L.A. continues whirl-wind schedule in Salt Lake City

Soccer Betting Lines

09/18/2007 - Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy continue their whirl-wind tour of Major League Soccer cities Wednesday when they play Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The match will be the Galaxy's 11th in league play since Aug. 5, with the MLS schedule maker hoping to give every market in the country a chance to see David Beckham and the his L.A. teammates. That hasn't been the case as the English superstar has been out with a knee injury since the SuperLiga final on Aug. 29, as well as a host of other Galaxy players being in and out of the lineup with various injuries.

"We have a game on Wednesday. I know that. It's on the schedule. We have to go and obviously get a win," Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said after his team's 3-1 loss Sunday to Houston.

Yallop is just trying to get through his team's final eight games, with realistic chances of making the playoffs slipping away loss by loss. The Galaxy have lost eight of their last nine league fixtures and are currently last in the league with just 17 points.

"Talk about a long year - I keep saying that, but we are so naive in certain spots," Yallop said of his team giving up two goals on suspect plays to Houston. "We are so naive with our fight and our will to do better. We just expect that another goal has gone in and guys just don't take responsibility. A lot of times, you have to make sure that you feel like something is your fault, and a lot of guys don't. They think that the players think that maybe they could have done in a situation, but they don't take responsibility and that's difficult."

"I've worked with Frank for the (Canadian) national team and in San Jose," Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said. "He just has to keep his head up. I feel for him because I know the quality of coach he is and he doesn't deserve to get all these losses."

Real Salt Lake isn't in much better shape, just two points clear of the Galaxy in the Western table, but have been showing signs of life after some late season roster moves.

They are coming off a 0-0 tie at Toronto FC, but feel good after forward Fabian Espindola received a red card in the first half of the contest and the team was still hung on for the point on the road.

"We put ourselves in a tough position getting that red card in the first half and we were 60 minutes down a man, but that said we showed a lot of character a lot of fight, and we got out of here with a result," RSL forward Alecko Eskandarian said.

TFC actually peppered goalkeeper Nick Rimando with a team record in shots and shots on goal in an effort to break out of their league-record goalless streak, but the veteran goalkeeper stopped all shots in one of his more impressive performances of the season.

"That's what happens when you go a man down," Rimando said of the number of shots he faced. "You've got to expect that it's going to be a battle and that's what it was. They came after us, you know their fans are amazing, they gave them a little boost and they had their chances but we fought and we came out with a point, on an away game, playing here in Toronto and that's big for us."

"They were knocking on the door all day, and searching for that elusive goal," RSL defender Eddie Pope said. "And, went down a man - our backs were against the wall and they just came at us. Certainly we could have crumbled at some point and given up a goal at some point, but we held together, stuck together we were able to fight, scratch ... all that stuff and get out of here with a point."

That is exactly what L.A. will be trying to do Wednesday in an effort to climb out of the Western basement.

After Wednesday's match, the Galaxy host FC Dallas on Sunday while Real Salt lake hosts Colorado a day earlier.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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