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Gators Roll to BCS Tiltle Game

Alabama 20, Florida 31 (ATLANTA) When Florida needed a big run, Tim Tebow tucked the ball under his arm and took off. When the Gators needed to complete a pass, he threw it right where it had to be.

That's not all. He was motivator and cheerleader too.

Before the clinching drive he gathered the offense around him and shouted, "Let's go win it here!" After the Southeastern Conference title was Florida's - and, in all likelihood, a spot in the national championship game - he ran nearly three-quarters around the edge of the Georgia Dome, slapping hands with the Gator faithful in the stands.

"That was practically the hardest part of the day," Tebow quipped.

No worries. He can handle whatever role the Gators throw his way.

With another virtuoso performance, Tebow gave No. 2 Florida a shot at its second national title in three years, handed No. 1 Alabama its first loss of the season and made a strong case for another Heisman Trophy in a 31-20 victory over the Crimson Tide on Saturday.

"I've had some great players, and I've got some great players on this team," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "But I've never had one like this. Tim's got something special inside him. I'm not talking about throwing. I'm not talking about running. I'm talking about making everyone around him better. That fourth quarter was vintage Tim Tebow."

The junior quarterback had an 0-5 record when his team trailed in the second half, and the Gators went to the final period down 20-17. But Tebow removed that blemish from his record, throwing the last of his three touchdowns passes with less than 3 minutes remaining to clinch it.

"He's a great competitor. He takes his teammates on his shoulders a lot," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "They have a lot of confidence he's going to make plays, and they play that way. They scored two touchdowns where we had them covered about as well as we could cover them."

The win should be enough to give Florida (12-1) a spot in the BCS title game for the second time in three years, and Tebow's performance will surely bolster his chances of becoming just the second player to win the Heisman Trophy two years in a row.

"We don't want to be denied in anything we do," said Tebow, who carried his team with injured star Percy Harvin watching from the sidelines.

Showing it could win a close game in a season of routs, Florida (12-1) scored the go-ahead touchdown with about just over 9 minutes remaining on a 2-yard run by Jeff Demps, among those filling in for the injured Harvin. Tebow finished the scoring with a pass that couldn't have been thrown any better, hitting Riley Cooper for a 5-yard TD with 2:50 left.

Alabama (12-1) couldn't have picked a worse time to lose. The Crimson Tide will likely settle for a spot in the Sugar Bowl, ruining any chance of adding another national championship to its glorious history.

Instead, mark down a spot in the title game for Florida, which won it just two years ago with a rout of Ohio State. The Gators came into the game ranked fourth in the BCS standings, but the impressive win over unbeaten and top-ranked Alabama will surely be enough to move them into one of the top spots.

Their opponent will be Oklahoma who beat Missouri 62-21 in the Big 12 title game, assuring itself a matchup with the Gators.

They will have to stop Tebow, who was 14-of-22 passing 216 yards and led the team in rushing with 57 yards. He tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Carl Moore to finish off Florida's opening possession, went 5 yards to David Nelson to give the Gators a 17-10 halftime lead, and came through one more time to clinch the victory.

With Florida facing third-and-goal at the 5 after a rare sideline interference penalty, Tebow found Cooper breaking toward the middle in front of Marquis Johnson. The perfectly thrown pass - low enough to give no chance of an interception but high enough to catch - was cradled by a diving Cooper to make it a two-score game.

Joe Haden's interception ended any hope of a comeback. Tebow was named the game's MVP.

"One more year! One more year!" the Florida fans chanted afterward, hoping their junior quarterback will return for his senior season.

Alabama trailed at halftime for first time this year, but just the fact that it was close put the Gators in an unusual position.

Florida came in as the nation's third-highest scoring team (46.3 points a game) and its average margin of victory was a staggering 37 points. Then again, the Gators did lose their only close game, a shocking 31-30 defeat to Mississippi at the Swamp on the final weekend in September.

The Tide was feeling good about itself after Mark Ingram scored on a 2-yard run and Leigh Tiffin booted his second field goal, a 27-yarder that pushed Alabama ahead going to the final period.

