The pros at FiveStarPick.com cashed another Monday Night Football ticket last night as we gave our members the Philadelphia Eagles to cover the 7.5-point spread. It’s always amazing to see that as soon as we posted our play at -7.5 the line jumped to -9. Over 3000 members putting dime bets on Philly will do that. Sportsbooks are always looking for an edge, so make sure you get our Five Star plays in as soon as they are released. Tonight we are handicapping the ESPN2 college football game between the East Carolina Pirates and the Memphis Tigers.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Pirates as 4-point road favorites with a total of 48.

East Carolina is coming off a 49-13 route of Rice last week, while Memphis suffered a 36-16 loss to Southern Miss. East Carolina has won three straight in this series, including a 30-10 home win as a 9-point favorite last year.

ECU is 11-6 all-time against Memphis and has won six of their last eight road games against Conference USA East opponents.  Last year, Memphis kept up with ECU in the 1st half, but the Pirates scored 23 unanswered points in the second half, and allowed only 49 yards. The Pirates defense is stout as they have held their last two opponents (SMU, Rice) to just 53 rushing yards per game. 

Memphis has a strong running back in Curtis Steele, who has rushed for 376 yards in the Tigers last two games. ECU will have to force Memphis to beat them through the air if they want to have any chance to win this game on the road.  They are ranked second in the conference with 10 interceptions and Tiger quarterbacks have thrown 11 picks on the season.

QB Patrick Pinkney and wide receiver Dwayne Harris are the big playmakers for ECU. Pinkney is coming off his 12th career 200-yard passing game and Harris was named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a kickoff 92 yards for 6. He finished with 264 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns against Rice. The Pirates are 10-1 against the spread in their last 11 meetings with Memphis.

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 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 gave its members another 3-1 against the spread day yesterday and look forward to another win today as we professionally handicap today’s matchup between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Memphis Tigers.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Rebels as 18-point road favorites with a total of 57.

Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt is going to have to step up his game if he wants to upstage his season from a year ago.  Ole Miss went 9-4 straight up in 2008 under Nutt, including wins over the eventual National Champion Florida Gators in the regular season and the high-powered offens of the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl.  In addition, the Rebs went 10-3 against the spread last year. 

A lot of the Rebels’ success is going to ride on how well quarterback Jevan Snead handles himself under center this season. The former Longhorn completed 56 percent of his passes for 2,762 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2008.  Matthew Stafford and Tim Tebow were among a select few who did better.

Ole Miss loves there “Wild Rebel” style of offense with Dexter McCluster at the point. He’s definitely an all-purpose kind of player, as evidenced by 655 rushing yards and 625 receiving yards with seven scores.

Memphis is just hoping to keep it close today. The Tigers opened the 2008 campaign with three straight losses, covering the spread just once. But they picked it up with six wins in their final nine regular season tilts to get back to a bowl game. Bettors for the Tigers lost the juice last year with 5-5 against the spread ledger.

The Tigers will start Arkelon Hall today, but back up Will Hudgens might also get a few snaps.  What will be a challenge for Memphis in this game is how well they can defend the run. Last year, they allowed 4.7 yards per carry. That is the exact same average YPC that the Rebs had for 2008.  The Tigers do have reason to be confident that they can hold Ole Miss back on the ground with juco transfer Justin Thompson anchoring the defensive line now.  Their secondary will get a much needed boost with DeRon Furr starting after sitting out ’08 because of transferring from Auburn.

Memphis has been profitable during their last 8 meetings with the Rebels going 5-3 against the spread.  And as double-digit home underdogs, they are a robust 5-2 against the spread.

So who covers the spread tonight in the Liberty Bowl?  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