College football handicappers and fantasy football experts are spending nearly every waking hour getting ready for some football. Bodog helps bettors out with a Minnesota Golden Gophers preview.

With 50/1 odds to win the Big Ten Championship, it looks like another ho-hum year on tap for the Minnesota Golden Gophers—win about half your games, battle for a bowl game appearance, and call it a day.

Considering Minnesota’s constant turnover at offensive coordinator, perhaps the program should consider hosting a reality show to select one annually; it would generate some interest in the team, and we hear Lindsay Lohan is looking for work.

In all seriousness, the Gophers are on their third coordinator in as many years—a nightmare for consistency and continuity. The team managed a conference-worst 21.6 points per game last year, including a brutal 99.5 yards per game on the ground. That could change this year thanks to an influx of talented freshmen.

The defense will be undergoing a painful transition, as all seven starters from the front seven must be replaced.

Get your NCAA Football Odds in the Bodog Sportsbook! Grandmaster Sports Handicapper Joe Duffy’s expert take: Thank God for Indiana. The Golden Gophers are in for a very long year but they are better than the Hoosiers. But there isn’t much glory to being 10^th in a Big Ten.

Sensational online sportsbook Bodog continues a look at the BCS conference teams. In this case the Big Ten.

The Michigan State Spartans have 15/1 Big Ten odds after a disappointing campaign in 2009. They’re next up in today’s college football preview.

The Spartans offense is more bland than watching Al Gore paint his garage. It will employ a tight end, work in a few running backs, and keep things nice and simple. A lack of creativity doesn’t mean it’s poor, though, as Kirk Cousins developed into a pretty solid passer last year (19 touchdowns, nine interceptions). He’ll need to improve further, as the line is looking for three new starters and the ground game could suffer.

The linebackers will lead the defense. Greg Jones might be the best in the nation after averaging nearly 12 tackles per game last year; luckily for MSU, he declined a chance to be drafted to the pros and returned for another tour. The pass “D” leaves much to be desired, though.

Get your NCAA Football Odds in the Bodog Sportsbook! Grandmaster Sports Handicapper Joe Duffy’s expert take: The Spartans are smack in the middle of the pack. We have them fifth, well below No. 4 Penn State, but much better than Northwestern.

Today’s Bodog college football preview continues with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys have enjoyed back-to-back seasons with nine wins apiece, but moving up any more in the Big 12 will be a challenge.

Oklahoma State should employ a great ground game. Kendell Hunter was injured last season but rushed for 1,555 yards in 2008, earning all-conference honors. He’ll be running behind a questionable line, however, as four new starters are being installed. The team is also working in a new quarterback, Brandon Weedon. Weedon has spent the past few seasons playing minor league baseball.

The defense should benefit from a clean bill of health. Linebacker Orie Lemon was poised to become one of the better linebackers in the game before suffering an injury; he’ll be at full strength in 2010. The pass “D” will be extremely vulnerable, though, as both corners are gone.

Get your NCAA Football Odds in the Bodog Sportsbook!

Grandmaster Sports Handicapper Joe Duffy’s expert take: None of our models have the Pokes finishing higher than fourth in the Big 12 South. Fifth is their very likely fate. At least they aren’t the Baylor Bears.

Unlike Miss Philippines Venus Raj, ScoresOddsPicks handicapping expert Shea Matthews does not stumble when it comes to picking fantasy football rankings and rankings or college football picks.

It’s not one of the bigtime conferences but Conference USA has plenty to offer in terms of sports betting value and pure entertainment in 2010. It has the country’s most explosive offense and some decent parity among the second-tier teams. How will it shake out this season?

HOUSTON (1 to 19)

Few teams are as fun to watch as the Houston Cougars. They led the entire NCAA Division-I in scoring and total offense last season. Case Keenum will run the show under center and will likely help Houston remain a scoring machine since he’s vying for a Heisman Trophy. Houston isn’t invincible, however. Its “D” took a major beatdown from Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl last year. In fact, it ranked 115^th overall. So we can’t assume Conference USA belongs to the Cougars in a cakewalk.

