One of the most unique position battles to watch for college football gamblers when fall camp begins is the quarterback derby at Clemson.

Last year the Tigers were a preseason Top 10 team with national title aspirations, but inconsistent quarterback play from Cullen Harper and Willy Korn was a big factor in Clemson finishing 7-6 and costing coach Tommy Bowden his job.

This year the Tigers are a pretty sizable long shot at 40/1 on Bodog to win the national championship, and that’s probably in part to the team not knowing who will be under center in 2009. Harper graduated, but Korn, a former top-rated recruit, is back. The sophomore will battle redshirt freshman Kyle Parker and true freshmanTajh Boyd for the starting job.

The problem is that all three guys have some blemishes to go with obvious potential. Korn has the benefit of seeing the field in place of a struggling Harper at times in 2008, going 26 of 38 for 216 yards with a TD and an interception. However, he has been a bit injury prone and is coming off December major shoulder surgery that has forced him to rework his throwing motion. Parker has a bigger arm than Korn and looked better in the spring game but is a baseball star who readily admits he couldn’t do all the offseason football work he would have liked because he didn’t have time with his baseball obligations. Boyd, meanwhile, is just six months off ACL reconstruction surgery, which usually takes 8-12 months to fully heal. He is ahead of schedule but probably will redshirt.

Coach Dabo Swinney says the open competition will continue right into camp and that he may have to play a couple of guys early in the season before naming a full-time starter. Certainly you can see why all three feel a big sense of urgency to get the job this season being as they all have at least three years of eligibility left.

The Tigers have some very nice talent returning and could contend in the ACC and nationally if a quarterback breaks out. All five starters on the offensive line return, as does potential All-American tailback C.J. Spiller, who no doubt will carry a massive load this year. If the Tigers can find the right QB, they can do some major damage. But if the young QBs show their inexperience right away, this team could start 1-4 (early games at Georgia Tech, vs. Boston College, vs. TCU and at Maryland) and face a long year.

Get all your college football futures at Bodog. Also the top college football handicapping service GodsTips has an Early Bird Special up for NFL preseason betting through the Super Bowl, college and pro football. It is just $1,499 for the best football picks in the world.

‘Tis the season for college football predictions and leading sportsbook Bodog gives previews from the bettors’ standpoint.

Sorry Florida fans, USC is the preeminent program in college football today.

All Pete Carroll has done is lead the Trojans to seven consecutive top-four finishes in the Associated Press poll (including two national championships), seven Pac-10 titles in a row (league record) and seven straight BCS bowl berths and minimum 11-win seasons (both NCAA records).

Yet I’m here to tell you there’s a very realistic chance all those streaks end in 2009.

USC loses eight starters from a defense that last season led the nation in scoring defense (9.0, the school’s best mark since 1967), pass efficiency defense and pass defense. For good measure it finished second in total defense and fifth in rushing defense. After that shocking loss at Oregon State in late September, that unit allowed just two touchdowns in the next six games and pitched three shutouts.

The fact that it’s eight starters gone and not nine is actually a very fortunate thing for Carroll as two-time All-American safety Taylor Mays decided to return for his senior season. The Ronnie Lott clone quite possibly will be the best defensive player in college football next fall, but he might need to be. Sure, the Trojans just plug in several more high school All-Americans, but will those guys be ready by Sept. 12 when USC visits Ohio State?

The Trojans do have nine offensive starters back, but not at the most important position: Quarterback. Sophomore Aaron Corp is the starter heading into the fall, replacing Mark Sanchez. Corp beat out former national high school players of the year Matt Barkley and Mitch Mustain because he didn’t turn the ball over much during the spring. And all Corp will be asked to do is manage the game and not make mistakes. With their top four rushers and stud receivers Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson back, the Men of Troy should be fine on that side of the ball.

Even if USC beats the Buckeyes again this season, the Pac-10 schedule is tougher than usual. The Trojans travel to both Oregon and California, easily their two biggest threats in the conference (neither game is in November, the month in which USC is invincible). In fact, the last time USC visited Oregon in 2007 the Ducks won. And Cal always seems to give the Trojans trouble. Shoot, don’t even rule out a possible Notre Dame upset in a mid-October non-conference game in South Bend.

I wouldn’t exactly bet against Southern Cal to win the Pac-10 this season, but those 6/1 odds to win the national title on Bodog seem too generous for a team that could easily lose twice in 2009.

