Rosenbach named Montana's offensive coordinator

NCAA Football Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Missoula, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NFL quarterback Timm Rosenbach has been named offensive coordinator at the University of Montana, Grizzlies head coach Robin Pflugrad announced Wednesday.

Rosenbach, 45, also will serve as Montana's quarterbacks coach. The Grizzlies are coming off a Big Sky Conference co-championship and was a FCS semifinalist in finishing 11-3.

Pflugrad and Rosenbach coached together at Washington State for three seasons from 2003-05. Rosenbach played collegiately at WSU.

"Timm has a lot ties to Missoula," Pflugrad said "Timm's father was a football coach here at the University of Montana and went on to Washington State as an administrator. The family knows a lot of people from the state of Montana and a lot of people from the state of Washington. He should be a great asset for us not only on the field, but in the recruiting area as well."

Rosenbach was in private business last year and did not coach. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at New Mexico State in 2009.

Prior to NMSU, Rosenbach was the quarterbacks coach at Washington State from 2003-07. He also was an assistant coach at Ambrose University in 1999 and then coached the next three years in the Big Sky at Eastern Washington, including the 2001 and '02 seasons as offensive coordinator.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the Eagles led the FCS in total offense, averaging 514.5 yards per game, while scoring nearly 42 points per game.

Rosenbach entered the NFL as a junior in 1989 after finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting in his final season at Washington State. He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the supplemental draft and played four years with the team.

He then spent the 1994 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. His career was ended by a ruptured disk in his back a year later.

"As we looked at our candidates, we did want someone who had some Big Sky ties, there's no question about that," Pflugrad said. "We had, in my opinion, some excellent candidates and a few of them rose above the others. When you do work with somebody I think that always helps in the selection process when you hire a coach, because we spend so much time together on an off the football field."

Wwwsoftseek NCAA Football Betting News

<< Alabama A&M to retire Mathis' jersey
Normal, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alabama A&M will retire the college jersey of Indianapolis Colts defensive end Robert Mathis in a ceremony on March 3. Mathis' No. 55 will be retired at halftime of Alabama A&M's annual spring game. M

<< Donald out, Woods survives at Match Play
Marana, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top overall seed and defending champion Luke Donald was eliminated Wednesday in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Donald drew no ordinary No. 64 seed. Ernie Els, who only made

<< Royals C Pina leaves workout with knee injury
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals catcher Manny Pina injured his right knee during Wednesday's workout. Pina was catching when he caught his spikes and "tweaked" the knee, according to manager Ned Yost. The extent of the i

<< Durant added to 3-point contest
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant has been added to the 3-point contest for this weekend's All-Star Game festivities in Orlando. Durant will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who wi

<< Celtics' Rondo added to All-Star roster
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo has been added to the 2012 East All-Star team for this weekend's game in Orlando. Rondo will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who will miss All-Star w

Angels sign Isringhausen to minor league deal >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with veteran right-handed reliever Jason Isringhausen. The 39-year-old Isringhausen appeared in 53 games last season for the

Notre Dame downs WVU, sets school record >>
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerian Grant scored 20 points and the 20th- ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish set a school record for most consecutive Big East wins with a 71-44 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Scott Martin a

No. 23 Indiana rolls over NC Central >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Zeller scored 17 points and Victor Oladipo netted 16 as No. 23 Indiana rolled over NC Central, 75-56, at Assembly Hall. Will Sheehey added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Derek Elsto

No. 2 Syracuse tops USF for 8th straight win >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoop Jardine scored 15 points, C.J. Fair had 13 and No. 2 Syracuse had to overcome a slow start, then hold on to beat South Florida, 56-48, on Wednesday night. Kris Joseph added 12 points and nine rebounds fo

Blue Jackets activate Sanford from IR >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Columbus Jackets activated backup goaltender Curtis Sanford from injured reserve on Wednesday. Sanford hasn't played since February 8 due to a lower-body injury suffered in a game against the Dal

How to bet pro football

There is little doubt that the NFL is where the sportsbooks see the most action and also make the most loot. The NFL possesses betting friendly attributes that are unlike any of the other major sports. First off, there are relatively few teams to keep track of in comparison to college football betting or college basketball. And second, these teams play only once a week which makes staying on top of the results much easier than it is in the daily leagues such as the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

These dynamics, along with the sheer excitement of watching and wagering on football, brings more square action to the table than any of the other sports. Almost every Tom, Dick and Harry in America is an NFL expert in their own mind and that is precisely what the oddsmakers prey upon.

Understanding who bets the games is just as important as understanding which teams are playing the games. The market at times will dictate price, which in the betting world means the oddsmakers cater to the public rather than reality.

Knowing the market inside and out is the basis of our NFL handicapping model. That is, our approach to NFL handicapping is of the contrarian or value seeking variety. We will at times place a higher premium on public sentiment than on the fundamentals. This strategy dictates playing dogs and/or lesser competent teams, or teams the public wants nothing to do with. Or better yet, fading the teams the oddsmakers want you to bet on.

Along these same lines, we carry a similar notion that the first week of the NFL season presents one of the ripest opportunities for the astute gambler. This conflicts with conventional wisdom and/or handicapping lore, as most would say it is better to watch a few games and assess each team before jumping in with both feet. That’s all fine and dandy, but there are some interesting trends to exploit in Week 1 and we’d be remiss to ignore them. Let us quickly explain.

