Betting College Football

26/01/08

Majority arrested in Kingsport gambling raid plead guilty

Published 01/24/2008

By Kacie Dingus Breeding

Twelve of 16 people nabbed by Kingsport police in a November gambling raid pleaded guilty Thursday to their charges. One defendant failed to show for trial, another pleaded not guilty, and trials are scheduled later for two others, according to court records.

Hog Wild Saloon co-owner Donnie Godsey and 82-year-old Paul McKinney were the only two defendants not scheduled for trial Thursday. Godsey is accused of running an illegal gambling establishment at 4209 Fort Henry Drive, and McKinney allegedly served as his bookie.

Kingsport police arrested Godsey, McKinney and 14 others in the raid, seizing $19,900 in cash along with poker chips, playing cards, and betting slips for college and professional football games.

Godsey, 46, current address not available and formerly of Church Hill, faces a single charge of aggravated gambling promotion. McKinney, 156 River Road, Weber City, Va., is charged with aggravated gambling promotion, possession of Schedule IV narcotics, possession of a gambling device, and gambling. Both are scheduled for March 20 appearances in Sullivan County General Sessions Court.

James “Eric” McConnell, 36, 627 Rock Springs Drive, Kingsport, was facing a single gambling charge. A warrant will be issued for his arrest on a failure to appear charge after the no-show for his trial.

Randy Sims, 38, 614 Blue Springs Road, Elizabethton, was charged with gambling and going armed. He entered a guilty plea and indicated he will be applying to have the charges expunged.

James “Cole” Dolan, 51, 627 Rock Springs Drive, Kingsport, pleaded guilty to a single gambling charge and asked to have the record expunged.

Sims is scheduled for a Feb. 28 court hearing. Dolan’s hearing date is set for April 24.

Mark Ketron, 42, 124 Glendora Drive, charged with gambling and possession of untaxed liquor, also pleaded guilty to his charges.

Jerry Sheets, 66, 1407 E. Myrtle Ave., Johnson City, entered a plea of not guilty and had to be tried on his gambling charge. The judge found him guilty.

Those who each agreed to plead guilty to a single gambling charge and had not expressed any plans to request expungement Thursday are:

-Randy Leonard, 37, 1730 Denton Valley Road, Bristol, Tenn.

-William Carey, 72, 213 Glen Ave., Clinchport, Va.

-Clarence Begley, 71, 520 W. Carters Valley Road, Kingsport.

-James Bradley, 51, 228 Trace Court, Kingsport.

-Cecil George Bradley, 71, 2344 Inglewood Drive, Kingsport.

-Scottie Brown, 32, 1403 Hammond Ave., Mount Carmel.

-Robert J. Woods, 33, 1824 Presswood Road, Johnson City.

-Timothy Ruckman, 47, 432 Kitzmiller Road, Gray.

-David Palmer, 31, 3540 McIntosh Drive, Kingsport.

Kingsport General Sessions Judge Duane Snodgrass issued minimum 30-day suspended jail terms to each defendant and minimum $50 fines plus court costs.

05/01/08

Neuheisel promises clean, fun program for Bruins

Updated: December 31, 2007, 9:46 PM ET

LOS ANGELES -- Mixing solemn promises with sprinkles of humor, Rick Neuheisel walked back onto the UCLA campus as the new football coach.

"We're going to have two rules. One rule is to get the job done, no matter what it takes," the former Bruins quarterback said. "The second rule is to enjoy each others' company and laugh every day, because this is a special, unique place."

Among his promises were not to do anything to tarnish the school's reputation.

His previous head coaching stints at Colorado and Washington were marked by winning records -- and turmoil.

He went 33-14 from 1995-98 at Colorado but, after he left for Washington, the Buffaloes were placed on two years of probation for recruiting infractions that occurred on his watch. He had a 33-16 record at Washington and guided the Huskies to the Rose Bowl in 2000, but was fired in 2003 for participating in a betting pool on the NCAA basketball tournament.

He sued for wrongful termination and settled in 2005 with UW and the NCAA for $4.5 million, and eventually was cleared by the NCAA in the betting scandal.

The 46-year-old Neuheisel readily acknowledges his mistakes.

"I was a young coach when I got the job at age 33, and maybe in an effort to prove that I belonged to the older peer group, I did some things that probably weren't necessary in an effort to try to compete and show everybody I was going to outhustle them," he said.

"I can't change the past, but I can learn from the past."

He recalled being a non-scholarship player at UCLA who was excited by each small step of progress, from getting his own locker, then his own number after sharing No. 24 with another player, "Then to actually getting into a game, then actually getting into a game when the score was still meaningful."

