Aggies and Golden Bears take Holiday in San Diego

NCAA Football Betting Lines

12/24/2006 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Life Holiday Bowl will pit the 21st-ranked Texas A&M Aggies of the Big 12 against the 20th-ranked California Golden Bears of the Pac-10 in San Diego.

Texas A&M finished the season with a 9-3 overall record, including a 5-3 mark in the always-tough Big 12 Conference. While the Aggies have been notoriously tough to beat at home, they have played their best football away from Kyle Field this season. In fact, they are attempting to become the first Aggie squad since the 1939 national championship team to post an unblemished record away from Kyle Field, as they are currently 4-0 on the road and 1-0 in neutral site games. Texas A&M is 13-15 all-time in bowl games, and it hopes for a better finish than the 38-7 loss that it suffered in the 2005 Cotton Bowl to Tennessee.

California also enters this game with a 9-3 overall mark, and it finished 7-2 in Pac-10 play to capture a share of the league title. Considering that the Golden Bears last won a share of the title back in 1975, Jeff Tedford has clearly elevated the program to a level it normally doesn't reach. California is set to participate in a bowl game for the fourth consecutive season, the first time the program has ever accomplished that feat.

California and Texas A&M have split their only two series meetings, and the most recent matchup occurred in 1983.

Texas A&M is a formidable offensive team that is averaging 29.3 ppg and 401.4 total ypg. There is no question that the ground attack is the driving force behind the success of the unit, as the Aggies have racked up 32 rushing touchdowns while averaging 210.5 ypg on 5.0 ypc. Three players have combined to carry the ball 411 times for well over 2,000 yards, and the backfield by committee approach has kept the runners fresh and defenses off balance. Mike Goodson leads the way with 785 rushing yards and a tremendous average of 6.9 ypc. Jorvorskie Lane is the club's short-yardage back, and he has scored a staggering total of 19 rushing touchdowns. The third member of the trio is Stephen McGee, who has run for 635 yards. McGee, the team's starting quarterback, has also passed for 2,118 yards and 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions. There isn't a top-notch receiver in the fold, but McGee does a good job of spreading the ball around.

Opponents are only scoring 18.5 ppg against Texas A&M, which is yielding 309.8 total ypg to its foes. The Aggies sent a major message to the college football world, and to California in particularly, when it limited a normally-explosive Texas team to seven points in the regular season finale on November 24th. With 21 takeaways and 17 sacks, Texas A&M isn't one of the best big-play defenses participating in this bowl season, but the unit is solid against both the run and the pass. One of the most impressive stats worth mentioning is that the Aggies are permitting their opponents to make good on only 29 percent of their third down conversion attempts. Justin Warren is the leading tackler for Texas A&M, as he has made 90 total stops. Keep and eye on Chris Harrington, as he has registered 11.5 TFLs, including 7.5 sacks this year.

California is not short on offensive weapons, and the most dangerous of all is tailback Marshawn Lynch. Recently named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, Lynch has rushed for 1,245 yards and has scored 13 touchdowns. He is just the second player in Cal history with two 1,000-yard seasons, and he is the fourth to go over 3,000 rushing yards in a career. DeSean Jackson steals many headlines as well, both as a receiver and a returner. Jackson has scored 13 touchdowns to tie Lynch, and he is first in the nation in punt return average and has taken four punts into the end zone. As a receiver, Jackson has made 54 grabs for 979 yards and nine scores, and he is a threat to go the distance every time he touches the ball. The man entrusted with getting the ball to Lynch and Jackson is quarterback Nate Longshore, who has completed 58.9 percent of his passes for 2,786 yards with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Clearly, this California offense is loaded. The team averages 31.8 ppg and 410.6 total ypg.

While Lynch and Jackson are the stars of the offense and special teams, Daymeion Hughes is the man on defense. The senior cornerback leads the team and is tied for third nationally in interceptions with eight. He has registered 11 pass break-ups and is second on the team in tackles with 67. Desmond Bishop is another All-Pac-10 performer who has recorded 114 tackles, 47 more than anyone else on the team. He has posted 14 TFLs and picked off three passes as well. The Golden Bears are limiting opponents to 20.1 ppg on 367.7 total ypg. The run defense has been strong, yielding only 3.7 yards per carry. While Cal has registered a high total of 20 interceptions, the team is giving up 13.4 yards per pass completion, so there have been some big plays made through the air.

This game features a confident Texas A&M team coming off a win over Texas and an explosive California club which earned its first taste of the conference crown in a couple of decades. Expect this one to be close for the most part, although the Golden Bears have to get the slight edge because of the presence of Lynch and Jackson.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: California 31, Texas A&M 20

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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