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Diaco seeks to turn around Notre Dame's defenseNCAA Football Betting Lines01/23/2010 - SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Bob Diaco wants to give Notre Dame's defense a new look, and it goes much deeper than switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme. The new Notre Dame defensive coordinator doesn't like that when he looks at the Fighting Irish linemen it's not easy to discern the tackles from the ends. ``There's kind of a mix in each position of different size players, which you typically wouldn't want,'' he said. ``You'd like as the positions walk out on the field, you'd like those positions to be a particular size, for those players to look representative of the jobs they're asked to do.'' It's been awhile since the Notre Dame defense has done the job it's been asked to do. The Irish haven't finished better than 33rd in the nation in total defense since 2002, when they finished 13th in Tyrone Willingham's first year as coach. Last season the defense gave up 398 yards a game, the most ever by the Irish. They were ranked 86th in the nation in total defense. The only time Notre Dame ranked lower was in 1956, when the Irish went 2-8 and finished with the 103rd rated defense. Diaco, 36, is Notre Dame's fifth defensive coordinator since 2004. He was co-defensive coordinator under new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly at Central Michigan in 2005 before serving three seasons as linebackers coach at Virginia and then taking over as coordinator at Cincinnati last season. Diaco appears to be a stark contrast to his predecessor, veteran coach Jon Tenuta. During his introduction to the media on Jan. 15, Diaco sat comfortably and gave in-depth answers to whatever questions reporters asked. Tenuta usually was terse and combative with the media, saying simply ``next question'' when asked something he didn't want to answer. Diaco even quoted first-century Christian theologian and philosopher St. Augustine when asked about what the first step in building a strong defense, saying: ``With love and diligence, anything's possible.'' ``That's present in the coaching and teaching every single day,'' he said. Diaco's defense at Cincinnati last season wasn't dramatically better statistically than the Irish defense. But Notre Dame went 6-6, while Cincinnati finished the season 12-1, its lone loss to Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The Bearcats gave up 374 yards a game, finishing the season ranked 67th in total defense, the lowest ranking for any of the 10 teams that earned Bowl Championship Series berths. The Bearcats defense, however, was much more disruptive than Notre Dame, though. Cincinnati ranked third in the nation in tackles for loss at 8.5 per game and 10th in sacks at 2.9 a game. Kelly, who brought Diaco with him from Cincinnati, said the Bearcats' results weren't bad considering they were replacing 10 starters from the season before and switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. ``I think we all know how important playing good defense is to winning football games,'' Kelly said. ``I couldn't be more excited, more confident in our ability to play championship defense here at Notre Dame.'' In five seasons under coach Charlie Weis, who was fired in December, Notre Dame was 2-20 when its defense gave up 31 points or more and 33-7 when its defense gave up 29 or less. Diaco said the first job for the players is to work hard under Paul Longo, Notre Dame's director of football strength and conditioning, while the coaches wrap up recruiting. Then he will turn to teaching his style of defense. ``There are some core principles to playing great defense: effort and hustle, tackling and then maintaining the top of the defense,'' he said. ``The bulk of the work and the preparation are built in that.'' Diaco said Irish fans can expect to see a defense that plays sound fundamental football and plays with great effort. ``You're going to see passion. You're going to see energy. You're going to see hustle,'' he said. ``You're going to see players who understand where they fit in relation to each other.'' Fans hope to see all that as well as a defense that gives the Irish a chance to win much more often.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-ranked Serena Williams and sixth-seeded sister Venus were third-round winners Saturday at the Australian Open. The defending champion Serena won easily over 32nd-seeded Spaniard Carl
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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany's Martin Kaymer birdied the 18th hole Saturday to shoot a five-under 67 and take a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter after three rounds of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.
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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card needs.
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook BettingNFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal. A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon." It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed. The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha. So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games." Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs. |
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