Gone are the days of dynasties, where the same core players stay intact and dominate the league year after year. Free agency and player movements can completely transform teams from one season to the next. In today’s parity-driven NFL, poor teams typically don’t stay poor for all that long and excellent teams must constantly reinvent themselves to stay on top.

The temptation might be to assume prior year results are the best indicator of who is going to cover in Week 1. To Joe Public, playoff teams from the prior season, home teams, favorites, and so one, look even more enticing than usual since there is no current season performance to judge them against. But the question begs: are the oddsmakers setting a trap?

To find the answer, we culled five years worth of Week 1 NFL data. As always, all of our analysis is done from an ATS perspective. The purpose here is to share the most important angles we unearthed and try to explain the logic behind them. So strap on your helmet, throw on your shoulder pads, and follow our lead as we expose some rare holes in the oddsmakers’ line of defense.

Home vs. Away Teams

Over the past five seasons, NFL home teams in Week 1 are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). This of course implies that roadies are a 58 percent winning proposition during this time. The public at large has a tendency to overvalue home teams and this is especially true in Week 1 when there is no current season data to make predictions from. Consequently, the oddsmakers almost surely shade the home teams, by and large making road teams the choice for the value player.

Conclusion: Look long and hard at road teams first when handicapping the opening week.

Price ranges

Favorites are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent) in the opening week over the past five NFL seasons (Coincidentally, home teams hold the same ATS record as noted above). This means that underdogs bark at a 58 percent clip. Mid-range favorites performed the worst among our specified price ranges. In particular, favorites priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 are only 8-15 ATS (35 percent) during this time.

The same basic pattern holds true when looking at home favorites (road favorites gravitate towards a 50 percent mean). Home favorites indeed are just 21-32-3 ATS (40 percent) in the first week of NFL action since 1999. Again, mid-range favorites are similarly the poorest performers when we look at home teams. Consider that home teams priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 have stumbled to a 6-13 ATS (32 percent) mark in Week 1 games the past five seasons.

Conclusion: Like home teams, favorites and particularly mid-range favorites are generally overvalued in Week 1.

Playoff teams

It might surprise you to learn that playoff teams from the prior year versus non-playoff teams from the prior year are a mere 16-23-3 (41 percent) ATS in NFL Week 1 games over the past five seasons. Home teams which made the playoffs versus teams which did not make the playoffs from the prior season drop to a meager 7-14-1 ATS (33 percent) during this time.

Why are playoff teams, and in particular those at home, such bad bets the past five openers? Just as the case with home teams and with favorites, oddsmakers intentionally overprice playoff teams in the opening week to compensate for the public’s propensity to over bet them.

This theory holds true just looking at straight-up records from the past season as well. That is, home teams with winning records from the prior season vs. road teams with losing records from the prior season are just 8-13 ATS in Week 1 NFL games since 1999.

Conclusion: Playoff teams from the prior year and in particular, home playoff teams, are overvalued in Week 1 NFL games.

Scoring defense and scoring offense

Do good defenses and for that matter good offenses from the prior season fare better against the number the following year in Week 1 games? Well, sort of. Generally speaking, teams with a solid offense or defense from the prior season tend to do well in the opening week so long as they are on the road. As a host, however, the best offenses and best defenses from the prior year tend to be overvalued in Week 1.

Consider that the top five scoring defenses (i.e. points allowed) from the prior season are a nice 8-4 ATS (66 percent) on the road in NFL openers the past five seasons. Meanwhile, the top five scoring defenses from the prior season are just 3-8-2 ATS (27 percent) as a host in Week 1 during the same time period.

There is no discernable advantage or disadvantage for teams with a top five scoring offense (i.e. points scored) in Week 1 games. However, when we look at scoring offenses from the bottom up (isolating the five worst offenses from the prior season), the results are rather interesting. In particular, teams ranked in the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are 9-4-1 ATS (69 percent) when on the road in Week 1.

The logic is simply that the public perception is a poor scoring offensive unit from the year prior will have little chance of winning on the road in Week 1. In turn, the oddsmakers compensate for this perception and these poor offensive teams from the year prior carry extra line value on the Week 1 trail.

Conclusion: Teams with top-ranked defenses from the previous season are good bets when playing on the road, but poor bets when playing at home. Also, teams ranked among the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are generally a good value in their Week 1 openers, provided they are playing on the road.

Scoring margin

An exceedingly straightforward way of measuring scoring offense and scoring defense together as a whole is to look at a team's “margin." Margin is simply scoring offense minus scoring defense, which is a fairly clear-cut measure of how a team does on both sides of the ball. Typically, the higher the margin, the better the team.

In this regard, it might seem counterintuitive that teams carrying the higher margin from the prior season in week one matchups are merely 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). Furthermore, road teams with the higher margin are 14-20-6 ATS (41 percent), while home teams with the higher margin are 17-22-1 ATS (44 percent). Once again, these results line up with the theory that better teams from the prior year are overvalued come opening day of the following season.

Conclusion: “Better” teams, which often boast a higher margin than their opponent, are overvalued the following season in NFL openers.

In sum

Oddsmakers cater NFL betting lines to match public perception and also to bait the public into poor bets. The temptation to use the prior year’s success as a buy sign for how a team will perform against the spread in Week 1 of the following season is an enormous trap.

The fact is, isolating road teams, road dogs, non-playoff teams vs. playoff teams, teams with a losing record or low margin vs. playoff teams or ones with a high margin from the previous year is where the line value resides. Quite simply, taking the road less traveled is your surest path to NFL betting profits.

To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.