CENTRAL FLORIDA (11 to 2)

Central Florida is essentially the anti-Houston. It plays absolutely stellar defense, having ranked fourth in the country against the run last year. But will a lack of a reliable quarterback hurt UCF’s college football betting chances? I think so. Brett Hodges won’t be easily replaced and star halfback Brynn Harvey is out indefinitely too. Where will the points come from?

TULSA (6 to 1)

Tulsa won the West in 2007 and 2008 but slipped to a 5-7 record last year. Conference USA usually goes to the tougher, smashmouth teams, not the flashier groups, so Tulsa may lose out because it lacks physicality.

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI (7 to 1)

Southern Miss is a real wildcard since it returns just three offensive starters. But wide receiver DeAndre Brown Jr. is considered the conference’s best NFL prospect by most and could help Southern Miss field a respectable offense. Still, I’m not so sure the “D” will hold up.

UTEP (12 to 1)

UTEP is yet another team that shows offensive potential on paper but neglects the other side of the ball. Donald Buckram could have a big year in the backfield since almost all the team’s starters return around him, but these guys allowed 33.5 points per game last season. Not good enough.

SMU (14 to 1)

Are the 14 to 1 odds a misprint? This sports betting blog wonders if SMU, not Central Florida, is Houston’s biggest threat this season. The Mustangs are building an intriguing offense under June “run and shoot” Jones and quarterback Kyle Padron seems to grasp it well. SMU dominated Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl last year; was that a sign of things to come? These guys will score and, unlike some of the other “sexy” Conference USA teams, they’re at least respectable on defense.

MARSHALL (16 to 1)

Marshall is probably my favorite sleeper betting pick. It plays good enough defense for this conference and could have a sneaky-good offense with Willy Korn coming over from Clemson. Don’t forget about The Herd.

Today’s free pick

Houston is all style, no substance. Central Florida is the opposite. I like the more balanced team breakdown (and sportsbook value) of SMU. Go with the Mustangs in 2010.

NFL preseason football continues Friday as the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are now -2.5 -115 at BetUs Sportsbook but -3 at Just Bet Sportsbook. The total ranges from 37-38 depending on which sportsbook is used.

Here is the famed preseason primer for the Bengals-Eagles:

Because they opened up the season against the Dallas Cowboys on the Hall-of-Fame Game, Cincinnati does have an extra contest under their belt.

Much to the disappointment of professional gamblers, the NFL specialists at GodsTips, the best and hottest football service, is passing on tonight’s game.

Grandmaster sports handicapper Joe Duffy explains why. “On one hand, Cincinnati does have an extra game under their belt,” said the betting expert.

“On the other hand, as Cincinnati showed last week, the biggest improvement is between the first and second game,” which of course would be in the Eagles column.

Duffy adds that furthermore, the Eagles are young, talented, but raw. This means “their upside from one game to the next is huge.”

Top expert pick on this game: The remarkable The Great One Stevie Vincent has hit 15-of-20 selections overall. Going back even further, he has hit 11 straight, yes 11 straight Level 5 plays. Tonight the best bet is a sizzling Level 4 over/under on Philadelphia/Cincinnati NFLX.   Make it 16-5 overall with Stevie Vincent

The Eagles starters will play the entire first half. The first unit is looking for their initial offensive touchdown.

However, finishing off plays was the Birds nemesis in the opener. They got 324 yards in the first half, but scored only 16 points.

Philadelphia will be without key offensive linemen Jamaal Jackson and Todd Herremans as well as DE Victor Abiamiri and CB David Pender.

Cincinnati is also expected to play their starters the entire first half. J.T. O’Sullivan will take over at QB for Carson Palmer and play the third quarter while Jordan Palmer finishes.

O’Sullivan was 7-of-11 in the third quarter last week.

Likewise for the Green Birds, Mike Vick and the second team will play the third quarter. Mike Kafka and the third team take over in the fourth.

Shea Matthews fantasy football rankings are the envy of the industry. The expert better, part of the professional gamblers at ScoresOddsPicks, will be giving his expert advice all year long, including NFL prop bets.