He said he comes into the new role with the Bruins feeling calm because of his experience in leading programs at Colorado and Washington, and noted how he wasn't quite so confident when he first came to Westwood as a walk-on.

Recalling a game of catch with another player, Neuheisel said, "I was a little nervous that he was throwing a much better spiral than I was."

He grinned and added, "And he was a tight end."

That brought laughter from the crowd at his news conference, with the alumni and university staffers in the back of the room giving the news conference a sort of pep rally atmosphere.

Tight spirals or not, Neuheisel became the Bruins' starting quarterback and was the MVP of their 45-9 upset of Illinois in the 1984 Rose Bowl. Two of his four touchdown passes that day were caught by Karl Dorrell, who was fired as the UCLA coach on Dec. 3.

The quarterback and the receiver remained close, with Dorrell serving on Neuheisel's staffs at Colorado and Washington. Neuheisel called Dorrell when he learned he had been dismissed by UCLA.

"He's a great man and a great leader and he'll always be a Bruin, and as long as I'm in charge of this program, we're going to speak of Karl Dorrell in reverent tones," Neuheisel said, adding that he knows Dorrell will land another job soon.

There is a marked difference between the two, with Neuheisel more outgoing -- at least in public -- than the quiet Dorrell.

"He wasn't very talkative," Neuheisel said, smiling. "He wore No. 8 and I wore No. 10, our lockers were that close together. And he was a sophomore before he said hello."

A handful of UCLA players showed up for the news conference, and seemed to like what they heard.

"We're excited," quarterback Ben Olson said. "He's definitely got a lot of charisma. It's been a challenging couple of years, and he's determined that we're going to take this city over."

That would mean knocking the USC Trojans and coach Pete Carroll out of the limelight.

Neuheisel drew more laughter when he mentioned meeting some of the players in the hallway before the news conference and telling them, "The message is this: Guys, we're all the same, we got recruited by UCLA ... me for the first time."

18/12/07

LINCICOME: Identity of BCS rooted in its uncertainty

By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Clearly there is a better way to find a national college football champion than having a half-dozen teams sitting around waiting for other teams to lose.

The reward for not playing should not be greater than the reward for trying.

Ah, poor Missouri, sad West Virginia. We barely got to know you.

A season should not end based on hope that the bodies will not pile high enough so they can still be stepped over, as Ohio State did, as at least LSU did straight from the shower, while Missouri and West Virginia shriveled from magazine covers to newspaper agate in mere hours.

There was ruined Kansas, lounging and asking for a refill, just a week removed from disgrace against Ol' Mizzou, suddenly in for the big bucks and the brighter lights without the benefit of a trophy.

While Georgia, using the Ohio State tactic of lolling with its feet up, nevertheless could only watch as LSU rattled past without as much as a beg your pardon.

All of this has caused great agony beyond the usual locker rooms and sports bars, among the painted faces and foam fingers. Perfectly serious monitors of the national soul are clicking their tongues or writing angry editorials.

This is much too important to be so unfocused and imprecise. What kind of lesson is this for our children? Things can work out no matter how hard you work, how many chances you take, how pure your heart.

Can a government inquiry be far behind?

College football lives for this, survives because of this, remains interesting and vital because of this, all this swirl of uncertainty and clatter of clashing views.

Difference of opinion is as much a part of college football as the overtime tiebreaker, and just about as easily understood.

Not that any of us around here have, as they say, a dog in the fight. Nor a Ram, Buffalo or Eagle - even a Bronco, as it is turning out - though CU and Air Force did find consolation gifts in Shreveport and Fort Worth.

The bowl system tumbles merrily along below the BCS madness, giving marching bands someplace to march and wannabe teams someplace to be. And gratitude is genuine from both sides.

Bowl eligibility has become a complimentary phrase, like full-figured or intellectually incurious.

And yet, the demand to bring order to the riot persists, as if determining the best college football team in the land is at all vital or even wise.

Clearly, the winner of the Ohio State- LSU game will remain as mythical as the old mythical champions voted upon by sportswriters, a system that got it as right as the Bowl Championship Series has managed to do.

The problem with that system is that there was no money in it, if much more honesty. What was once an innocent circulation gimmick is now a national annoyance.

If the winner is LSU, with two losses, even two triple-overtime losses, then any team with a single loss can rightly demand consideration, including the two-loss Buckeyes.

And what of Hawaii, unbeaten now and maybe later, dismissed for lack of standing among the usual suspects. If this were basketball, Hawaii would be the Cinderella of the piece - if this were basketball, Hawaii would be George Mason - but BCS football does not allow for disbelief.

