Iowa gets things started against FCS foe Eastern Illinois

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The ninth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes lift the lid on the 2010 season this Saturday, as they play host to the Panthers of Eastern Illinois in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

Eastern Illinois, which plays its football out of the Ohio Valley Conference and is ranked 18th in the initial Football Championship Subdivision poll sponsored by The Sportsbook Betting Lines and Fathead.com, is coming off an 8-4 season in which it won the OVC title with a 6-2 mark.

The Panthers are playing a FBS school for the 27th time, with their last win coming in 2004 against Eastern Michigan. Iowa is the highest ranked foe EIU has ever faced. The Panthers are coached by Bob Spoo, who took over the team in 1987 and has a career mark 140-113-1 as the fourth-longest tenured coach (same school) in Division I.

The Hawkeyes, under the direction of head coach Kirk Ferentz, went 11-2 (6-2 in the Big Ten Conference) in 2009, and returns a wealth of talent on both sides of the ball so it's understandable if fans are excited about the prospect of their beloved team challenging for both the Big Ten and BCS titles.

Like most coaches, Ferentz doesn't want his team looking past the Panthers in this opener, "They are a well coached football team, disciplined and they play hard. We expect a very tough contest. All we have to do is look back to last year's opener and I don't think we have to say much more than that just in terms of what's in front for us."

Eastern Illinois, picked by many to finish atop the OVC this season, boasts 15 returning starters, including senior RB Mon Williams (191 carries, 870 yards, nine TDs). Unfortunately, Williams will miss at least this game with a strained knee. In his absence, expect QB Brandon Large to shoulder much of the offensive burden, despite this being his first Division I start.

Running back Jimmy Potempa (32 catches in 2009) is the team's top returning pass catcher, and he can expect to see his workload increase with Williams on the shelf. The offensive line features just two returning starters in OG Eric Zink and C Willie Henderson.

Defensively, the Panthers should be fine once they get past this game as standout performers like corners C.J. James and Rashad Haynes, DE Perry Burge and starting LBs Nick Nasti (83 tackles last year), Cory Leman (63 tackles) and Gordy Kickels (62 stops) all have the talent and experience to help the team achieve its goals.

Iowa averaged 23.5 ppg in '09, and upping that figure will be paramount to the team reaching its full potential this season. The return of six starters on offense, including QB Ricky Stanzi and RB Adam Robinson (Iowa freshman-record 834 rushing yards last season), should help reach that goal. Stanzi isn't the flashiest signal-caller out there, and he will need to make better decisions with the ball this fall after tossing 15 INTs in 11 games in 2009.

Helping Stanzi make plays down the field is a deep receiving corps that Ferentz says should make the difference between a sub par offensive showing, and one that causes opposing defensive coordinators plenty of sleepless nights.

"I think we have a chance to be better in the passing game, and you know, when you have that kind of experience, you hope that's a by product of the good production."

On the defensive side of the ball, expect to see a whole lot of DE Adrian Clayborn, who in 2009 logged 11.5 sacks, 20 TFLs, four fumble recoveries and was named the MVP of the Orange Bowl.

In addition to Clayborn's contributions, the Hawkeyes, who were absolutely dominant on defense last season in allowing a paltry 15.4 points and 276.5 yards per game, expect to get consistent efforts from guys like LB Jeremiah Hunter (89 tackles) and standout safeties Brett Greenwood and Tyler Sash.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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