Appalachian State, Villanova stars headline All-America team

NCAA Football Betting Lines

07/26/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Appalachian State may have lost two-time Walter Payton Award winner Armanti Edwards, but it boasts a national-best seven players on The Sportsbook Betting Lines/Fathead.com Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Team, led by senior linebacker D.J. Smith and senior safety Mark LeGree on the first team.

Defending FCS champion Villanova has the most players on the first team with three - senior wide receiver Matt Szczur, senior offensive tackle Ben Ijalana and senior linebacker Terence Thomas.

Smith, LeGree, Szczur and Ijalana were voted to the All-America first team at the end of the 2009 regular season by a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. Other 2009 first-team selections appearing on this year's preseason first team are Eastern Washington senior linebacker J.C. Sherritt, Grambling State senior defensive end Christian Anthony, Liberty sophomore place-kicker Matt Bevins and Arkansas-Pine Bluff junior kickoff returner Mareo Howard.

Szczur and Ijalana are two of 20 players on the Walter Payton Award Watch List of nominees for FCS player of the year. Sherritt, Anthony, LeGree and Smith are four of the 20 players on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List of nominees for FCS defensive player of the year. The FCS' two biggest player awards, plus the Eddie Robinson Award which honors the national coach of the year, are presented by The Sportsbook Betting Lines and sponsored by Fathead.com.

The Big Sky Conference dominates the offensive backfield of the Preseason All- America First Team. The quarterback is Northern Arizona senior Michael Herrick and the running backs are Montana senior Chase Reynolds and Eastern Washington junior Taiwan Jones. Herrick's 3,356 passing yards were the fifth-highest total in the FCS last season. Reynolds rushed for 1,502 yards and 22 touchdowns and helped lead Montana to its second straight appearance in the FCS championship game, while Jones averaged 7.5 yards per carry and was second in the FCS in all-purpose yards per game (195.4).

Furman junior Tersoo Uhaa is the fullback, while seniors Jason Caldwell of Fordham and Tysson Poots of Southern Utah are the wide receivers, and senior Stephen Skelton is the tight end. Poots and Caldwell ranked Nos. 2 and 3 in the FCS in receiving yards per game at 120.1 and 113.8, respectively. Poots also finished No. 2 nationally in receptions per game (9.4) and points per game (10.0).

Joining Ijalana at tackle is South Carolina State senior Johnny Culbreath, while Missouri State senior David Arkin and Texas State junior D.J. Hall are the guards, and South Dakota State senior Ryan McKnight is the center.

Defensively, Anthony is joined at defensive end by Sacramento State senior Christian Clark. The defensive tackles are seniors Kenrick Ellis of Hampton and Martin Parker of Richmond. Stephen F. Austin senior Jabara Williams joins Sherritt, Smith and Thomas on the linebacking corps. The cornerbacks are Southern Illinois senior Korey Lindsey and Montana junior Trumaine Johnson, and LeGree is joined at safety by Dayton senior James Vercammen.

Joining Bevins (No. 3 nationally in points per game at 9.7) and Howard (No. 1 nationally in kickoff return average at 31.0) on special teams are Old Dominion sophomore punter Jonathan Plisco and Grambling State senior punt returner Kiare Thompson. Plisco's 44.8-yard average on 62 punts led the FCS.

Appalachian State is replacing Edwards, its four-year starting quarterback, but the returning talent on the team is vast. In addition to LeGree and Smith, the Mountaineers' national-leading total of Preseason All-America selections consists of senior running back Devon Moore, junior wide receiver Brian Quick, junior tight end Ben Jorden and senior defensive end Jabari Fletcher, who made the second team, and junior defensive end Lanston Tanyi, who made the third team.

Southern Illinois is second with five selections: Lindsey on the first team; junior fullback John Goode and junior tackle David Pickard on the second team; and senior safety Mike McElroy and senior place-kicker Kyle Dougherty on the third team.

In all, 87 players were selected to the Preseason All-America Team. The Southern Conference leads all leagues with 15 selections, followed by the Big Sky Conference with 12, including a national-best six on the first team. The Missouri Valley Football Conference has 11 overall selections and the Colonial Athletic Association has 10. Next are the Southland Conference with seven and the Southwestern Athletic Conference with six.

The Sportsbook Betting Lines/Fathead.com All-America Team will be announced on Dec. 22. In addition to the Payton, Buchanan and Robinson awards, TSN and Fathead.com team up for the FCS's most widely recognized weekly Top 25 poll and weekly awards honoring the nation's top offensive player, defensive player and special teams player. The Sportsbook Betting Lines will present its 24th annual FCS Awards Presentation, sponsored by Fathead.com, on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011 in Frisco, Texas - the night before the FCS Championship Game.

Wfodors NCAA Football Betting News

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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