Get all your college football futures at Bodog. Also the top college football handicapping service GodsTips has an Early Bird Special up for NFL preseason betting through the Super Bowl, college and pro football. It is just $1,499 for the best football picks in the world.

As the UFC 101 odds approach, some of baseball’s top teams are slugging it out like two prize fighters in the octagon. Let’s have a look at some important MLB betting matchups for Wednesday.

Chicago Cubs @ Philadelphia Phillies
Carlos Zambrano (6-4, 3.36) vs Jamie Moyer (9-6, 5.58)
Wednesday, July 22, 1:05 p.m. ET

Tom Watson foiled everyone’s sports betting management with his improbable British Open run. Could 46-year-old Jamie Moyer draw inspiration? He’s alternated good and bad starts lately and there’s more to that fact than meets the eye; almost all the bad starts come at home, where Moyer sports a 6.79 ERA and has allowed a whopping 13 homers in 50 innings. He’s never lost to the Cubs, but that could change if Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano have anything to say about it. Bradley hits .350 lifetime against Moyer, while Soriano has four homers off him in 50 at-bats.

Carlos Zambrano has allowed more than three runs just twice in 17 starts this season and has a 2.91 road ERA. He also has pitched fairly well against the Phillies in his career, so he’ll be fine.

Daily MLB pick: Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals @ Houston Astros
Chris Carpenter (8-3, 2.26) vs Roy Oswalt (6-4, 3.65)
Wednesday, July 22, 8:05 p.m. ET

The marquee matchup of the day pits the sputtering Cardinals against the surging Astros with each team sending its ace to the hill. Chris Carpenter returned from the All-Star break with eight scoreless innings against Arizona and he has a 3.00 ERA at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. Another huge plus for Carpenter; his nemesis Lance Berkman (six homers, 12 RBI, 1.348 OPS in just 29 at bats against Carpenter) is nursing a calf strain and likely won’t play Wednesday.

Roy Oswalt has been great in June and July but that Pujols guy owns him worse than the Vikings own Brett Favre in NFL betting, hitting .315 with five homers and 13 RBI in 73 career at-bats against him.

It’s safe to say (a) this will be a low-scoring game and (b) Pujols may be the only guy putting runs on the board for either team.

Daily MLB pick: Cardinals

Soon it will be time to check out the NFLX QB rotations and the NFL exhibition spreads. But the handicappers at Bodog are already previewing the season from a bettors standpoint.

If you think my recommendation a few weeks ago of putting a few dollars down on Notre Dame at 25/1 on Bodog‘s odds to win the BCS National Championship this season was hogwash, then you’ll really laugh at this long shot value bet recommendation: Texas Christian.

But hear me out.

How overlooked are the Horned Frogs? Bodog doesn’t even give them odds to win it all, so they are part of the field at 60/1. This is despite the fact that TCU finished last season 11-2 (ranked seventh in the final polls) and knocked off unbeaten Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl – that was the Frogs’ fourth bowl win in a row, and only six other teams have streaks that long.

Coach Gary Patterson has 10 starters coming back, six on offense on four on defense. It was defense that carried this team in 2008, as it ranked first in total defense, second to USC in scoring defense, second in sacks and allowed a ridiculous 612 yards rushing all season. Yes, that unit lost seven starters from last season, but TCU has led the Mountain West in total defense every year but one since moving to the conference. So clearly Patterson, a former defensive coordinator, knows what he’s doing.

In addition, one of the four defenders returning in 2009 is the best one: All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes, who led the nation with 15 sacks and six forced fumbles last year.

The offense will be led by Andy Dalton, who emerged as a top-flight quarterback in the second half of last season after returning from an injury. In TCU’s first five games, Dalton had no touchdown passes and averaged 163.6 yards per game. In the Frogs’ final six he averaged 237.3 yards in the air and had 11 TDs. And in TCU’s final two home games, Dalton was 37-of-49 for 655 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions (of course that was vs. Air Force and Wyoming). Dalton’s leading receiver in 2008, Jimmy Young, also is back.

Texas Christian’s schedule sets up for an unbeaten run. Its toughest tests should come Sept. 26 at Clemson and Oct. 24 at BYU. But the Frogs are 26-13 on the road since 2003, which is the seventh-best winning percentage in the country. Utah is always a threat in the MWC, but the Frogs get them in Fort Worth this season and TCU is 31-4 at home since 2003, the sixth-best winning percentage in the country since ’03.

