Stampeders and Eskimos meet for second time this week

Football Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Friday night brings out the best and the worst in the Canadian Football League as the slumping Edmonton Eskimos entertain the high-flying Calgary Stampeders in a Western Division showdown at Commonwealth Stadium.

Except for a single misstep against Toronto back in the middle of July, the Stampeders have been perfect this season. On Labour Day Calgary posted its second 50-point game in the last three outings by blowing away this same Edmonton squad, 52-5. On a roll with six consecutive wins, the Stamps have outscored their last three opponents by a combined 156-55 and that has the squad sitting atop the league's scoring list with an average of 35.9 ppg. Not surprisingly Edmonton, which has fallen in three of the last four games and has captured its two victories by a margin of just three points each, is at the bottom of that list after nine games with just 18.6 ppg.

The Eskimos may have scored the first points of the meeting on Monday with an 86-yard single by Noel Prefontaine, the kicker ending up being responsible for all five of the team's points, but the offense failed to do anything significant for the visitors on the day. The quarterback tandem of Ricky Ray and Jared Zabransky combined to hit just 12-of-30 passes for 193 yards and each was intercepted twice in the awful effort. Adding insult to injury was the fact that running back Arkee Whitlock gained a mere three yards on three attempts before leaving the meeting with an actual injury.

Over on the other side, there was no stopping the Stamps as Henry Burris made history with his 15-of-23 passing effort for 226 yards and three touchdowns. The signal-caller, now with 35,054 yards passing in his career, moved past Dieter Brock for 10th place on the CFL's all-time passing list. Romby Bryant was the chief recipient of Burris's efforts as he reeled in five balls for 80 yards and a pair of scores, while Ken-Yon Rambo and Deon Murphy also caught scoring strikes to dig an even deeper hole for the Eskimos.

Running back Joffrey Reynolds, who coming into this season had gained at least 1,200 yards rushing in five straight campaigns, accounted for a game-high 85 yards and tallied a major on 18 carries in the onslaught as well.

Since opening the season against Toronto with 116 yards and a score, averaging almost seven yards per carry, Reynolds hasn't been as productive, but some of that can be attributed to Burris finding a groove and sticking with it by putting the ball in the air more often. Nevertheless, even though Reynolds has not logged 100 yards in a game since the opener, he is still second in the league in rushing after nine games with 706 yards and that's reason enough for opposing defenses to keep him on their radar.

Burris, now completing his passes at a 65.1 percent clip, has thrown 13 interceptions to tie for the most in the league, but those mistakes are outweighed by his league-high 21 TD strikes. The only team with more interceptions thrown at this juncture is Edmonton with 14, divided up among a number of players. The Eskimos as a whole have completed an even 60 percent of their attempts, but with more than a dozen INTs and just eight TD passes the squad has a dismal 73.4 efficiency rating at the moment.

Granted, over the years Ray has had his share of success against Calgary, tossing 26 touchdowns through the air and scoring another three on the ground, but he has also suffered not only 13 picks but 14 fumbles as well. In his career versus Edmonton, Burris has also put the ball on the carpet (13 times) and thrown 19 interceptions, but his whopping 39 touchdowns through the air and seven on the ground have easily balanced the ledger.

Even though Calgary blew the doors off the Esks just four days ago, it is Edmonton that owns a 121-80-3 advantage in the regular-season series between the two clubs dating back to 1949. Nonetheless, the Stamps have taken five straight meetings and six of the last seven versus Edmonton.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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