Football Stat Check – November 13
If you’re ever feeling like you’ve been hit with the dumb stick, remember: The numbers don’t lie. Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh and Jimmy Johnson were a combined 4-53-1 as first-year NFL coaches. We can’t promise you’ll become a Hall of Famer, but we can give you 10 of the weekend’s most interesting football stats and factoids.
For current NFL lines, visit Bodog’s online sportsbook.
Oakland at Miami: The Raiders more than tripled their offensive output last week against the Panthers. Oakland gained 259 yards after managing only 77 the previous week versus Atlanta. Interim head coach Tom Cable called the offense against Carolina for the first time this season.
South Carolina at Florida: The Gators backup center is a tight end. Greg Smith made the switch from center to replace injured TE Blaine Irby, but Florida lost starting C Chris Hall (sprained knee) during Tuesday’s practice. Freshman David Snow will start for Hall against the Gamecocks.
Denver at Atlanta: The over is 21-7-2 in Denver’s last 30 games and 1-3-1 in the last five. The Broncos have a gifted offense with an emerging star QB in Jay Cutler (89.5 passer rating), but he’s been up-and-down over the last month with eight TDs and seven picks.
Boise State at Idaho: The Broncos are 37-point road faves (-115) against the Vandals. That’s the biggest spread on the board for Week 12 of the college season. Road faves are 99-88-3 ATS on the year and 1-1 ATS when laying at least 30 points.
Get all your college football lines from Bodog.
St. Louis at San Francisco: The Niners are getting sacked more often than any other team in the league; 10.8 percent of their plays have resulted in either J.T. O’Sullivan (32 times) or Shaun Hill (twice) becoming one with the turf. The Rams are No. 29 in sacks allowed at 9.9 percent.
Notre Dame at Navy: The Midshipmen are 15-7 ATS in their last 22 games following an ATS loss. Nobody will ever accuse the academy teams of shrinking in the face of adversity. Navy (-8) beat Temple 33-27 in overtime last week.
San Diego at Pittsburgh: Temperatures at Heinz Field are supposed to dip near freezing at gametime (4:15 p.m. Eastern) with a 40 percent chance of rain. The Bears-Packers and Browns-Bills matchups are expected to be even nastier, but Chicago and Cleveland are no strangers to this kind of weather.
Texas at Kansas: Daunte Culpepper holds the NCAA single-season record with a 73.6 completion percentage. Longhorns QB Colt McCoy (78.0 percent) is on pace to shatter that record. Kansas is No. 117 in the FBS in passing yards allowed at 276.3 per game.
Philadelphia at Cincinnati: Sunday is Eagles linebacker Chris Gocong’s 25th birthday. The Cal Poly-SLO alumnus mans the strong side in Philly’s 4-3 defense next to MLB Stewart Bradley and Omar Gaither on the weak side. The Eagles are ranked No. 9 in efficiency against the pass and No. 4 against the run.
Southern California at Stanford: The Cardinal are fourth in the nation in red-zone efficiency with 27 touchdowns in 35 attempts (77.1 percent), along with six field goals. USC is ranked No. 25 with 30 TDs on 44 attempts (68.2 percent) and five field goals.