So would a 12-0 TCU even get a berth in the BCS National Championship game? I might argue yes. After all, Utah earned the Mountain West some major respect with its rout of Alabama in last year’s Sugar Bowl. And if you look at each BCS conference, there is no lock unbeaten in any of those. All the Frogs have to do is steal one spot, and should they get the chance they are 11-3 in their past 14 games against BCS teams.

I’m not saying put your life savings down at 60/1, but TCU is definitely worth a look.

Get all your college football futures at Bodog. Also the top college football handicapping service GodsTips has an Early Bird Special up for NFL preseason betting through the Super Bowl, college and pro football. It is just $1,499 for the best football picks in the world.

Stop counting the winnings from poker betting and add to the gambling profits with information from the covers experts.

I want to preface this article by saying that I’m an experienced sports writer, not a Notre Dame fan and not under the influence of any mind-altering substances. You’ll understand my reasoning for getting that out first when I follow with this statement: Notre Dame could win the BCS National Championship this season.

I know the Irish have one bowl win since the 1993 season – and that victory came last year against a mediocre Hawaii team in the Hawaii Bowl, ending a nine-game postseason losing streak for the Irish.

And I also know that coach Charlie Weis nearly was fired this offseason and probably will be next if Notre Dame has another 7-6 season. But the Irish should have 10 starters back on offense, which seemed to finally find itself in Hawaii behind QB Jimmy Clausen’s 401 yards passing and five touchdowns. He will have two stellar receivers back in Golden Tate and Michael Floyd. In addition, the defense welcomes seven starters back. All those top-rated recruits figure to start contributing sooner or later.

Nobody wins college football picks at a higher rate than GodsTips.  Check out the winningest handicapper ever with a full season greatly discounted price at the sport handicapper home.

Add to those above reasons an Irish schedule that is very, very manageable in 2009. It’s quite possible that Notre Dame will be favored in every game except for the home tilt with Southern Cal on Oct. 17. The Trojans have beaten the Irish by a combined 76-3 the past few years, but USC has to rebuild its defense and has a new quarterback this season. Notre Dame plays just four road games, all winnable: at Michigan (still building), at Purdue (new coach), at Pittsburgh (no LeSean McCoy) and at Stanford (new starting QB).

I’m not guaranteeing that the echoes will be awakened this year in South Bend, but at 25/1 odds to win the national title on Bodog  that’s worth a look. Even at 11-1, the Irish could get the call to play in Pasadena on Jan. 7.

Get all your college football futures at Bodog and free football picks on the Offshore Insiders Network.

The top football handicap betting experts are studying the college football picks matchups. Meanwhile Bodog takes a look at how off-field problems could affect the FSU Seminoles.

Could bad news for Florida State’s athletic department actually turn into a positive for the 2009 Seminole football team? I would argue yes.

But let’s backtrack a minute. I’m speaking of a letter from the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions that was released Thursday. It defended its original penalties imposed on the school’s athletic program, which includes vacating up to 14 victories from the football team.

Losing those 14 wins would be crushing to coach Bobby Bowden as he continues to jockey with Penn State’s Joe Paterno for the all-time wins record in college football – Paterno currently leads 383-382.

Obviously if that lead suddenly was 15 wins for JoePa, that’s not going to be a total that Bowden is going to make up in the limited time he has left on the sideline. It’s not like the Nittany Lions are going to go winless in a season any time soon.

The vacation of wins (in nine other sports too) is the only penalty Florida State is appealing as a result of a widespread cheating scandal involving an online music course in 2006 and 2007, seasons in which FSU won 14 total games in football. School officials know what the record means to Bowden. A final decision isn’t likely to come until August, with FSU still having to respond to the letter and oral arguments heard from both sides by the Infractions Appeal Committee.

“Joe would not want to win this thing the way they [NCAA] are doing this,” Bowden told reporters.

You might be asking how this could possibly affect FSU from a betting standpoint – the ‘Noles are 20/1 on Bodog to win this season’s BCS National Championship. But let’s say that this penalty is enforced. That would probably ensure that 2009 will be the final season that Bowden would coach. In January he signed just a one-year extension for this year, though he has an option for a second season. Bowden turns 80 in November and has said he has a date in mind as to when it he will hang it up.

