Sports.com
Follow Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter VI Mobile College Basketball March Mayhem Picks College Basketball March Mayhem Picks VegasInsider.com VegasInsider.com
Handicapper Bios Sports Picks Free Odds Contests Sportsbook
Sports.com
VI Home NFL NBANHLMLBNCAA FBNCAA BKGolfAutoHorsesBoxingVI More Sports
 
NCAA FB Scores Matchups Teams Standings Schedules News
 
 · Latest News
 · Player Updates
Buy Picks Vegas Odds
 
 · Vegas Odds
 · Offshore Odds
 · Future Odds

 
National Notes
 
 
 

With future odds for the 2009 college football season probably not getting released for about another week, let’s just touch on a few quick-hit topics coming out of spring football.

--When asked last week if he had any early idea about Florida’s future number, Kenny White, the Chief Operating Officer at Las Vegas Sports Consultants said, “The Gators will be the favorites. They’ll probably be around 4/1 or 9/2.”

--For SEC standards, Florida will have an extremely manageable schedule in 2009. The Gators won’t play Ole Miss, Alabama and Auburn from out of the SEC West, instead lining up against Mississippi St., Arkansas and LSU. UF’s toughest regular-season game will clearly be its Oct. 10 trip to Baton Rouge, but the Gators get an open date prior to facing the Bayou Bengals. With Tennessee and Florida St. no longer considered top-20 programs, their trips to Gainesville might come as underdogs of more than 20 points. If there’s a potential danger game, it might be the Gators’ trip to Columbia to face Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina squad on Nov. 14.

--Colorado sophomore quarterback Tyler Hansen broke his right thumb in the Buffs’ spring game. Hansen, who split snaps with junior Cody Hawkins in 2008, will not be able to throw until at least mid-June.

Advertisement
--Former Michigan QB Steven Threet is reportedly transferring to Arizona St. Threet started eight games for the Wolverines last year, throwing for 1,105 yards with a 9/7 touchdown-interception ratio. The Sun Devils had room to bring in another signal caller because Jack Elway, the son of John Elway, recently decided to quit football and Chasen Stangal left the program.

--Carl Torbush, the former head coach at the University of North Carolina, is back in the SEC. Torbush is Dan Mullen’s defensive coordinator at Mississippi St. He has previously been the defensive coordinator at UNC, Ole Miss, Alabama and Texas A&M.

--Greg McElroy will be the starting QB when Alabama faces Va. Tech in the season opener for both teams at the Georgia Dome. The fourth-year junior from Southlake, TX., has clearly won the job. However, redshirt freshman Star Jackson will still get playing time in packages designed to take advantage of his scrambling ability.

--For loyal readers and listeners of the Power Hours, you know how I feel about Southern Cal QB Mitch Mustain. When he decided to transfer from Arkansas to USC, I was adamant that he’d never become the starter for the Trojans. I went to great lengths to describe how selfish this kid was being after he had his Mommy and Daddy go over Houston Nutt’s head to talk to outgoing AD Frank Broyles about the direction of the Razorbacks’ offense. Of course, that happened while the Hogs were in the midst of winning the SEC West and posting a 10-win season. Mustain, a true freshman at the time, wanted Arkansas to throw the ball more. Nevermind that the backfield had NFL talents like Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis. Nevermind that all three of those RBs had been in the program longer. Nevermind that Nutt had been the head coach for nearly a decade. None of that mattered for Mustain, who was all about, well, Mustain. With all of this in mind, you can imagine my delight at seeing Mustain ranked third on the depth chart by Pete Carroll coming out of spring practice. Aaron Corp has been named the starter and true freshman Matt Barkley is the No. 2 guy. I don’t wish bad things on anybody but when a me-first player like Mustain shows his ass the way he did in Fayetteville, I can’t help but get a kick out of his current situation.

--Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus, who was considered the nation’s premier prep QB coming out of high school four years ago, is reportedly visiting Nebraska this week. Michigan is apparently out of the picture now, while Paulus is also considering Syracuse. He will have one year of football eligibility.

--According to the Birmingham News, former LSU cornerback Phelon Jones will transfer to Alabama. Jones, who started two games for the Tigers in 2008, will have two years of eligibility left after sitting out the 2009 campaign.

--The SEC led all conferences with 37 players selected in the NFL Draft.

