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04/02/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Like the Dolphins, the Browns are a team with a draft status that will be impacted by what it chooses to do at the quarterback position in the coming weeks. Conventional wisdom suggests that Cleveland will add a veteran QB such as Trent Green prior to the draft, given the fact that head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage can't afford to wait around for a rookie QB to find his footing. If a veteran QB is acquired, the Browns would be foolish not to select Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson with the third overall selection. At least one ready-to-play offensive lineman will also be a major need on a team that allowed 53 sacks last year. Defensively, the Browns will be without cornerback Daylon McCutcheon (released) and safety Brian Russell (free agent, Seahawks) next season, and will target secondary help. The pass rush also needs some help after generating just 28 sacks a year ago.
2006 Record: 4-12
First Pick: No. 3
Number of Selections: 7 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
RECENT FIRST ROUND HISTORY: 2006 - Kamerion Wimbley (OLB, Florida State); 2005 - Braylon Edwards (WR, Michigan); 2004 - Kellen Winslow (TE, Miami (FL)); 2003 - Jeff Faine (C, Notre Dame); 2002 - William Green (RB, Boston College); 2001 - Gerard Warren (DT, Florida); 2000 - Courtney Brown (DE, Penn State); 1999 - Tim Couch (QB, Kentucky); 1995 - Craig Powell (LB, Ohio State); 1994 - Antonio Langham (CB, Alabama), Derrick Alexander (WR, Michigan); 1993 - Steve Everitt (C, Michigan); 1992 - Tommy Vardell (FB, Stanford); 1991 - Eric Turner (S, UCLA); 1990 - none.
<< Jacksonville Jaguars 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jaguars were done in last season largely due to injury
problems on defense, so enhancing their base of talent on that side of the
football will likely be the franchise's top draft-day goal. High-priced
defensive end Reggi
<< Oakland Raiders 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Draftniks everywhere are sitting on pins and needles
waiting to see what the Raiders will do with the No. 1 pick. Conventional
wisdom says that offensively-challenged will select strong-armed LSU
quarterback JaMarcus Russell,
<< Cincinnati Bengals 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati had its problems defensively last season, then
lost reliable players like linebacker Brian Simmons (released) and safety
Kevin Kaesviharn (free agent to Saints) in the offseason. The Bengals need to
get younger and
<< Kansas City Chiefs 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though defensive-minded head coach Herm Edwards would
probably rather shore up his area of expertise, there is no disputing that
Kansas City has more significant needs on offense. The Chiefs have long lacked
a first-rate No.
Buffalo Bills 2007 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first day of the 2007 Draft will be extremely important
for a Bills team that cut ties with the likes of running back Willis McGahee,
linebackers Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher-Baker, and cornerback Nate
Clements during
Indianapolis Colts 2007 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colts lost five somewhat recognizable players in
running back Dominic Rhodes, wide receiver Brandon Stokley, linebacker Cato
June, defensive tackle Montae Reagor and cornerback Nick Harper, but June is
really the only pla
Renteria's homers help Braves rally past Phillies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edgar Renteria's two-run homer in the 10th
inning lifted Atlanta over Philadelphia, 5-3, in the 2007 season opener for
both clubs at Citizens Bank Park.
Renteria, who finished 2-for-5 with three runs
Jays tame Tigers in 10 >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyle Overbay doubled and sparked a 10th-inning
two-run rally with a single for the Toronto Blue Jays, who downed the Detroit
Tigers, 5-3, in the first of a three-game set at Comerica Park.
With the score de
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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