But Florida caught a huge break when Demps was dragged down short of the marker on third down, but Dont'a Hightower got a handful of facemask. The 15-yard penalty gave the Gators first down at the Bama 27.

Tebow took it from there. A 13-yard pass to Nelson. Then a 6-yarder to Nelson again to convert another third down by a yard. And finally, a quick pitch to Demps, who streaked around the left side and hurdled over two fallen players at the goal line for a 24-20 lead.

"Going 12-0 is a hard thing to do," Saban said. "Every time they needed to make a play, Tim Tebow made the plays that made the difference in the game."

This was the 41st meeting between the top two teams in The Associated Press poll. No. 1 still holds a 23-16-2 edge.

The Gators had to play without Harvin, who didn't even suit up after spraining his right ankle the previous week in a win over Florida State. He walked on the field stiff-legged - clearly, it wasn't even a close call whether or not he would play - and watched the game from the sideline wearing his No. 1 jersey.

During the regular season, Harvin was the team's top receiver with 35 catches for 595 yards and seven touchdowns. He also was second on the team in rushing with 543 yards, scoring nine TDs on the ground.

But Florida still had Tebow. That was the difference.

Meyer, not surprisingly, gave his endorsement for another Heisman.

"I think he's the best college football player in America," the coach said.

The Alabama-Florida matchup was a mainstay of the SEC championship in its early years. The teams met in the first three title games and four of the first five, beginning with the historic 1992 game in which the Crimson Tide won on a late interception return by Antonio Langham.

Alabama went on to rout Miami in the Sugar Bowl, winning its sixth national title. They'll have to wait another year for a shot at No. 7.

The first 1-2 matchup in the 17-year history of the SEC championship drew a record crowd of 75,892 to the Georgia Dome. The fans were essentially split down the middle - crimson and white on one side, blue and orange on the other.

The Gators marched right down the field on their first possession, looking as unstoppable as they did in most games this season. Tebow handled most of the load, completing three passes for 26 yards and running four times for 19 more.

But Alabama wasn't going to go down as meekly as most of Florida's opponents. Glen Coffee ran for 112 yards and a touchdown. Julio Jones hauled in five passes for 124 yards. The Tide defense delivered numerous crushing blows, hoping to rattle the Gators.

Tebow wouldn't let them bite.

"We kind of ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter," Saban said. "We didn't finish, and they did."

Box Score

LARGE PHOTO GALLERY

Celebration? Where?

When the Dogs scored their first touchdown yesterday, there was no on-field celebration and there was very little cheering, because most of the Bulldog fans had long left the stadium. The TD came late in the 4th quarter and made the score 49-9!

"We didn't talk about (the celebration) this week, but we saw it, we knew about it," Tim Tebow said. "It was all over the place. We knew about it.

For a team that had been building for Saturday's moment for, oh, about 365 days, the Gators dismantled the Bulldogs before 84,649 with cold, ruthless efficiency and with surprisingly little obvious emotion. They didn't celebrate anything until after the game, when they did their traditional post-game routine of singing the fight song and the alma mater in front of the UF band. That celebration did happen to occur in the same end zone where the Bulldogs held their controversial celebration after their first touchdown a year ago.

The victory lifts the No. 5 Gators to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC. Florida can clinch the conference's Eastern Division title with a win at Vanderbilt on Saturday night. The Gators also remain solidly in the national title hunt. In the last four games, the Gators have outscored the opposition 201 to 43, and will get a lot of national attention for Saturday's crushing of preseason No. 1 Georgia.

"I admire this team," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "The admiration is starting to get real strong. I told them I love them. All a coach ever wants is a team to take a real professional approach. With all the nonsense going around this whole week, it was awesome.

"We have to get a team ready to go to Nashville next week. I know we're competing to get to Atlanta. That's real important to us."

The Gators certainly looked like strong championship contenders Saturday.

Tebow rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more. And the UF defense, trampled in this game a year ago, forced four big turnovers that helped turn a close game into perhaps the ultimate revenge rout.

