A pair of bowl games and a full slate of NBA action highlight the schedule for 2008′s last Monday. Here’s a look at the matchups in your Daily Sports Roundup.

The Gridiron Spotlight

North Carolina State will take on Rutgers in the Papa John’s.com Bowl at 3:00pm ET in the first college football game of Monday. The Wolfpack (6-6 straight-up, 9-2 against-the-spread) won four straight games to end the season and become bowl eligible; they topped Miami 38-28 last time out. The Scarlet Knights (7-5 SU, 7-4 ATS) have won six straight games, blasting Louisville 63-14 in their last contest. The Vegas odds say that Rutgers is a 6.5-point favorite for Monday, with the game’s total at 56.5, though it varies among sportsbooks

The Alamo Bowl then kicks off at 8:00pm ET, with Missouri taking on Northwestern. The Tigers (9-4 SU, 5-7 ATS) dropped back-to-back games to Kansas and Oklahoma to close out their regular season, getting blasted 62-21 on the road by the Sooners. The Wildcats (9-3 SU, 6-5 ATS) are on a two-game winning streak, with wins over Michigan and Illinois in their previous two contests. Nevertheless, the Las Vegas bowl lines say that Missouri is a 12.5-point fave, with the total pegged at 66.5 points.

Who covers the bowls? The betting experts bowl spread picks and pointspread predictions have been outstanding. Here is the Monday catalog of winners.

Other Notable Events

A pair of streaking Southeast Division teams will take the floor in the NBA on Monday night, with Atlanta hosting Denver and Orlando playing on the road in Detroit. The Hawks won their fourth straight game last time out, getting past the Bulls 129-117 at home. That put Atlanta at 19-10 SU and 17-12 ATS on the season. Meanwhile, the Magic won their seventh in a row by a score of 118-94 in Minnesota last game, and they now lead the division at 24-6 SU and 20-9-1 ATS.

There are six other games on the NBA’s schedule for Monday, including Chicago at New Jersey, Memphis at Minnesota, Washington at Houston, Philadelphia at Utah, and Toronto at Golden State. Also, Oklahoma City will play host to Phoenix.

Headlines

According to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner cleaned house and is seeking permission to speak to Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli…Dallas newspapers and the Ticket Sports Radio are blasting the Cowboys collapse at the hands of Donovan McNabb and the Eagles. Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and the players agree: it’s not their fault….Lingerie football player Melissa Berry is suing her ex-lover over her photos. We say give the man a raise (so to speak)…the Detroit Lions became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16…Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger suffered a concussion…Pittsburgh earned a bye so it does not affect the weekend’s NFL wild card Vegas betting line in which all four road teams are the favorites. ..After days of speculation, Mike Singletary has been named permanent head coach of the 49ers. He is not expected to retain offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

The Rest of the Schedule

The San Jose Sharks will be looking to bounce back from a rare loss when they play at Dallas on Monday in one of six NHL games on the schedule. The Sharks fell 3-2 in overtime to the lowly Blues on Saturday night to fall to 27-4-4 on the season. The Stars edged the Ducks 4-3 on Saturday. Rounding out the NHL slate: Montreal at Florida, Minnesota at Calgary, Nashville at Colorado, and Columbus at L.A.,  as well as the Isles and Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Finally, college hoops features a ranked matchup on Monday with No. 2 UConn hosting No. 12 Georgetown. Also it’s LA Lafayette vs. No. 16 Tennessee, Temple vs. No. 18 Villanova, Central Connecticut State vs. No. 20 Arizona State, Portland State vs. No. 21 Baylor, and North Carolina Central vs. No. 24 Michigan.

A Peek at the Future

There are three more bowl games on the schedule for Tuesday, with Maryland vs. Nevada (-1.5) in the Humanitarian Bowl, Western Michigan vs. Rice (-2.5) in the Texas Bowl, and Oklahoma State (-2.5) vs. Oregon in the Holiday Bowl . . . Tuesday’s top NBA matchup has Boston in Portland, while Miami plays host to Cleveland . . . the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings are scheduled to play outdoors at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon if weather conditions permit. Get all the winning pointspread picks at OffshoreInsiders.com