead. However, Craddock countered with a 24-yard TD toss to Bobby Williams to make it a seven-point game once again.

Carmody stretched the lead to 10 with a 31-yard field goal early in the second quarter, but McNair answered with a 39-yard TD run to make it 31-28.

One-yard touchdown runs from Allen and Tanner completed the first half scoring, as Louisville headed into the locker room with a slight 38-35 lead.

Game Notes

Louisville compiled 729 yards of total offense, while the Raiders had 555...The Blue Raiders and Cardinals met for the first time ever last season, with Louisville posting a 44-17 triumph in Nashville...Louisville's 20-game winning streak dates back to 2003, when they beat Houston, 66-45.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.