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10/06/2007 - Manhattan, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dexton Fields' 30-yard touchdown catch gave Kansas the lead in a wild final 15 minutes, as the Jayhawks finally downed No. 24 Kansas State in Manhattan, 30-24.
The Jayhawks (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) finally beat a worthy opponent after downing Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International to start the season. The victory in the 105th Sunflower Showdown gave Kansas its first five-game winning streak since 1995 and its first win in Manhattan since 1989, a losing streak spanning eight games.
Todd Reesing completed 22-of-35 passes for 267 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, while Fields caught six passes for 78 yards. The running game was a tag-team effort, as Brandon McAnderson rushed 13 times for 81 yards and Jake Sharp carried the ball 17 times for 77 yards and a score.
Josh Freeman threw for 305 yards on 31-of-48 passing with one touchdown but had three costly interceptions. Jordy Nelson hauled in 10 passes for 137 yards and a score for the Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 Big 12), who were coming off a stunning victory over Texas in Austin.
The fireworks ensued throughout the fourth quarter in Manhattan.
With Kansas backed up against its own goal line with a slim 21-17 lead, Reesing's swing pass into the flat bounced off Fields' facemask, straight up into the hands of Chris Carney at the Jayhawks 16-yard line.
The Wildcats then dipped into their bag of tricks to take the lead. After converting a 3rd-and-1 with a quarterback sneak, Freeman lined up in the shotgun and handed the ball off to Leon Patton, who ran to the right and lofted a perfect pass to wide open Deon Murphy for a 10-yard score.
Looking for its first five-game winning streak since 1995, Kansas didn't go quietly into the night.
The four-play, 62-yard march included two big plays to Fields, the second a 30-yard touchdown connection that handed the Jayhawks a 27-24 lead with 6:27 on the clock.
Scott Webb's 24-yard chip shot capped the scoring with 2:21 on the clock.
Kansas State used the big play to strike first. Freeman lofted a pass down the right sideline into the outstretched arms of Nelson, who caught the pass on the dead run and outran the defense the rest of the way for a 66-yard score and a 7-0 game.
The Jayhawks marched 86 yards on 10 plays to square the contest early in the second quarter. Reesing's 17-yard connection with Derek Fine moved the ball near midfield to the 47-yard line, and Marcus Henry hauled in 12-yard pass to move the chains on third down several plays later. Sharp capped the drive with a pair of hard runs, the first a 14-yard burst and the second a 20-yard touchdown run that included several broken tackles near the line of scrimmage.
The touchdown was Kansas' first in Manhattan since 1999.
The Wildcats responded with an 80-yard drive to regain the lead. Freeman completed four straight passes, the last a 15-yard connection with Nelson to the Jayhawks 43-yard line.
Freeman later completed a pass to Murphy for 17 yards, and Patton capped the march with a three-yard touchdown run with 3:52 remaining.
The two offenses exchanged interceptions before the Jayhawks went into hurry- up mode to tie the game once again. Reesing was accurate throughout the stretch, completing all five passes capped by a four-yard strike to a wide open Aqib Talib in the left corner of the end zone for a 14-14 game.
After several punts in the third, Kansas struck with a methodical 80-yard drive to seize the advantage. The big play was the final one, a 29-yard flanker screen to Dezmon Briscoe, who slipped through the middle of the field untouched on his way to the end zone.
Kansas State responded with a 13-play, 61-yard drive that resulted in Brooks Rossman's 32-yard field goal.
Game Notes
Last Saturday's victory over Texas propelled the Wildcats into the national rankings for the first time since 2004...Coming into the contest, Kansas was averaging 53.5 points per game while giving up 5.8 points on average...The Wildcats finished with 363 total yards to 437 for the Jayhawks.
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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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