Congratulations to all our members on another solid win last night in college football as the SMU Mustangs held on to cover the 18-point spread by 1-point over the TCU Horned Frogs 41-24. Tonight, the pros at FivStarPick.com have been crunching stats, trends, key matchups and injury reports to give our members another winner tonight in college football.  The Alabama Crimson Tide are favored by 7- points on the road over the Arkansas Razorbacks. This line is DEAD WRONG!

Alabama (3-0 straight up, 3-0 against the spread) has won 27 straight regular-season games going into tonight’s SEC West rivalry against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks, under Bobby Petrino, hope that their 3-0 SU, 1-1 Against The Spread team can produce one of the biggest wins in school history against the number one team in the country.

The Tide has been blowing out teams so far this seaon with wins over San Jose St. (48-3), Penn St. (24-3) and Duke (62-13).  Their first two wins were without reigning Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram.  When Ingram returned last week at Duke, he busted a 48-yard run on his first touch. Ingram eventually finished with nine carries for 151 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Duke.

Arkansas beat up on Tennessee Tech and UL Monroe at home before going on the road to face the Georgia Bulldogs last week. The Hogs jumped out to a 24-10 lead, only to watch the Georgia tie it up late in the fourth quarter. UGA actually had a chance to go ahead before their drive stalled near midfield with a minute remaining.  Georgia punted and Razorback QB Ryan Mallett found Greg Childs streaking down the left sideline for a 40-yard pass to give Arkansas a 31-24 win as a one-point road dog. 

Mallett has completed 70 percent of his passes this year for 1,081 yards with a 9/2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.  McElroy, the Tide signal caller, has connected on 71.7 percent of his attempts for 705 yards with a 6/1 TD-INT ratio.

Both QBs have big weapons.  The Hogs’ have D.J. Williams, one of the nation’s premier tight ends with 14 catches for 173 yards.  The Tide has junior WR Julio Jones, who has 15 receptions for 248 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jones averages 16.5 yards per catch.

When these schools met last season, McElroy threw for 291 yards and three TDs to lead the Tide to a 35-7 victory as a 17.5-point home favorite.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our last 30 plays, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

Its Championship Saturday and the pros at FiveStarPick.com are pumped about today’s SEC Championship game between the #1 Ranked Florida Gators and the #2 Ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Gators as 5.5-point favorites with at total of 43.

Alabama (12-0 SU, 7-5 ATS) is fresh off a 26-21 road win at Auburn as 10-point favorites. The Tide were looking like they were going to go down, but somehow rallied and took the lead in the final minute on QB Greg McElroy’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Roy Upchurch.  Heisman candidate Mark Ingram definately hurt his chances for the award with a 30 yard performance on 16 carries.  McElroy, on the other hand, showed some confidence completing 21-of-31 passes for 218 yards and 2 TDs.

McElroy had never started a game until this year and played great at the beginning of this season. Then against Tennessee, Ole Miss and LSU, McElroy started looking like a rookie.  Having said that, Nick Saban’s Tide continue to find ways to get the ‘W’. Since then, McElroy has thrown five TD passes with no interceptions.

Florida (12-0 straight up, 6-5 against the spread) has a ”semi-good” quarterback with a Heisman Trophy and a pair of national titles.  Last week in The Swamp Tim Tebow connected on 17-of-21 passes for 214 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. By the way, he also rushed 15 times for 90 yards and 2 more TDs.

The Gators embarrased FSU, 37-10, as 25-point home favorites. Urban Meyer didn’t want to run up the score on legendary coach Bobby Bowden, so he pulled his starters late in the 3rd quarter and still took them to the wood shed.

On a side-bar…UF lost Junior All-American DE Carlos Dunlap after he was arrested Tuesday morning for DUI. Meyer says he is out for today’s game, but might re-instate him for the National Title Game should he prove his worth over the next few weeks. Dunlap was named the Defensive MVP of last year’s win over Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game and he lead the SEC in sacks in 2008.  Needless to say he will be sorely missed.

Who covers the spread today? This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forecast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our wins and losses, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com will be giving its members 3 plays in college football today, but our college football pick of the day will be tonight’s Alabama/Virginia Tech game.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Tide as 6-point favorites with a total of 37. 

Alabama should be displaying a dominant defense returning nine starters, including a pair of All-Americans in defensive tackle Terrance Cody and linebacker Rolando McClain.  DE Brandon Deadrick (36 tackles, four sacks in 2008) was shot in the arm in an attempted robbery earlier this week, and is listed as questionable.  Deadrick actually returned to practice on Thursday and has been cleared to play.

Greg McElroy took the reigns from starting QB John Parker Wilson.  McElroy completed 8-of-11 passes for 123 yards with one touchdown and one interception in limited play last year.  But McElroy will have the benefit of one of the nation’s premier wide receivers in Julio Jones, who had a team-high 58 receptions and 924 yards as a true freshman.  The tide will be returning Mark Ingram who rushed for 728 yards and a team-high 12 TDs. Terry Grant is also back in the mix after being the odd man out in 2008. Grant has more than 1,000 career yards and a 4.6 yards-per-carry average.

Va. Tech’s situation at RB isn’t quite as promising. The Hokies suffered a monster blow a few weeks ago when sophomore Darren Evans tore his ACL and was lost for the season. Evans rushed for 1,265 yards and 11 TDs last season.

Junior QB Tyrod Taylor now has the job of quarterback all to himself.  Taylor emulates his game after Michael Vick in terms of being able to scramble and elude pressure, but his throwing accuracy is a major question mark, as evidenced by his abysmal 2/7 touchdown-interception ratio in ’08.

Since 2000, the Hokies have thrived in underdog situations. They are 10-5 against the spread during that span. As for ‘Bama, it is 8-9 against the spread in favorite situations under Saban’s watch.

So who covers the spread tonight in Atlanta?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com for a month ($99.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com