--How far have FSU and Miami’s football programs fallen in recent years? The ‘Noles and ‘Canes had just one player apiece drafted this past weekend.

--Tennessee QB B.J. Coleman has elected to transfer. That leaves Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens as the candidates to be UT’s starter for its opener at home against UCLA. Most reports out of Knoxville indicate that Crompton appeared to be the leader coming out of spring practice.

--Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach wasn’t happy about QB Graham Harrell not being drafted. In fact, he was so frustrated that he took shots at former Texas A&M QB Stephen McGee, who went to the Cowboys in the fourth round. Leach told the Dallas Morning News, “I'm happy for Stephen McGee. The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did."

--If you missed it, Nick Saban delivered an odd speech after Alabama’s spring game that was attended by 84,050 fans. The rant seemed to be directed at the Crimson Tide’s fan base. In fact, Saban had the audacity to imply that the fans should shoulder some of the blame for ‘Bama’s Sugar Bowl loss to Utah. Say what? Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register filed this column about Saban on Tuesday.

--Florida head coach Urban Meyer is not a big fan of former UF quarterback Shane Matthews, who currently does sports radio in Gainesville. Check out this link for the entire scoop.

Brian Edwards can be reached at briane@vegasinsider.com.

  
HEADLINES
Edwards: LSU is the 'chalk' in 2012
Lawrence: Changing Conferences
Roberts: 2013 BCS Title Game Odds
Big Ten exploring 4-team playoff
Michigan sells out its tickets for 'Bama
UNLV's Hauck picks new coordinators
Washington State's Mizell kicked off team
Charge against ex-Alabama CB dropped
Sandusky seeks copies of Pa. testimony
MORE HEADLINES
 
VegasInsider.com Gold Membership
 
2011-12 CFB SEASON PICK RECORDS
Money Leaders
Handicapper Money
James Manos + 2005
Chip Chirimbes + 1849
Antony Dinero + 1675
Last Week's Leaders
Handicapper Money
Scott Pritchard + 400
Chip Chirimbes + 290
Mark Fox + 200
Percentage Leaders
Handicapper Pct
James Manos 62 %
Scott Pritchard 62 %
Northcoast Sports 59 %
Guaranteed Leaders
Handicapper Money
Lance Blankenship + 413
Antony Dinero + 412
Scott Pritchard + 410
Over-Under Leaders
Handicapper Money
Tony Stoffo + 2042
Antony Dinero + 1842
The Gold Sheet + 943
Member Leaders
Handicapper Money
Antony Dinero + 1819
Micah Roberts + 1337
Tony Stoffo + 870
MORE PICK RECORDS
  
GOLD Membership
Receive a 20% discount on all Daily Picks. Signup Today!
 
 
Las Vegas Travel
 
 

NFL
NFL Picks
NFL Odds
NFL Matchups
NFL Scores

NBA
NBA Picks
NBA Odds
NBA Matchups
NBA Scores

MLB
MLB Picks
MLB Odds
MLB Matchups
MLB Scores


NCAA FB
NCAA FB Picks
NCAA FB Odds
NCAA FB Matchups
NCAA FB Scores

NCAA BK
NCAA BK Picks
NCAA BK Odds
NCAA BK Matchups
NCAA BK Scores

NHL
NHL Picks
NHL Odds
NHL Matchups
NHL Scores


More Sports
Golf
Auto Racing
Horse Racing
Boxing
UFC
WNBA
Soccer

Features
Free Odds
Mobile Odds
Contests
Newsletters
VI Radio
Las Vegas Travel
Follow us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook


Sports Betting Tools
Live Odds
Parlay Calculator
Gaming Terms
TV Listings
Handicapping Records
Sportsbook Reviews

VegasInsider Info
About Us
Help Center
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Contact Us
User Feedback

Sportsbooks
BetOnline.com
Bodog.ca
Bovada.lv
SBG Global.com
Sportsbook.com
TopBet.com

Rotation Schedules
Hockey:
 
 
Basketball:

Jan 31 - Feb 27
Feb 28 - Apr 07
 
Jan 31 - Feb 27

Copyright © 1997-2012, VegasInsider.com Inc., The Global Leader In Sports Gaming Information. All rights reserved.
For questions or comments, please contact us at 1-800-211-4759.