But what it does allow, what it thrives on, are columns like this, and overfed, sleight-of-tongue pundits shouting at one another on TV, while fans, alumni and innocent bystanders chase one another around the traffic circle of righteous indignation.

It is handy to compare football with basketball and its much suggested playoff formula, the so-called March Madness, as much a betting arrangement as a sport tournament and no more likely to produce the best team in the land than football.

When the process is more at issue than the purpose, frustration results. The BCS formula is football's version of the Electoral College or the iPhone.

The call for a playoff is as old as it is loud, especially in times when college football does not conveniently sort itself into two, and only two, undefeated teams.

When such a thing happens, a Texas and a Southern Cal just naturally would meet, no matter what system was used.

Some support is growing for a plus-one device when, after all the bowl games, the two top-ranked teams would then meet in an Uber Bowl of some sort.

And that would work no better than this, though there would be another level of income.

The argument that the season is the college playoff is generally true, but without the accompanying clarity.

And, bless its muddled little heart, clarity is the last thing college football needs.

10/12/07

College Football Polls are Worthless

The college football rankings compiled by the Associated Press (based on 65 members of the media), the USA Today Coaches' poll (63 college coaches) and the Harris Interactive poll (comprised of former players, coaches, administrators, and current and former media) are garbage and should be eliminated.

In early October the University of Southern California had four wins and no losses and was ranked either first or second by the three polls when they played the Cardinal of Stanford, which had won just one of four games and was not ranked in the top 25 in any poll. The Cardinal beat the Trojans 24-23.

Earlier in the season Applachian State, which is not even a division 1-A school, beat then-number five ranked Michigan 34-32. The Mountaineers were such a big underdog that there was no betting line before the game. Also this season Syracuse, not thought worthy of being in the top 25 in any poll, beat Louisville, which was ranked 18 and a 36 point favorite, 38-35. Last week winless Notre Dame, a 20 point underdog to UCLA, beat the Bruins by 14.

Each of the aforementioned teams won their games on the road. There have been plenty of other "big upsets" this season and you can count on more in the coming weeks. The people who participate in these polls are not idiots or biased cheats. The college game has changed so much in recent years that there is much less difference among teams than there used to be.

The parity comes from a combination of the scholorship restrictions put in place 15 years ago (the Bruins chances faded when its starting quarterback was injured early in the game), the proliferation of universities investing wads of money on their football programs (my weight room is better than his weight room) and coaches that run offenses that mimick a track meet (speed kills).

Talk to any serious gambler and I bet they will tell you these polls mean squat. But for the teams the polls can have dire consequences because the USA Today poll and Harris Interactive poll account for two-thrids of the B.C.S. rankings. That is absurd. The NCAA should drop the polls pronto and move to a conference playoff format where indpendents are assigned to a conference for playoff purposes.

04/11/07

Temple isn't a shock to the oddsmakers

Owls put together a miserable 1-22 record over the 2005 and 2006 seasons. But over that span, they were not dogs against the spread.

By Lonnie White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

November 2, 2007

As one of college football's worst programs, Temple put together a miserable 1-22 record over the 2005 and 2006 seasons. But over that span, the Owls were not dogs against the spread, sporting a respectable 10-12-1 record.

That's why oddsmakers are not surprised to see Temple finally turn things around this season under second-year Coach Al Golden. The Owls (3-5) have won three games in a row and travel to face Ohio University (4-5) in a key Mid-American Conference game tonight.

With the Bobcats listed as 7 1/2 -point home favorites, Temple has attracted solid support this week in picking up 48% of the bets against the spread, according to Sportsbook.com's betting trend.

The Owls are 6-2 against the spread this season and 6-1 against the spread in their last seven games as underdogs.

But before bettors get too excited about Temple, they should know that the Owls will be without starting quarterback Adam DiMichele, who suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago in a 24-17 victory over Miami (Ohio).

Sophomore Vaughn Charlton, who completed nine of 13 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown after DiMichele was injured, will make his first start for Temple, which will be looking to win four games in a row for the first time since 1985.

Ohio University, the defending MAC East Division champion, is 5-1 against the spread in its last six home games and 9-1 against the spread in its last 10 games played on grass.

29/10/07

College football: NDSU looks to win this one against Gophers

By Jon Krawczynski

Published: October 20. 2007 12:30AM - Last updated: October 20. 2007 12:34AM

MINNEAPOLIS - A year ago, North Dakota State sneaked into the Metrodome from sleepy Fargo and nearly escaped with a victory against an overconfident Minnesota team.

After blocking a last-second field goal to save them from embarrassment, the Gophers know what they're up against in the rematch today.

"They've got our attention," Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said.

