Long time friend of the site CNOTES, shares his daily views and sports betting tidbits for Tuesday, January 12th, 2021. Enjoy!
Tuesday’s 6-pack
Odds to win the college basketball national title:
- 3-1— Gonzaga
- 7-1— Baylor
- 11-1— Michigan
- 12-1— Texas
- 13-1— Villanova, Wisconsin
- 14-1— Iowa, Tennessee
Quote of the Day
“I still have a year left on my contract. I hope the Steelers want me back if that’s the way we go.”
Ben Roethlisberger
Tuesday’s quiz
In between coaching gigs at LSU/Alabama, which NFL team did Nick Saban coach?
Monday’s quiz
Before Sunday night, the Cleveland Browns’ last playoff win came against New England in 1994.
Sunday’s quiz
Russell Wilson played college football for NC State, Wisconsin.
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Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
13) Alabama 52, Ohio State 24:
— Crimson Tide led 35-17 at halftime; Jones threw for 345 first half yards.
— Alabama WR Smith caught 12 passes for 215 yards and 3 TD’s, all in first half; then he broke his hand early in third quarter.
— Nick Saban wins his 7th national title, six of them at Alabama.
12) Philadelphia Eagles fired coach Doug Pederson Monday; he won the freakin’ Super Bowl only three years ago. Pederson was 46-39-1 coaching the Eagles; he is rumored to be a strong candidate to be the next coach of the Jets.
11) Dallas Cowboys hired former Falcons’ coach Dan Quinn as their new defensive coordinator; Quinn went 46-44 as head coach of the Falcons, winning the NFC title four years ago. Quinn was Seattle’s DC when they won their only Super Bowl title in the 2013 season.
10) Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson is a unique quarterback; not the greatest passer, he threw for only 170 yards in the Ravens’ win Sunday, but he also ran for 136 yards. Key seems to be to contain him in the pocket, which is the opposite of how you defend most QB’s, and it is also way easier said than done.
9) ESPN’s Chris Fallica pointed out that Tennessee Titans ran the ball on 12 of their first 16 first down plays Sunday; very predictable. Tennessee gained only 27 yards on those 12 running plays.
8) Nebraska’s best WR, Wan’Dale Robinson, is transferring, a big blow to the Cornhuskers; this past season, Robinson caught 51 passes for 461 yards.
7) Closer Liam Hendriks gets $54M for three years from the Chicago White Sox. Hendriks was never a closer until two years ago; he saved 39 games for Oakland in 2019-20.
6) We mentioned yesterday that Victor Rojas quit as the Angels’ TV voice, after working for the Halos for 11 years; it seemed weird- who gives up a gig like that?
Monday, Rojas was announced as the new president/GM of the Frisco Roughriders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.Rojas applied for the Angels’ GM job last fall; now he is getting valuable experience in that area.
5) Was watching a tribute to the late Paul Westphal on NBA TV Monday; they were showing highlights of his days playing for the Phoenix Suns. It was so long ago that the court didn’t have a 3-point arc on it. Westphal was an excellent guard who died way too early last week, at age 70.
4) UConn 60, DePaul 53— Huskies are off to a 7-1 start, 4-1 in the Big East, where they’ve returned to after seven years in the AAC.
3) Colorado 65, Utah 58— Somehow, Utah went 2-11 on the foul line, in their own gym. Buffs are the #28 experience team and could make some noise in March.
2) Bradley 75, Northern Iowa 73— UNI is off to an awful 3-8 start, 2-4 in Valley games.
1) SMU 79, Temple 68— Mustangs made 11-28 on the arc, sweep the season series with Temple, which at 0-3, is the only AAC team winless in conference play.