But he has his complete list including NFL fantasy football breakout players. Matthews also takes a look at the fantasy football busts, the top sleepers in the fantasy football draft preview, fantasy football wide receivers, the top fantasy sports running backs and the marquee position, the top rotisserie football and fantasy quarterbacks

He is part of the highest standard by any sports handicapping site.

Matt Rivers, who was the winningest handicapper ever—nobody came close—on a large network of sites. He has a free pick Thursday is on the Padres minus 1 ½ runs at BetUs.

I can’t actually stomach laying the moneyline here with the Padres on the road but I will take a stab on them giving that extra run and a half. It’s certainly a dicey proposition as San Diego is still far from an offensive juggernaut and Carlos Zambrano did look pretty solid in besting Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals in that last game but Mat Latos is an absolute stud and the way the Cubs have regressed I’ll fade the North Siders today at Wrigley Field expecting them to wet the bed one more time.

There may be no more disappointing team in all of baseball than Lou Pinella’s Cubs. This team has been inept and pathetic and have done nothing to change that logic in losing the first three games of this series and now Derrek Lee is off to Atlanta.

On the exact opposite extreme we have a Padres’ club that somehow just continues to win and boasts the best record in the entire National League. It’s amazing and I could not have been more wrong with the Friars as I thought they had to come back down to Earth but they’re not only not doing that they seem to be getting better in blowing everybody out of the water now in the division.

Latos has been an absolute superstar this season and right now the righthander really is as good as anybody around. This guy just does not allow anything at all, pretty much ever. If we see that Zambrano sinker come back to life then the Big Z can be a tough hurler. But after looking all right last time out if anything I think Zambrano is due to implode a bit.

Look for Gonzalez, Ludwick and the Padres to complete the four game sweep and relatively easy in the end.

The pick: San Diego -1.5 +100 at Bodog

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OffshoreInsiders.com has issued a point spread alert for the Indianapolis Colts vs. Buffalo Bills.

The best place to bet the Colts is at BetUs where they are getting 3.5. The best place to bet the Bills is at SportsBook where they are laying three-points -115.

This game is being played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Each team is 0-1 straight up, Indianapolis getting blown out by 20 points and the Bills by 25.

Jeff Brohm is expected to take over at QB after starter Trent Edwards leaves for the Bills. Rookie C.J. Spiller will get extensive playing time at running back.

The top sportsbook to bet the under is Just Bet Sportsbook, where the total is 37. NFL power ratings have Buffalo -2.5, so value is with Indianapolis.

The Colts have a 3-2 series lead in preseason straight up play.

Top expert pick on this game: To say the least, we have great information on tonight’s games. But when we say we have great info we tell you exactly what it is when you buy the winners. Already on a 5-1 preseason tear, get both NFL sides including a Wise Guy on the Colts-Bills plus a Major on the Patriots-Falcons. Oh last night the NL Game of the Month was easy on the Phillies. MLB is coming. Click now to purchase

Time get a little negative, fantasy football fans. We’ve talked up plenty of hot picks and fantasy football sleepers at each position – but what about the guys you want to avoid? When it came to sleepers, we hunted for low-profile guys. For busts, it’s the opposite; here are some high-profile guys who are supposed to carry you to a title but could hurt you – and their team’s NFL futures – badly.

QUARTERBACK

Mark Sanchez, Jets

I’m not saying I don’t believe in Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets as future NFL betting juggernauts. But he has the big name playing in a high-profile market and that may sway some bettors. The reality is that his numbers were awful last year: 162.9 yards per game, 12 touchdowns, 20 interceptions. If the Jets weren’t so strong in every other facet of the game, he would’ve been labelled a “bust.” Sanchez should improve this year but not enough to warrant a fantasy draft pick.

Phillip Rivers, Chargers

Rivers will still post decent numbers this season. The problem is that you’ll pay top dollar for him as a QB1 with an early round pick yet he’s missing his No. 1 receiver, Vincent Jackson, and his No. 1 protector, left tackle Marcus McNeill, due to contract holdouts. I don’t see how he can avoid a regression.

