Hogs host Warhawks in non-conference action

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Little Rock, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks of the SEC will attempt to knock off the UL-Monroe Warhawks, a team from the Sun Belt Conference set to open its season.

In December, ULM announced Todd Berry as the program's 14th head coach. Berry, who was the program's offensive coordinator from 2004-05, spent the last three seasons calling plays at UNLV. He inherits a club that is in a rebuilding mode, as the Warhawks split their 12 games a year ago. Few starters return on defense for ULM, and while the offense is a bit more experienced, there is no doubt that the squad enters this opener as a huge underdog.

As for Arkansas, it began the campaign with a 44-3 thrashing of Tennessee Tech, an FCS squad.

"I like the way we came out of halftime, because we started to settle down and run the ball better," said coach Bobby Petrino after the triumph.

Petrino is in his third year at the helm at Arkansas and has obviously made an impact in a short time considering the team came into the season with its highest ranking since 1990. The Razorbacks went 8-5 overall in 2009, including posting their first bowl victory since 2003, a 20-17 win over East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl.

Arkansas has won all eight of its previous meetings with UL-Monroe, the most recent of which took place in 2008.

It will be interesting to see who starts and finished the game at quarterback for ULM. Trey Revell was the starter last season and ranked third in the Sun Belt in passing efficiency. The 6-4, 222-pound Revell is a dual threat, throwing for 1,739 yards and rushing for 311 more last year, but a late-season slump and thumb injury has opened the door for redshirt freshman Kolton Browning. The frosh showed enough in the spring to be considered the lead candidate.

"This is pretty much a quarterback driven offense and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on those guys intellectually in what we are asking the quarterback to do, in relation to what they have done in the past," said Berry.

The key player for the ULM offense is tailback Frank Goodin, who is less than 900 yards shy of becoming the program's all-time leading rusher. The 5-9, 211- pound Goodin earned Second Team All-SBC honors a season ago, rushing for 1,126 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Using a 3-3-5 scheme, ULM boasted one of the best defensive units in the Sun Belt last season and ranked 44th nationally in total defense (347.0 ypg). Seven starters are now gone, leaving the Warhawks with a major rebuilding project.

"We don't care who plays, we are going to put the best players out on the field based on what fits our system," stated Berry.

The Warhawks welcome back only a single starter along the defensive line, but he is a good one in Troy Evans. Only one starter returns to the linebacking corps as well, but the secondary is a little more settled with two starters and some experienced depth welcomed back. Safety Darius Prelow has all-league potential and he started to emerge as a force last season.

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett began his 2010 Heisman campaign in style against Tennessee Tech last weekend, completing 21-of-24 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns.

"The first win is always the toughest one," said Mallett. "You never know what to expect the first game out. Tennessee Tech did some things well in the first half, but we were able to adjust in the second half and played really good defense."

Ronnie Wingo Jr., Dennis Johnson and Broderick Green each had a score on the ground while Joe Adams finished the game with six catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Arkansas totaled 519 yards of offense in the clash, but the level of competition obviously wasn't up to SEC standards.

Defensively, Arkansas limited Tennessee Tech to 79 rushing yards on 43 carries, an impressive showing by any standards. The pass defense was solid as well, allowing just a 50 percent completion rating. While the Razorbacks did fail to come up with a single takeaway, they posted a pair of sacks and battled for four quarters.

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Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

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