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10/07/2011 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Biffle topped the charts in Friday's qualifying at Kansas Speedway, while his teammate, Carl Edwards, claimed the second spot to give Roush Fenway Racing the front starting row for the Hollywood Casino 400.
Biffle turned a lap at 174.887 mph for his second pole of the season and the eighth of his Sprint Cup Series career. He is a two-time race winner at Kansas, including a victory here one year ago.
"My lap was way better than practice," Biffle said. "[Crew chief] Matt [Puccia] and all the guys working on the car got it right. That makes me feel pretty good that they can get the car fast like that."
Edwards, who hails from nearby Columbia, MO, posted a lap at 174.571 mph to qualify the highest among the 12-driver field in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He shares the points lead with Kevin Harvick heading into the fourth race of the playoffs.
"Our Roush Fords are good, and it's a good sign," Edwards said. "We were not that good in practice. I'm pretty proud of that lap."
It's the fourth time this season that Roush Fenway has swept the front row.
Title contenders Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, also a Roush driver, qualified third and fourth, respectively. Kasey Kahne took the fifth spot, followed by Paul Menard, who was fastest in practice earlier in the day.
Denny Hamlin, currently last in Chase points, will start seventh, while Martin Truex Jr., last weekend's pole winner at Dover, will roll off eighth.
Mark Martin and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, will share the fifth row. Gordon is presently ninth in points.
The remaining Chase drivers and their starting positions include: Ryan Newman (11th), Brad Keselowski (12th), Harvick (14th), Dover winner Kurt Busch (17th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (18th), Jimmie Johnson (19th) and Tony Stewart (23rd).
Keselowski won the most recent race at Kansas in June.
"We weren't very good in qualifying trim today, but we were really good in race trim," he said. "I feel good about Sunday, and I guess that's the day that counts."
Austin Dillon, the current points leader in the Camping World Truck Series, will start 26th in his Sprint Cup debut.
David Starr, Josh Wise and Mike Skinner failed to qualify for Sunday's 400- mile race at Kansas, which is scheduled to start just after 2:00 p.m. (et).
<< Carolina TE Shockey probable
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carolina Panthers tight end Jeremy Shockey
was listed as probable for Sunday's home game against the New Orleans Saints.
The Pro Bowl tight end sat out Wednesday's practice with a mild concussion and
took
<< Cardinals TE Heap questionable
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Cardinals tight end Todd Heap is listed
as questionable for Sunday's game at Minnesota.
Heap took limited snaps in Wednesday's practice, then sat out practice on
Thursday and Friday due to a hamstr
<< Allen matches scoring record in Texas
The Woodlands, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Allen fired a nine-under 63 on
Friday to grab a three-stroke lead after the first round of the Insperity
Championship.
Allen matched Fred Couples' course record on the Tournament Course at The
Wo
<< Woods shoots 68, trails by 7
San Martin, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods mixed six birdies with three
bogeys in a round of three-under 68 on Friday.
Woods moved to one-under-par 141 after two rounds and will easily make the
cut. He walked off the course se
NBA talks off, games expected to be canceled >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A proposed meeting between the NBA players
union and league owners has been called off, with the outcome likely to be a
cancellation of regular season games.
ESPN is reporting that the union had asked
Mallinger 1 clear at Children's Hospital Classic >>
Chattanooga, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Mallinger fired a seven-under 65
Friday to take a one-stroke lead after 36 holes of the Children's Hospital
Classic.
Mallinger, who is looking for his first Nationwide Tour title, finished
Rangers F Zuccarello fined >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello has
been fined $2,500 by the National Hockey League for a boarding incident in
Friday's 3-2 overtime loss against Los Angeles in Stockholm, Sweden.
The fine, whi
Morgan's 10th-inning hit sends Brewers to NLCS >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nyjer Morgan hit a game-winning RBI single in
the 10th inning to send the Milwaukee Brewers to their first League
Championship Series since 1982.
Carlos Gomez laced a one-out single and stole
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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