For all of those critics that are trying to slam the brakes on the hype train powered by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, just remember that Wayne Gretzky didn’t exactly do so well in his first Stanley Cup either.
With the news this week that Tom Brady is out for the season. YES, that does change the odds quite a bit in the NFL.
This is how the top-rated teams in the NFL stack up AFTER the injury to Tom Brady:
USC has won the Pac-10 title every year since 2003, including a run of 33 victories in 34 games from October 12, 2002 through October 21, 2006. However, the Trojans’ complete and utter dominance has taken a wrong turn of late, with four losses in their last 14 conference tilts. They have also finished just 7-11 ATS the last two seasons in league play.
Arizona State has failed to defeat USC since 1999, when the Sun Devils went into the L.A. Coliseum as six-point underdogs and walked off with the 26-16 victory. Can lightning strike nine years later? Dennis Erickson’s squad will be even stronger than last season’s 10-3 club, and has a great chance to pull off the upset on October 11.
The Pac-10 finished with the highest winning percentage (67%) both SU and ATS among the BCS conferences in head-to-head matchups vs. the other five power leagues. (The 8-4 records topped the SEC’s 12-9 SU and 11-10 ATS marks.) This season will be a different story as the conference will not be as strong with the departure of three of the top four quarterbacks and the top four rushing leaders. None of the 10 member schools will court any serious BCS title aspirations.
Time now for the league breakdown with odds to win the conference, followed by National Championship odds:.
