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01/19/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Is it 2013 yet?
They hardly are words Southwestern Athletic Conference officials want to be uttering in January, but the troubled situation with Alcorn State football already is making 2012 feel like 2011.
And, quite simply, the embarrassment of 2011 can't be repeated this year for a FCS conference with so much pride and tradition.
It was one year ago Thursday that Alcorn State introduced Melvin Spears Jr. as its new head football coach. Today the university seemingly can't get him out the door fast enough.
The 51-year-old Alcorn State alum has been on administrative leave with pay since Dec. 12 following a forgettable first season. Not only did the Braves fall to 2-8 (1-8 SWAC) for its fifth straight losing season, but attendance dwindled to create a shortfall in the athletic department budget, standout sophomore quarterback Brandon Bridge left the program amid a rocky relationship with Spears and the first-year head coach had an alleged profanity-filled verbal altercation with a player's father who is a pastor.
Spears, who was fired at Grambling State after a stormy three-year run as head coach from 2004-06, had pledged a more patient approach when he was introduced as Alcorn State's head coach. He didn't deliver that pledge just as he didn't deliver on victories.
Three assistant coaches have been shown the door since the end of the season and their positions are expected to be unfilled, whether Spears returns to the sideline or not.
Considering this all has played out during prime recruiting season, it's a volatile situation that craves for resolution.
Enter the SWAC.
Or at least the SWAC needs to enter the picture. Like yesterday.
Granted, the SWAC works for the 10 schools and not the other way around. But after what happened across the conference last year, it's imperative for commissioner Duer Sharp and his deputies to be more pro-active and help save the member programs from continually embarrassing themselves.
Last year, four of the SWAC programs had to replace head coaches, including Alcorn State after Earnest Collins Jr. left for Northern Colorado. Sadly, the other three changes involved the schools that had combined to win the three prior SWAC titles. Prairie View A&M's Henry Frazier III and Grambling State's Rod Broadway turned heads by departing for struggling programs in the Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference and Texas Southern's Johnnie Cole, who was the 2010 SWAC Coach of the Year, was fired because of the program's academic shortcomings.
At least Texas Southern was eligible for the 2011 SWAC Championship Game. Jackson State, considered the conference's top team with the top player, quarterback Casey Therriault, was ineligible - along with Southern University - following their NCAA Academic Progress Rate penalties.
Worst of all, the Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff squads had a wild post-game fight that resulted in 40 players being suspended by the SWAC.
Enough's enough? You bet.
The SWAC restored some credibility with Grambling State's win in the conference championship game on Dec. 10, meaning that head coach Doug Williams returned the storied program back to the top in his first season back on the sideline.
Now it's time for Alcorn State, with some nudging from the SWAC, to move on and change its head coach, even though the Braves already have had four different ones in the last five seasons.
Sure there's no doubt the situation could improve under Spears because time heals wounds. But Alcorn State basically would be buying time for two years until his contract ends. That's not a manageable situation for anyone, especially the student-athletes.
There's also no doubt Alcorn State is trying to prove justifiable cause in releasing Spears from his contract, which is a surprisingly low $130,000 per year.
If the university is faced with buying Spears out of the contract, then it has to do it.
Alcorn State is the only Division I program without a true head coach right now. With each day, it makes less sense that the SWAC program remains in this predicament.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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