"I thought (defensive coordinator Charlie Strong) called a brilliant game and credit goes to the players for executing the plan," Meyer said. "When you play great defense, you're going to win a bunch of football games."

"I knew we had this in us," said senior wide receiver Louis Murphy, whose 44-yard TD reception gave the Gators a 28-3 lead late in the third quarter. "We've been getting better and better.

"Last year, everybody knew what happened. We didn't need anything to motivate us. It was in the back of our minds and we came out and played our hearts out. The best answer is to come out and play like this. We were ready, we hit on all cylinders. I didn't see this coming, but I knew we had a chance to do what we did tonight."

And best of all, let's not forget that all Lock Club members were heavy on the Gators and the Over was released at the Total Play of the Year!!!

Box Score

Gators over Dogs by 17

This is the part where all you folks who watched Georgia annihilate LSU last Saturday start shaking your heads and ask, "Are you really gonna give those guys a touchdown?" You betcha... and here is why. The mighty Gators are 10-0 SU and ATS in this series when they enter off consecutive wins and the Urban legend is 26-10 as a dog or favorite of 7 or less points, including 13-2 when seeking revenge.

Things look a little more grim for the Dawgs. For starters, Georgia coach Mark Richt is an unbelievable 0-18 ATS - the big zero - in games he loses SU when not taking double digits. In keeping with the goose egg theme, my powerful database tell me teams who beat defending National Champions are 0-8 SU and ATS as a dog in their next game since 1990.

Oh, and let's not forget that 'entire-Georgia-team-rushes-the-field' touchdown celebration in last year's 42-30 Bulldog win at The Cocktail Party - you know Urban Meyer hasn't. With Richt's team a weak 2-7 ATS against an SEC revenger, I look for the Gators to put the chomp on UGA, drag 'em under and execute the death roll... then win out en route to the conference title game.

TAKE GATORS AND OVER - 44-27

Gators Back in the Hunt

Gainesville, FL - Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow threw for 210 yards with two touchdown tosses to Percy Harvin, as the 11th- ranked Florida Gators annihilated the No. 4 LSU Tigers, 51-21, in a highly anticipated SEC battle.

The romp in the Swamp featured the past two National Champions, the first such meeting in college football since Notre Dame (1988 champs) defeated Miami-Florida (1989 champs) in 1990.

The Gators rattled off 21 straight second-half points to pull away for the victory. Tebow added a rushing touchdown for Florida (5-1, 3-1 SEC), which has won two straight since its lone loss to Ole Miss. Freshman Jeffrey Demps rushed for 129 yards and a score on just 10 carries for the Gators, who had lost three of the previous four in this rivalry.

"It was a great win for us," Tebow said. "We knew it was a big game coming in. LSU is a very good team. We wanted to start strong and we did that. They rallied back and made it a game, but we responded with maturity and took over at the end."

Brandon Spikes led the Florida defense with five tackles and two interceptions, returning one 52 yards for a touchdown in the victory.

Jarrett Lee was rattled under center, hitting 23-of-38 passes for 209 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions for LSU (4-1, 2-1), which had a six-game winning streak, dating back to last season, snapped.

"UF played a great game," Lee said. "I made some misreads and their defense took advantage of them. They are an outstanding team on both sides of the ball. I thought we fought back well, but they were just too much in the end."

Charles Scott was held under 100 yards rushing for the first time in five games, netting just 35 yards on 12 carries. Richard Dickson hauled in six balls for 36 yards and a touchdown for the Tigers, who were outgained 475-321.

The defending champion Tigers finally came to life in the closing seconds of the first half, as Lee made consecutive completions of 24, 12 and 8 before a hook-and-lateral to Trindon Holliday put the ball on the Florida six. Two plays later Lee found Chris Mitchell in the right corner of the end zone to make it a 20-7 game at the break.

LSU appeared poised to make a game of it with a 12-play, nearly 6 1/2-minute drive coming out of the locker room. Andrew Hatch was under center and called his own number on an option play, pounding in a three-yard touchdown with 8:41 left in the third, but the Gators rattled off the next three touchdowns.

