Case of the Mondays: Penn State Wins but Doesn't Get In

by Ricky Dimon - 12/5/2016

Penn State is the champion of what was arguably the toughest conference in college football. But it won't be playing for a national title. Speaking of titles, Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers played for one last season. They didn't win it, and it looks like they won't get a shot at it this time around. Carolina fell to 4-8 with a blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night. And how about Tiger Woods? Are titles in his future for next season? A question once scoffed at now seems legitimate.

Odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook unless otherwise indicated.

Penn State . Saturday was the greatest day for Penn State football since the Joe Paterno era. Sunday, predictably, was not. As expected, the Nittany Lions were left out of the College Football Playoff despite winning the Big Ten Championship. They put themselves in the discussion with a come-from-behind 38-31 victory over Wisconsin, but it was not enough to dissuade the CFP committee from keeping its sights set on Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Washington. Alabama is a -240 favorite to win the National Championship.

Cam Newton . Newton wasn't around for Carolina's first drive of the game against Seattle. The outcome of it probably would have been different had he been on the field. As for the outcome of the game as a whole, well, that almost certainly would have been just about the same. Newton, who was suspended for one series because he violated the team's dress code, watched Derek Anderson throw an interception on the first play from scrimmage that was returned by Mike Morgan to the Panthers' eight-yard line. The Seahawks soon kicked a field goal for a quick 3-0 lead and they were off to the races in what turned out to be a 40-7 shellacking. Newton finished 14-of-32 for 182 yards and one touchdown. Seattle is a +450 third choice to win the Super Bowl.

Washington Capitals .Washington is still a decent 13-7-3, but it has not found the win column since Nov. 25. Alex Ovechkin and friends have lost three games in a row at the hands of the Maple Leafs, Islanders, and Lightning. Following regulation setbacks against Toronto and New York, the Capitals at least managed to take one point in last Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss to Tampa Bay. They have scored a total of three goals in their last three outings. Ovechkin has no goals in the last four games and no points in the last two. Washington is now in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division and tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals are -210 home favorites over Buffalo on Monday.

Atlanta Hawks . If you thought things were bad for the Atlanta Falcons (who lost at home to the Kansas City Chiefs 29-28 on Sunday when Kansas City's Eric Berry returned an interception of a two-point conversion for the game-winning points), think about this: the basketball team that shares the same city has lost six in a row and nine of its last 10 contests. Three of the Hawks' setbacks during the current losing streak have come by at least 27 points, including the last two by a combined 80 points. They were humiliated at home by Detroit 121-85 last Friday getting clobbered at Toronto 128-84 just about 24 hours later. Adding insult to injury, Atlanta has to go up against triple-double machine Russell Westbrook on Monday night. The Oklahoma City Thunder are +2.5 road underdogs.

Kentucky . Big blue nation was feeling blue this past Saturday. Despite having home-court advantage at Rupp Arena, the Wildcats went down to UCLA 97-92 for their first loss of the season. UK led by as many as nine points midway through the first half before things went downhill. Isaiah Briscoe scored just 12 points for the Cats on 4-of-14 shooting and Edrice Adebayo went a mere 4-for-12 from the floor. "This is a lesson for us," head coach John Calipari admitted. "We didn't have the energy. I had to call a timeout a minute into the game. I mean, (it) just wasn't the same team." Kentucky is a +800 second choice to win the National Championship. UCLA is +1200.

Manchester City . Playing in the friendly confines of Etihad Stadium, Manchester City had a chance to surpass Chelsea for first place on the English Premier League table. That effort got off to a solid start when the Sky Blues took a 1-0 lead in the 45^th minute. Chelsea, though, stormed back with three second-half goals in the span of 30 minutes. Man City also incurred two red cards during stoppage time, thus ending the match with only nine men on the pitch. Chelsea, now leading Arsenal by three points and City by four, is a +120 favorite at Bovada Sportsbook to win the EPL title.

Emiliano Grillo and Russell Knox . Congratulations, Grillo and Knox; you guys actually lost to Tiger Woods in a golf tournament. Well, technically they didn't lose to Tiger because Tiger didn't win anything. But Tiger did finish ahead of Grillo and Knox-and only Grillo and Knox (not counting Justin Rose's withdrawal)-at last week's Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. In fairness to those two relatively unknown players at the bottom of the leaderboard, Tiger accounted himself well for the most part at his own tournament. The 14-time major champion led the field in total birdies over four days and even contended for a while on Saturday before stumbling to weekend rounds of 70 and 76. He finished in 15^th place out of 17 golfers who completed the event. Tiger is +2000 to win the Masters next spring.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 8:00 PM
Expert:	Scott Spreitzer
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