Calvillo tosses three TDs in Montreal's win at Toronto

Football Betting Lines

08/15/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Calvillo threw for a season-high 379 yards with three touchdowns on 27-of-41 passing to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a convincing 32-14 road victory over the Toronto Argonauts.

Avon Cobourne was the recipient of five catches for 103 yards and a touchdown while also gaining 107 rushing yards on 16 carries for the Alouettes (5-3), who moved two games ahead of the second-place Argonauts (3-5) and remained a perfect 5-0 in the East Division. Cobourne rushed for over 100 yards for the fourth straight game.

Ben Cahoon nabbed six receptions for 78 yards and a score while Jamel Richardson also had six catches but for 84 yards. Cahoon has now caught at least one pass in 99 straight games.

Damon Duval had a busy evening with 13 points hitting 3-of-5 field goals but had a streak of 17 straight cut short with his first miss in the second quarter.

Michael Bishop hooked up with Andre Talbot for Toronto's only touchdown. Bishop replaced an ineffective Kerry Joseph to start the third quarter and finished 9-of-21 for 126 passing yards with the TD and a costly interception. Talbot finished with six receptions for 54 yards.

Bishop set a bad tone for the second half when Davis Sanchez picked off his fourth pass from scrimmage. A 26-yard return and a five-yard Argonaut unnecessary roughness penalty placed the Alouettes on the doorstep and Calvillo found Brian Bratton from four yards out to extend the lead to 18-7.

Montreal began to wear down the stingy Argonaut defense by closing out the quarter with a single and a 36-yard field goal from Duval for a 22-7 advantage.

The Alouettes opened the final quarter of play with a field goal and a single before Toronto managed its only touchdown of the game with 3:17 remaining, a 21-yard strike from Bishop to Talbot, making good on a 10-play, 90-yard drive.

Calvillo then tossed a 22-yard touchdown to Cahoon with just outside a minute remaining to close out the game.

The two teams opened the game by trading field goals around a conceded single by Montreal for a 4-3 Toronto lead with one quarter in the books.

The Alouettes finished off a first quarter drive 1:15 into the second stanza with the game's first touchdown. A 46-yard pass from Calvillo to Richardson set up an 18-yard scoring strike to Cobourne making it a 10-4 game.

Toronto answered with a 15-yard Mike Vanderjagt field goal on the ensuing possession and Duval registered a single for Montreal in the waning moments of the first half to push the lead to 11-7.

Game Notes

Montreal is 3-2 on the road...Toronto is 2-2 at home and 2-3 against conference rivals...Cobourne now has 607 rushing yards this season and is threatening to become the first player in CFL history to accumulate 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season...Toronto's four first-quarter points were the most by an opponent against Montreal in the first stanza this season. The Alouettes have outscored their opposition 73-12 in the first quarter this season...Duval leads the CFL in scoring with 105 points...Joseph completed 9-of-16 passed for 115 yards before Bishop took over in the second half.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.

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 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.

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