NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/11/2018

I love futures betting. But I am not at all a fan of betting on teams to win the Super Bowl. It is really such an arbitrary thing, when you think about it, and the odds for teams to hoist the Lombardi Trophy never come close to reflecting how difficult the task really is.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/4/2018

Some weeks things just aren't going to go the way they were supposed to. And last week was that week for me. The Saints laid their first egg in three months. Three college football teams blew double-digit leads. The Bears threw up on themselves against the hapless Giants.

NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/29/2018

Right now one of the most misleading statistics in the NFL is wins and losses. Since we can delineate the good teams from the bad having an understanding of strength of schedule and its impact on the relativity of teams and their records and rankings. Generally, you don't hear about NFL strength of schedule with the random exception of a couple random times throughout the offseason (like when next year's schedules are released).

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/20/2018

It is Thanksgiving week, so I am doing an abridged version of my NFL Power Rankings. But I do want to take this opportunity to point out again that I will be releasing my football selections on Wednesday this week to accommodate the holiday. That goes for all of Doc's football handicappers, and we want to get our action in early so we can sit back and enjoy an orgy of alcohol, eating and gambling this weekend that would make the Romans blush.

NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/13/2018

The Saints are pretty clearly the best team in football. I still think that there is a razor thin margin between the top five teams. There is, however, a massive gap between the top eight or nine teams, which are legitimate title contenders, and the second tier in the league. Those teams in the middle of the pack are the ones that are causing bettors the most anxiety each week. And the most difficult

NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/6/2018

Don't forget to check the weather. We've been treated to the highest scoring first nine weeks of football in NFL history. Yet as we move into November, the weather is going to start getting colder and harsher. The cold has a way of slowing everything down, making everything just a little bit harder. The wind will start to become a factor as well. And we're only a few weeks away from our first snow bowl.

2018 SEC Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/6/2018

I live in the South. So I can say this with total and absolute certainty: no one in the SEC gives a damn about college basketball. No one. Not at all. Not even a little bit. I'm not kidding when I say that average fans can reel off their favorite college football team's schedule on command. But those same fans are oblivious to little things like when the NCAA Tournament starts.

2018 Mountain West Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/6/2018

The sportsbooks decided not to post odds on regular-season championships for individual conferences this college basketball season. That decision, borne out of a mix of laziness and general incompetence, was a surprise. As conference odds betting has been a part of college basketball for as long as I could remember.

2018 Atlantic 10 Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/5/2018

If you love college basketball and college basketball betting, then you should love the Atlantic 10. The variety of styles. The unique terrain in terms of home courts and locations. The traditional mid-major powers and "name" programs. And the sheer volume of teams and games makes this one of the most entertaining and potentially-profitable conferences in the country.

2018 AAC Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/5/2018

The American Athletic Conference is still a league searching for respect. Residing in that limbo between major conferences, like the ACC and Big Ten, and the mid-major conferences, like the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West, the AAC is still trying to find its place in college basketball's national hierarchy.

2018 ACC Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/5/2018

The ACC, by virtue of its sheer size, is always one of the deepest and most talented conferences in college basketball. This year is no different. The league looks poised to send anywhere from 8-10 teams to the NCAA Tournament and boasts a host of teams with Final Four potential.

2018 Pac-12 Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 11/5/2018

The Pac-12 is in a bad way. This league is as bad as I have ever seen it. Last year was a mess, with just three teams making the NCAA Tournament and two of them playing in the First Four. All three teams lost in their first game, including an Arizona team that had Final Four potential.

2018 Big Ten Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 10/31/2018

It's hard to get excited for Big Ten college basketball when the conference has been so thoroughly underwhelming on a national stage for the better part of the last 20 years. Much like in college football, the Big Ten seems to coast on its national reputation from days long ago rather than on anything the league has actually accomplished over the past two decades.

2018 Big East Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 10/31/2018

The Big East continues to thrive in the post-conference realignment era of college basketball. The conference sent more than half of its members to the NCAA Tournament last year with two teams, Xavier and Villanova, both earning No. 1 seeds. The Big East also boasts the reigning national champion, Villanova, as the Wildcats cut down the nets for a second time in three years with their victory in San Antonio last spring.

2018 Big 12 Basketball Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 10/31/2018

This season there are even less challengers to Kansas' reign than usual. Not only do they have one of the best coaches and rosters in the nation, but this looks like a down year for the Big 12 as a whole, just one season after sending seven of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament and seeing nine of its 10 members play in the postseason.

NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2018

The NFL trade deadline is this week. And rumors have been swirling about some significant deals, potentially involving Pro Bowl players. However, if you're looking for a league-wide shakeup, like we see annually at the MLB and NBA trade deadlines, I wouldn't hold your breath.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/23/2018

If you watched the Monday Night Football game between Atlanta and the New York Giants, you were treated to a moment, late in that game, where the Old School met the New School. And the results, as often is the case when previous firmly-held beliefs are challenged, were both uncomfortable and hilarious.

NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/16/2018

The NFL wanted more scoring and more offense. It got more scoring and more offense. The 4,489 points scored through Week 6 are the most in NFL history to this point in the season. Teams have combined to score 504 total touchdowns, with an average of 48.1 points per game. There have already been an incredible 328 touchdown passes, an average of 55 per week.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/9/2018

The four rookie starting quarterbacks combined to go 4-0 straight up and against the spread last week. It was the first time in NFL history that four rookie signal callers won on the same day. In the meantime, five of the most successful and consequential quarterbacks of the past 15 years - Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith - all threw up on themselves, combing to go 1-4 straight up and 2-3 against the spread.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/2/2018

The NFL absolutely has to do something about its overtime rules. Because right now the whole setup is ridiculous. And the constant specter of ties is taking some of the fun out of what should be exciting late-game scenarios. Three more games went to overtime this week, and several others (Seattle-Arizona, Kansas City-Denver, Cincinnati-Atlanta) were on the verge. Fortunately, there were no ties this week. But the only reason that was the case was a comically-bad decision by Frank Reich in the Houston-Indianapolis game. Had that game ended as it should have it would've marked three ties in four weeks.