The Bison, who play in the lower division formerly known as I-AA, thoroughly dominated their big brother from the Big Ten last season. They outgained the Gophers 380-249 and held a 23-12 advantage in first downs, plus a 10-minute edge in time of possession.

"Maybe we didn't give them enough respect," said Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber, who was a redshirt last year and did not play in that game. "They definitely earned that last year and with how they've been playing this year. We're not going to make that mistake again."

Thousands of fans wearing green and gold were pleasantly surprised by that 10-9 defeat, and now the Bison are looking for more. The nation's top-ranked team in their division, they know they can compete with the struggling Gophers (1-6), whose only victory came on Sept. 8 in three overtimes against Miami of Ohio.

"Some of our players wondered whether they belonged in that arena," Bison coach Craig Bohl said. "Certainly last year's team was last year's team. But I think our players sense, you know what? We have an opportunity to compete.

"I'm sure coach Brewster will have a confident football team. We feel like we'll have a confident football team. It should be a whale of a game."

North Dakota State (6-0) already has a win against the bigger division, formerly known as I-A, this season. The Bison whipped Central Michigan, 44-14, on Sept. 22.

Their high-powered offense is averaging 41.2 points per game and their yardage is split nearly evenly between rushing and passing.

"I wouldn't say there's a redemption factor, but there's a little more fire to this game," cornerback David Earl said. "Especially for the guys from Minnesota."

It almost sounds as if the Gophers, whose defense is ranked at or near the bottom of the nation in nearly every statistical category, are the underdogs. There won't be a betting line on this game, because of NDSU's status in the lower division.

Brewster sounded concerned whether his defense would "be able to match the physicality" of the NDSU offense, an unheard-of challenge for a BCS conference school playing a team from the smaller subdivision.

The coach also bristled at a question of whether losing to the Bison would be embarrassing.

"Why would you want to condemn North Dakota State like that?" Brewster asked. "They've got an outstanding football team. They're a heck of a football team. They're undefeated.

"I think they're as good a I-AA football team as there is in America today. There's certainly no shame to lose to a really good football team."

Michigan's loss to Appalachian State at the beginning of the season has removed some of the stigma, but there is no denying that it would still be a tough one to swallow for this rebuilding program.

And the Gophers won't have much of home-field to fall back on, either. North Dakota State figures to fill about half of the Metrodome with its boisterous fans, including family members of the 33 Bison players hailing from Minnesota.

"If they have more fans than us, it's an away game. That's all right," Minnesota safety Dominique Barber said. "We have plenty of away games, and we like being underdogs when we go to away games. We just have to be ready to play, and we'll be all right."

The Bison are still in their transition from Division II to the former I-AA and are not yet eligible to qualify for the playoffs. That makes this game their biggest of the year.

"We kind of look at this like this is their Super Bowl," Minnesota receiver Eric Decker said. "It's close to home. It's a big rival, I guess, for them. And they're going to bring a lot of fans in. So I feel like we need to prepare like this is a Big Ten game."

Minnesota's remaining schedule has games at Michigan, against Illinois, at Iowa and against Wisconsin, so this is a big one for the Gophers, too.

"They're a good football team, and they deserve everything they're getting this year," Weber said. "And we know that we're not a great football team right now. At least our record doesn't show it. So we're going to have to play a good football game to win."

16/10/07

Bizarro CFB season, next undefeated teams to fall

Posted: Wednesday October 10, 2007 12:29PM

By Ty Hildenbrandt

This college football season has been as jarring as the ending to the Planet of the Apes remake. Nothing makes any sense. Nobody knows what's going on. The whole season feels ad-libbed from week-to-week. Meanwhile, powerhouse programs are losing to primates they have no business playing, the Heisman Trophy may as well be a raffle prize, the BCS title game could be Boston College against South Florida and God stopped betting on Notre Dame four weeks ago.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?

I've come to the conclusion that this season has been bitten by the same bug that knocked the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament off its rocker. It's the only logical explanation. What else is a fan to think when point spreads -- no matter how insurmountable -- are no longer an effective predictor of final results? Furthermore, is it possible every team stinks and will eventually lose before season's end? Seems like a fair question about now, but I'm wondering when it became viable enough to ask ... if only in my own head.

I raise these points because I'm still trying to rationalize USC's upset loss to Stanford. I'm guessing I'm not the only one in need of dismissive and fuzzy logic to explain how the Trojans lost ... on their home turf ... to their wimpier and dorkier Pac-10 brother. It just doesn't add up, and I suppose it never will. The slippery slope -- you know, from "40-point favorite" to "upset victim" -- is borderline incomprehensible.

So as we get ready for another wild week of college football, there is only one fact of which I am absolutely, positively certain: This season is completely impossible to figure out.