The best expert in beating the college football lines GodsPicks, the football betting specialists, have the 2009-10 Early Bird football special up. Click now to purchase the top NCAA football handicapping service ever.

Wouldn’t playing on Bowden’s final team be quite a bit of motivation for those FSU players? Shoot, the coach might even use it to fire his guys up at times. And it’s not like the 2009 Seminoles don’t have a shot to run the table. It’s a long shot, especially with that season finale at Florida. But FSU could be a favorite in every other game, with the biggest tests likely coming in the season opener against Miami and games at BYU, North Carolina and Clemson.

It would be too bad for Bowden’s possible final season to start with this hanging over the program, but maybe Bowden can perform one last bit of coaching magic and use it to his advantage. Even if the coach is too proud to use his swan song to motivate his kids, you can be sure the other coaches on the staff would harp and it and that the players would want to send Bowden out in style. Sounds like a rallying point to me.

Get all your college football futures at Bodog.

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The White Sox play host to the Rays, the Red Sox take on the Rangers, and the Cubs continue their series in Philadelphia.

Sports headlines….

A pervert used a peephole to videotape ESPN bombshell Erin Andrews without her knowledge. The predator allegedly has tried to sell the Erin Andrews peephole pictures. A video link was grainy and posted on the Internet…Andrea McNulty of Nevada has alleged that Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her. Even though the alleged incident occurred a year ago, a criminal case was never filed, only a civil suit demanding money…The Tour de France stage 16 is underway.

Are you ready to beat the college football point spreads and the NFL football odds? If so, note that the top football handicapping service of them all GodsTips has an Early Bird Special already up for the football season. Click now to purchase

Josh Beckett (11-3, 3.35 ERA) will be looking for his 12^th win of the season on Tuesday night when his Red Sox continue their road series against the Rangers and Tommy Hunter (1-1, 2.35 ERA). Righthander Beckett has picked up the win in each of his last two starts, and Boston is 8-2 over his last 10 trips to the mound. Righthander Hunter had to settle for a no-decision versus the Mariners in his most recent start despite throwing six scoreless innings and allowing four hits.

Also on the American League schedule for Tuesday: Seattle at Detroit, Baltimore at the Yankees, Cleveland at Toronto, the Angels at Kansas City, Minnesota at Oakland, and Tampa Bay at the White Sox. Rays starter Jeff Niemann (8-4, 3.73 ERA) is coming off a stellar outing against the A’s in which he tossed a complete-game shutout. Clayton Richard (3-3, 5.42 ERA) gets the ball for Chicago on Tuesday night; Richard has given up 10 earned runs over his last 4 2-3 innings.

You don’t need a Craig Gass CD to laugh all the way to the bank as the top handicapping site covers that. All underdogs and small favorites: Phillies, Mets, and White Sox make it 3-1. Yes we are juiced about football coming up, but don’t just count down the days as you are wishing your gambling lives away but not romping with baseball.

Get two Wise Guy plays and two Majors. Both Wise Guys are underdogs. Click now to purchase

It’ll be Rich Harden (6-6, 5.06 ERA) taking on Joe Blanton (6-4, 4.44 ERA) on Tuesday night as the Cubs and Phillies continue their series in Philadelphia. Righthander Harden got back into the win column last time out, holding the Nationals to one unearned run on three hits over six innings of work. Righthander Blanton has come up big in each of his last two starts, allowing only one earned run on eight hits over 14 2-3 innings in those games against the Pirates and Mets.

Rounding out the National League slate for Tuesday: the Mets at Washington, Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, San Francisco at Atlanta, St. Louis at Houston, Florida at San Diego, Cincinnati at the Dodgers, and Arizona at Colorado. Max Scherzer (5-6, 3.64 ERA) will get the ball for the Diamondbacks on Tuesday, while the Rockies counter with Aaron Cook (9-3, 3.85 ERA). Righthander Cook gave up just one earned run on eight hits over six innings versus the Padres last time out.

Rounding out the Roundup . . .

Finally, the WNBA offers up just one game on Tuesday night, with Indiana at Washington. The Fever saw their 11-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday as they fell 67-61 to Connecticut. Indiana is now 11-3 straight-up and 9-5 against-the-spread on the season. The Mystics are coming off a slim 68-67 win over New York on Saturday, with Lindsey Harding providing a game-high 23 points. Washington is now 7-6 SU and 7-5-1 ATS through 13 games this season.