Scott Rickenbach Sports Picks

NHL Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 6 in Vegas Golden Knights vs San Jose Sharks @ 10:07 ET - The Sharks are playing well finally but are still giving up a lot of goals. San Jose has played 4 straight games that have each totaled at least 9 goals. Vegas is heating up again and has won 4 of 5 games and scored an average of 5 goals in the 4 victories! Also, I like the fact that this is a B2B situation for the Knights as that impacts the goalie situation. Is Hill ready to come back? Will it be Patera in this one? Thompson has been playing well again but he go the start last night. This is the perfect set-up to expect plenty of goals tonight as the Knights have been lighting the lamp with great regularity plus already scored 4 or more in each of their two meetings with the Sharks this season. This is a divisional match-up and the teams do not like each other and San Jose is playing much better than they were when Vegas faced them the two prior times. In other words, the goals should fly here as San Jose fights back seeking revenge here but the Sharks continue to allow too many goals. Vegas in a B2B and that goalie situation further helps the cause here! 10* OVER 6 in Vegas

Rotation #859: CBB Sunday 10* Top Play Michigan State Spartans (-) @ Nebraska Cornhuskers @ 6:30 ET - The Huskers are 7-2 this season plus at home and plus playing with revenge from last season. Yes they are a 3-point dog to a Spartans team that is just 4-4 this season. Big mistake, right? Actually, not at all! The Huskers have played a weaker schedule than the Spartans. Also, Nebraska lost their Big Ten opener to Minnesota despite the Golden Gophers losing their leading scorer to injury early in the game. Yes the Spartans also off a loss to open up Big Ten action but they faced a tough Badgers team and mainly lost that game because Wisconsin was much better from 3-point land than Michigan State. So here we are getting solid line value in this spot as there has been an over-reaction the Spartans mediocre record so far this season. We step in and take advantage of a quality team laying a small number in a bounce back spot. We get the small number because they are on the road and because of a forced adjustment on the line by the marketplace. 10* MICHIGAN STATE (-)

Rotation #206941: Romania Liga 1: Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 +105 in CFR Cluj vs FCSB @ 1 ET - I know CFR Cluj has struggled recently but they are too strong at home to keep struggling here in terms of the goal-scoring department. As for FCSB, they are also a strong club but enter this one off a 2-0 loss to Galati. The set up here is perfect for two clubs that normally score well to bounce back big off disappointing shutout losses. Note that CFR Cluj has been shutout in B2B matches but this followed a stretch in which they scored 3 goals twice in their 3 preceding matches. As for FCSB, they have scored an average of 2 goals per match in last 6 road matches. This one should at least get to 2-1 but even a 2-2 draw would not surprise me in the least. Despite a history of low-scoring matches when these clubs meet and despite the fact each have struggled a bit recently in the goal-scoring department, the total on this one is set at 2.5 goals. You know what that means! 10* OVER 2.5 +105 in CFR Cluj

Rotation #200157: English Premier League Sunday Free Pick OVER 3 -115 in Tottenham vs Newcastle @ 11:30 AM ET - Each club is scoring an average of 2 goals per match on the season so I feel we have excellent value with this number. Both clubs enter this one off disappointing losses so they will be pushing hard in this one. Tottenham has seen each of its last 6 matches across all competitions total at least 3 goals and those matches have averaged 4 goals apiece. The last 5 meetings between these clubs have all totaled at least 3 goals and actually averaged 5 goals apiece. Newcastle has struggled recently but still has enough firepower to make a strong match out of this. Grab the value with this total. Free Pick OVER 3 -115 in Tottenham

NFL Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Eagles (+) @ Dallas Cowboys @ 8:20 ET - This is a classic case of recent results creating an immediate over-reaction from the marketplace. The Cowboys are favored by 3.5 points here as of the overnight hours heading into Sunday. Dallas lost at Philly earlier this season but, since then, they have won 4 straight. However, they barely got by Seattle last week after having walloped the Giants, Panthers and Commanders. The combined record of those 3 teams is now 9-28 on the season. This is classic Cowboys. Dallas tends to look great and pad stats against bad teams and then struggle mightily against others. Note that the Cowboys are now facing 4 straight tough games against teams with a combined 34-14 record. Part of the reason Dallas has such a strong record this season is they have played a weak schedule. The Cowboys already are 0-2 against stronger teams: SF and Philly. The Eagles have already played Buffalo and Miami while Dallas still has those teams on deck. Philly also beat the Chiefs in addition to toppling the Bills and Dolphins. Now, I am well aware that the Niners just waxed the Eagles but the Cowboys got rolled by them as well. The ugly Philly loss to SF just happened and creates the line value here. You know the Eagles will be hungry to bounce back and prove that defeat was a fluke! I have no hesitation in grabbing the points here and challenging Dallas to win this game by more than field goal. The Cowboys just do not have a history of performing well in big games against strong teams. Dallas will struggle just to win, let alone cover, in this one! 10* PHILADELPHIA (+) 

NFL Sunday 10* Top Play Buffalo Bills (+) @ Kansas City Chiefs @ 4:25 ET - Current line in the overnight hours is as high as a +1.5 for the Bills. The Chiefs are at home where they are 4-2 on the season. The Bills are on the road where they are 1-4 on the season. Kansas City also lost last year's meeting at Buffalo so this is revenge even though yes, I know, the Bills have had some memorable playoff battles recently against the Chiefs that went the wrong way. When you consider all of the above factors, how is KC such a small favorite in this spot? Exactly! Do not let the line fool you! The Bills are the play! Who can bet against Mahomes and Company at a home in a game where the line is virtually a pick'em and we are playing on a team that has had tough road trips this season? We can! Buffalo has a key edge here in that they are coming off a late-season bye week. So the Bills have had plenty of time to rest both mentally and physically plus "recharge their batteries" for this game. The set-up here is a solid one for Buffalo. Remember that the Bills made a change at offensive coordinator last month. The Bills are off that OT loss at Philly but they scored a pile of points and this followed a thrashing of the Jets the prior week. As bad as the Jets are, they do have a respectable defense and the point is that Buffalo put up big yardage against them and against the Eagles. They outgained Philly by over 100 yards and should have won that game. They have averaged nearly 450 yards per game in the two games since the OC change. Conversely, the Chiefs offense just has not been what it once was. The Bills season has ended here in Kansas City in 2 of the last 3 seasons. Though the Bills won a regular season game at KC last season, this is yet another shot at more payback that is on the very field where the Bills season had ended in EACH of the two seasons prior to last year. Payback time. 10* BUFFALO 

NFL Sunday 10* Top Play Indianapolis Colts (+) @ Cincinnati Bengals @ 1 ET - We get line value here (in the 2.5 range as of overnight hours) because the Bengals are off that upset win of the Jaguars on Monday night. Note that the Bengals had lost 3 straight before that. I know Browning had a big game for Cincinnati and is a solid QB. However, Cincinnati is now on a short week and with travel involved as they were in Jacksonville for the battle with the Jags. Indy has won 4 straight games and, like Jags QB Browning, Colts QB Minshew is off a big game. The Colts were favored in this one but the line has flipped to having Indianapolis as the dog. I love fading line moves like this and expect the Bengals struggles to quickly resume. Yes, both teams off OT wins but the Colts have a rest edge here plus they have now won 4 straight whereas the Bengals had lost 3 in a row before that victory. Cincy is allowing 28 ppg last 4 games while Colts allowing 17 ppg last 4 games. 10* INDIANAPOLIS (+)