"We turned the ball over enough on offense," LSU head coach Les Miles said. "We did not control the ball in the first half. In the second half when they needed to score, they came down there. When we closed the game and made it a six point game, they turned it around and got seven."

Tebow hit Louis Murphy on a 37-yard completion to move the ball to the LSU two and went to his patented bootleg on the next play to waltz into the end zone for a 27-14 lead.

LSU quickly punted the ball back to Florida, and Demps took a handoff off the left side, using his deadly speed to motor for a 42-yard score.

The game was all but wrapped up after the first play of the fourth quarter, as Spikes stepped in front of a Lee pass and galloped past an LSU lineman for a 52-yard touchdown, giving Florida an untouchable 41-14 edge.

After a Tebow fumble, LSU got a little closer with a six-yard hookup between Lee and Dickson with 11:10 remaining in the game.

But a 25-yard field goal from Jonathan Phillips and a two-yard, cherry-on-top two-yard jaunt by Kestahn Moore at the two-minute mark put the finishing touches on a memorable Florida victory.

From the third play of scrimmage, the game appeared destined to end in a Gators victory. Tebow terribly underthrew his receiver on 3rd-and-12, but LSU safety Danny McCray tipped the errant throw directly into the arms of Harvin, who hauled in the deflection and burst into the end zone for a 70-yard TD.

After the Tigers went three-and-out, Florida made its way inside LSU's five yard line but only came away with a 20-yard Phillips field goal at the seven minute mark.

Again LSU failed to net a first down and Tebow answered with a seven-play, 41 yard drive that Harvin capped with a seven-yard reception on a perfectly run slant pattern.

Spikes put an exclamation point on the dominating opening 15 minutes by picking off Lee at LSU's 49.

"I want to thank the crowd tonight," Florida head coach Urban Meyer said. "That was as fine of a crowd as I have ever seen. I think that our team had the most well-rounded performance of the season. We were able to jump out to an early start against a great team with great football players. They're the reigning national champions."

Florida didn't score on the ensuing drive, but went to the ground game midway through the second. The 11-play drive stalled at the Tigers 17, but Phillips booted one through the uprights for a 20-0 Florida lead with 49 ticks left in the half.

Box Score

UCLA / Tenny on Labor Day

The Bruins open the Rick Neuheisel era with a tough non-conference clash against Tennessee at the Rose Bowl.

Neuheisel, a former UCLA quarterback who has had head-coaching stops at Colorado and Washington, inherits a squad that went a disappointing 6-7 last year (9-4 ATS). Despite a .500 record, the Bruins snuck into the Las Vegas Bowl, where they lost to BYU 17-16, though they covered as a six-point underdog even though coach Karl Dorrell was fired as coach after the regular season. In the spread-cover versus BYU, UCLA enters this season on a 4-0 ATS roll.

Phil Fulmer, who took over for Johnny Majors midway through the 1992 season, is entering his 17th year as head coach at Tennessee, which went 10-4 last year (9-4-1 ATS). The Vols hit their stride down the stretch, winning six of their last seven games (5-1-1 ATS), including a 21-17 New Year’s Day victory over Wisconsin as a 2½-point favorite in the Outback Bowl.

UCLA is already thin at QB, with Pat Cowan (knee) out for the season and Ben Olson (foot) likely out until midseason, leaving Neuheisel with junior college transfer Kevin Craft under center. The Bruins have just nine returning starters from a team that struggled to score last year, being held to 16 points or less six times, including four games in single digits. In fact, UCLA barely outscored its opponents last season, averaging 22.4 ppg while allowing of 22.3.

As with UCLA, Tennessee will have a first-year starter at QB in Jonathan Crompton, but 1,000-yard rusher Arian Foster and 1,000-yard receiver Lucas Taylor return, as do four of five offensive linemen. The Vols, playing in the perennially tough SEC, averaged 32.5 ppg last year while allowing just a few points less at 27.3.

