In the FCS Huddle: NFL travels through Orono, Maine

NCAA Football Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - His season over late last fall, University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove enjoyed an opportunity to sit down and watch some NFL action on a Sunday afternoon.

Oh, was it ever "must-see TV".

First up, he caught Jovan Belcher, one of his former linebackers at Maine, make seven tackles for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers. After that game, the New York Jets and the New England Patriots aired on Cosgrove's TV, and he watched for Jets defensive end Mike DeVito and tight end Matt Mulligan, two of his former players, and Pats free safety Brandon McGowan, another of his former standouts.

"It was just like it was yesterday," Cosgrove said of the feeling of watching his former charges.

Schools like Florida, Miami-Florida, Oklahoma and Southern California are well- known for being pipelines to the NFL. Not so well-known is how Maine's smaller-than-12,000-student campus, tucked away in the northeast corner of the United States in Orono - nearly 250 miles north of Boston - holds its own in the Football Championship Subdivision.

No FCS program had more than Maine's seven NFL players last season, and the Black Bears hope to have eight or nine players on rosters this fall. An ESPN tracker of school breakdowns indicates Montana's banner 2010 crop of hopefuls gives it 10 players heading into training camps. Weber State has nine, while Massachusetts and Northern Iowa each has eight.

Considering the weather is often harsh in Maine during the prime recruiting period in December and January, luring NFL talent to Orono isn't easy. Often what players find at the CAA Football school helps to make them better players.

"It's a by-product of hard work and the things that the guys have accomplished here," said Cosgrove, who is 93-101 in 17 seasons at Maine. "Certainly, we're not as high-profile an institution and a football program as a lot of the others, in our league even. There's an environment here that I think is pretty conducive to success and growth. And we've had some young men who've had some ability and been overlooked in the recruiting process that have ended up here. This place has worked for them, the system's worked for them. The results have led them to be able to play this game after college.

"This place is a little bit isolated, a little bit off the beaten path. They say not too many people pass by Maine; you go to Maine, you turn around and go back. So it's worked for us. The guys that have come here have liked the environment."

Maine's NFL contingent includes San Diego Chargers inside linebacker Stephen Cooper, who is entering his eighth season and had 102 tackles and three forced fumbles last season. Maine takes credit for another linebacker, Lofa Tatupu, who spent his freshman year with the Black Bears before transferring to Southern Cal. He averaged 107 tackles in his first four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks before an injury limited him to only five games last season.

Jacksonville Jaguars special teams captain Montell Owens, who is entering his fifth season, was a Pro Bowl alternate last season. McGowan, in his sixth season, had 79 tackles and three forced fumbles with the Patriots a year ago, while Belcher was in on 48 stops as a rookie with the Chiefs. DeVito, now in his fourth season, had 28 tackles for the Jets, while Mulligan was mostly a practice squad player in his rookie campaign, although he caught one pass.

Offensive tackle Tyler Eastman went undrafted in April, but is in camp with the Chiefs. Rookie wide receiver Landis Williams was cut by the Denver Broncos, but is getting looks elsewhere.

"In Tyler's situation, it's really going to be interesting to watch," Cosgrove said. "He's going to a place where he has a [Maine] teammate in Jovan Belcher who's there. I'm sure he's already learned a lot about expectations and how to come in and be ready to go.

"Landis is going to have to make the plays that we saw him make at this level, be more competitive and show his skill level."

AROUND THE FCS

- You hear too much about college athletes being on the wrong side of the law. Southern Illinois offensive tackle David Pickard and tight end C.J. Robertson were the antithesis of that notion when they stopped a robbery earlier this summer.

The two were taking the Green Line home from a Chicago Cubs game when they noticed three suspicious people board the train, spread out and gesture to each other. At a stop, one of the youths swiped an older gentleman's iPhone and tried to exit the train. Pickard instinctively pancaked him to the floor, and then he and Robertson restrained him until police arrived at the next stop.

The accomplices got away, but riders cheered for the SIU pair. The thankful man whose iPhone had been taken was so grateful that he paid for the players' cab fare back to their stop.

- Grambling State is still awaiting the NCAA's decision on whether two-year quarterback Greg Dillon will be granted a sixth year of eligibility, a decision that will play a key role in the complexion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference race. Dillon's walk-on status at a university prior to Grambling gives the Tigers hope they he will be able to play again this fall.

"Not knowing is the tough part," head coach Rod Broadway said. "They need to let us know one way or the other, and we can move on. Now we'd love to have Greg back because he's been a tremendous player for us. And a tremendous leader."

- Let's get physical. Gardner-Webb has hired a pair of line coaches, Kris King to coach the offensive linemen and Bobby Godinez to coach the defensive linemen. King was an offensive lineman for the Runnin' Bulldogs and spent the 2007 and '08 seasons as a graduate assistant at Gardner-Webb before spending last season as a video assistant at UAB. Godinez, a former safety at San Jose State, arrived from a coaching stint at Mt. San Antonio College

- Old Dominion lost two starting linebackers to academic ineligibility, Mychael McJunkins and A.T. Aoelua. McJunkins led the Monarchs with 85 tackles last season, while Aoelua was third with 50. The Monarchs are entering their second season of play as an independent and will play in CAA Football in 2011.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.