RUNNING BACK

Jerome Harrison, Browns

Harrison carried many teams to fantasy titles with his improbable late-season run last year. He did most of his damage in his last three games, running for 286, 148 and 127 yards over his last three games. But he got 30-plus carries all three times and faced weak defenses all three times. He won’t get the rock that often in 2010 and he has competition from Montario Hardesty and James Davis.

Justin Forsett, Seahawks

Like Harrison, Forsett will have trouble building on his 2009 output because of timeshare troubles. Leon Washington is a more dynamic receiver than he is and Julius Jones will steal plenty of carries in Pete Carroll’s system.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Chad Ochocinco, Bengals

Be careful what you wish for, Chad. Ochocinco wanted Terrell Owens to join him in Cincinnati but now No. 85 won’t get the ball nearly as often. Carson Palmer also has Jordan Shipley, Jermaine Gresham and (maybe) Antonio Bryant as targets.

Mike Sims-Walker, Jaguars

He was a nice third receiver in fantasy leagues last year at first glance but Sims-Walker crashed back to Earth as the season progressed. He averaged 79.1 yards contest in his first seven games and 39.4 in his last eight. He’s simply not that good.

Sidney Rice, Vikings

Before you rocket Rice up your draft board (and pick the Vikings at your sportsbook) now that Brett Favre is back, remember that Favre could still implode any moment and Rice is battling a nagging hip injury that could limit his quickness.

Donald Driver, Packers

The workmanlike Driver gets it done every year but he has more competition for catches than ever in Green Bay. Greg Jennings, Jermichael Finley, James Jones and Jordy Nelson are all viable options for Aaron Rodgers and Driver’s age has to catch up to him sooner or later.

For more information: What is the secret of the best sports handicapping website? Where is it? The same portal where the best sports betting podcasts are and the source of the best YouTube sports wagering channel OffshoreInsiders.com.

The NFL fantasy football sleepers certainly have serious ramifications for sports bettors. However, the main reason that professional gamblers are coming off a remarkable opening week of sports picks is the availability of the preseason primer.

Here is the Week 2 NFL initial look for sports bettors.

Thursday, August 19

Colts vs. Bills

Bill RB Fred Jackson is out. He rushed for 1,062 yards last year, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Marshawn Lynch, who split time as starter, is also out. This means that rookie C.J. Spiller will be rushed into more playing time. He carried four times for just 16 yards in the NFX opener.

After Spiller, it’s Chad Simpson, who played sparingly for the Colts. In 25 games in his NFL career, he has 30 carries for 147 yards. Behind him is a rookie free agent, Joique Bell.

Saturday, August 21

NY Giants-Steelers

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will play and may start. As usual Head Coach Mike Tomlin was glib when asked about his playing time.

Raiders vs. Bears

NFL preseason odds players will want to note that as bad as Chicago’s starting QB Jay Cutler is, it gets worse behind him. Potential backup Todd Collins rejected a contract offer, Caleb Harris is out and rookie Dan LeFevour not ready for significant role.

Dolphins vs. Jaguars

Dolphins OG Nate Garner is out. He started eight games last year and was projected to be the backup at RT.

Lions vs. Broncos

Detroit will be without LB Jordan Dizon for the season. Versatile and projected as a key backup, he started the first preseason game. He was a top-notch special teams player.

Cowboys vs. Chargers

Dallas starting RT Marc Colombo is out. Alex Barron is also out meaning youngsters Robert Brewster and Sam Young are the fill-ins. Dallas top pick WR Dez Bryant is out.

Jets vs. Panthers

Though Carolina WR Steve Smith is back practicing, he won’t play.

Monday, August 23

Cardinals vs. Titans

Arizona superstar receiver Larry Fitzgerald is out. Of course they lost No. 2 WR Anquan Boldin in the offseason and starting QB Kurt Warner retired. This makes Steve Breaston the No. 1 receiver and Early Doucet, the No. 2.

For more information: Preseason week two picks from the world’s best handicappers are on the OffshoreInsiders.com Network.