The Bruins are 16-4 ATS in their last 20 games at the Rose Bowl, and they are on further positive pointspread runs of 6-0 as a home ‘dog, 4-0 against the SEC, 13-2-1 overall as a pup since 2004 and 19-7-1 in September. The Volunteers are 14-2 SU in their last 16 season openers, but both losses came in West Coast road games, at UCLA in 1994 and at California last year. Tennessee sports ATS streaks of 4-0 in non-SEC play and 5-2 in September.

For UCLA, the under is on runs of 4-0 overall, 4-0 at home and 6-2 in non-conference action. The total also stayed low in six of Tennessee’s final seven games in 2007.

The MAN sez, take UCLA +7 and UNDER 47

Top Six MLB Runline Winners

Avoid the hefty vig and make some wise moves on the run line with LockClub membership Reasonably priced. Details at theman@mrpickem.org !

Minnesota Twins Minnesota has been the runline player's best friend so far this year. Ron Gardenhire's troops figured to be an afterthought in the AL Central but instead, they trail the division-leading Chicago White Sox by just 1 ½ games going into Thursday's action. Because this club is consistently being underrated by the oddsmakers and underplayed by the betting public, the Twins are able to be successful versus the runline. While Minnesota is 59-48 straight up on the season, they top the Covers.com runline charts in both W/L at 66-40 and dollars at +$2,479. Those figures are certainly helped along by the 34 wins the Twins have tallied as underdogs.

Florida Marlins Another team consistently underrated by both oddsmakers and bettors, owns the second-best runline record this season at 62-45 and ranks fifth on the runline money list at +$1,006. The Marlins are hanging tough in the NL East race, sitting just two games back of the first-place New York Mets. But many hardball observers are wondering how much longer Florida can keep winning. The Marlins rank 26th in team ERA and 29th in team fielding, and while five games over .500, have actually have been outscored on the season. Los

Angeles Angels The Angels own the best overall record in baseball at 67-40 and the best road record at 36-19, and they top the Covers.com money list at at +$1,887. But even with a 56-50 record versus the runline, it's a bit surprising that L.A. ranks second on the runline money list at +1,834. That means Angels backers are being given ample opportunity to take advantage of some very favorable runline odds. L.A. has been, for the most part, doing it with pitching while their offensive attack has ranked in the bottom third among majors league clubs in most categories. But the Angels added a big bat this week, trading for slugger Mark Teixeira. Bettors, however, will want to keep an eye on L.A. because an 11 ½-game lead in the AL West could lead to the temptation to ease up down the home stretch.

Chicago White Sox Like Minnesota, the White Sox were also expected to be non-factors in the AL Central this season but manager Ozzie Guillen is cajoling this team toward another division title, working with less than the best talent. The ChiSox are 59-46 straight up and 60-45 versus the runline, the third-best mark in the majors. Chicago also ranks third on the runline money list at +$1,777. Guillen has been critical of his bats, but the Sox rank in the top third in the majors in several key offensive categories and rank second in team slugging. They also rank fifth in team ERA and own one of the best run differentials, at +75 on the season.

Chicago Cubs / Texas Rangers The Rangers own the fourth-best runline record in the majors at 60-47, but because of the collective set of lines they've been tagged with, have earned just +$28 for runline backers. And while Texas is also three games above .500 outright, they've been outscored on the season by 32 runs. Meanwhile, the Cubs are 56-51 on the RL, which places them ninth in those standings but rank fourth on the runline money chart at +$1,147. And thanks to the second-highest scoring offense and the sixth-best team ERA, the Cubbies own (by far) the best run differential in the majors at +118.

Chipper Jones: A Man on a Mission

Chipper Jones came within a couple of points of his first batting title in 2007. He's using 2008 to prove it wasn't a fluke.

Jones currently finds himself in a 10-game hitting streak, and has hit safely in every game but one. Granted, the season is only 16 games old, but if someone can make a statement in the first 16 games of the season, he is definitely doing it.

With a 3-for-5 performance last night against Los Angeles, Jones is hitting a red-hot .455. That's good enough to put him atop the major leagues in batting average. Also, with back-to-back multi-homer games, he now is tied for the major league lead in home runs with six.

Jones, who has battled injuries in each of the last four seasons, is trying to play in 150 games for the first time in five seasons. From 1996-2003, Jones played in at least 150 games. From 2004-2007, the most games he has played in a season is 137, and in two of those seasons he only played in 109 and 110 games. Many people consider Jones to be one of the most prolific switch-hitters of all-time with a career average of .308 with 392 home runs. But his bat is not the only part of his game that sticks out.

The Mets' David Wright took home the National League Gold Glove Award for third basemen last year, but many believed that Jones deserved it more. In the 126 games he started at third base last season, Chipper committed only nine errors. Compare that to the 21 errors committed by Wright in 159 games, and you can understand why Jones felt snubbed about not winning the award.

Chipper Jones is looking to make 2008 a year to remember, and 16 games into the season he could not have asked for a better start.

Final Four Selection

NCAA TOURNAMENT FINAL FOUR (at San Antonio)

(1) Memphis (37-1, 17-19-2 ATS) at (1) UCLA (35-3, 21-14-2 ATS)

Back in the Final Four for the third straight year but still looking for that elusive national championship, UCLA takes on Memphis, which is back on college basketball's marquee stage for the first time in 23 years.

UCLA, which had to battle Texas A&M to the finish in the second round, then hold off a game Western Kentucky squad in the Sweet 16, pounded Xavier 76-57 last Saturday as a six-point chalk to win the West Regional. The Bruins snapped a two-game ATS skid and have now won 14 straight contests, though they've gone just 7-7 ATS in that span, including 3-5 ATS in their last eight starts. Memphis hammered Michigan State 92-74 laying 5' points in the Sweet 16, then capped a dominant weekend by drubbing Texas 85-67 Sunday as a 3?-point favorite to win the South Regional. The Tigers, who had fallen in the Elite Eight the past two seasons, have won 11 in a row since suffering their only loss of the season to Tennessee on Feb. 23. However, despite cashing in both games last weekend, they are still just 4-7 ATS during the winning streak. This is a rematch of an Elite Eight clash in the 2006 Tournament, a game UCLA won 50-45 giving 2? points. Earlier that season, Memphis bested UCLA 88-80 as a 6'-point home chalk in November 2005. UCLA is 1-2 SU and ATS in its last two Final Four contests, with the winner cashing in each contest. In 2006, the Bruins beat LSU in the semifinals before dropping the title game to Florida, while last year, they lost to the Gators 76-66 as a three-point dog in the semifinals. UCLA last won the national championship in 1995. Meanwhile, Memphis hasn't reached the Final Four since 1985. The Bruins are on negative ATS stretches of 2-4 overall vs all against winning teams at neutral sites & 1-4 on Saturday and 0-5 after a pointspread victory, as they haven?t cashed in consecutive games since Feb. 17 and 21 ? a stretch of 12 contests. However, they are 22-7-1 in their last 30 starts as an underdog, including 8-2 ATS in their last 10 as a pup of less than seven points. In its only previous game as an underdog this season, UCLA toppled Stanford 76-67 as a one-point pup. The Tigers have cashed in just six of their last 18 contests overall, and they're mired in additional ATS slumps of 1-6 following a spread-cover, 2-4 in non-conference play and 2-5 ATS against the Pac-10. On the positive side, though, Memphis has covered two straight games for the first time since January and is 5-1 ATS in its last six as a Tournament chalk of up to 6? points. All four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four for the first time. Favorites went 3-1 ATS last weekend in the round of eight and are now 37-22-1 ATS for the Tournament.

The Bruins have been solid defensively through much of the Tournament, allowing just 53.3 points per game on 32.8 percent shooting, while averaging 71.3 ppg on 48.8 percent shooting on offense. In addition, they are plus-46 on the glass, outrebounding their four opponents by a 160-114 total.

Memphis is racking up 85.3 ppg in the Tournament, surpassing 77 points in all four games on 49.6 percent shooting, while allowing 69.5 ppg on 42.8 percent shooting. The Tigers have outrebounded their opponents in all four games, winning the board battle by a total of 145-114. The over for UCLA is on a 2-0 uptick and is also 7-2 in its last nine Saturday meetings and 4-1 in its last five as an underdog. On the other hand, the under is on runs of 16-6 for UCLA in the Tournament, 6-2 for UCLA as a Tournament dog and 4-2 for UCLA outside the Pac-10. For Memphis, the over is on a 5-0 tear in Tournament play (4-0 this year) and is 5-1 in non-conference action, but the under is 4-0 in its last four against the Pac-10.

ATS ADVANTAGE: MEMPHIS -2

MLB Friday Night Winner

NATIONAL LEAGUE

N.Y. Mets (2-1) at Atlanta (1-3)
Tim Hudson (0-0, 2.57 ERA) makes his second start of the season as the Braves kick off a weekend series against the Mets and John Maine (15-10, 3.91 in 2007) in a battle of N.L. East rivals. The Mets kicked off the season by taking two of three from the Marlins in Florida, finishing up with Wednesday?s 13-0 whitewash. Meanwhile, the Braves have lost three of their first four games, with each loss coming by a single run and two in extra innings, including Thursday?s 4-3, 10-inning setback to the Pirates at home.

The Braves are still 7-3 in their last 10 home games dating to last year, while the Mets are 5-1 in their last six on the road (all against Florida). These teams split their 18 meetings last year, but New York won five of the final six, including a three-game sweep in Atlanta to start September. Hudson went seven innings on Sunday at Washington, giving up just two runs on three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts, failing to get a decision in Atlanta?s 3-2 loss. Going back to last season, the Braves are 2-6 in Hudson?s last eight outings, including 0-3 in the last three. Hudson was 8-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 17 home starts last year, with the Braves winning six of its final nine at Turner Field. He also faced the Mets four times, going 2-2 with a 3.33 ERA. The righthander has held the Mets to three earned runs or ewer in four of his last five starts against them, and he?s 7-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 12 career games against New York. Maine enjoyed a breakout season last year, but he struggled after the All-Star break, going 5-6 with a 5.53 ERA in 15 starts, compared with a 10-4 mark and a 2.71 ERA before the break. On the highway last year, the righthander was 9-4 with a 4.39 ERA. Maine faced the Braves three times last year. The first was a disaster ? he gave up six runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 7-6 loss ? but he was outstanding in the next two, giving up just one run on three hits in each contest, pitching a total of 13 innings as New York won both games. The under is 5-0 in Hudson?s last five trips to the mound overall and 2-0 in his last two outings against the Mets after the over was 5-0 in his previous five starts against New York. Also, the under is 9-3 in the last 12 series meetings (5-1 in the last six) and 7-0 in the last seven battles at Turner Field. However, the over is 16-5-1 in the Mets? last 22 overall and 21-8-2 in their last 31 as a visitor.

The play is the UNDER 8'

Day 2 - March Madness

Ugly start yesterday 1-4 but hit biggest play, only down 2 units. It's hammer time!

8-Unit Play. #843 Take St. Mary's PK over Miami (POD)(12:30 pm)

This Gaels team is really intruiging, and a dark horse to make it into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. But first they'll take care of the Hurricanes. St. Mary's has a much more balanced team, boasting the likes of point guard Patrick Mills, Diamon Simpson and sharpshooter Todd Golden. I think Miami has become reluctant and too reliable on Jack McClinton. Their bigs are foul prone, and I just think this match-up really favors the WCC rep. It will be the ten seed that advances, and let me just say I think they'll get Texas fits all day as well. This one goes to St. Mary's, play them here.

4-Unit Play. UT-Arlington/Memphis Over 142 (9:55 pm)

UT-Arlington can score, and the top seeded Tigers can score even more. I think this number is way too low, and both will play in the 70s to say the least. The No. 16 Mavericks have either scored or allowed 80 or more in three of their last four games, and in this one Memphis will strike for an 80+ point effort. UT-Arlington can make up for the difference, but either way, this one goes over the number.