07/04/2008 - Montreal, QC (Football Betting) - Anthony Calvillo threw for 372 yards and four touchdowns as the Montreal Alouettes held off a second-half charge from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to notch a 38-24 win at Molson Stadium.
Calvillo finished 34-of-44 and was intercepted once for the Alouettes (2-0), while Ben Cahoon caught three passes for 32 yards and a touchdown. The score was his 55th in a Montreal uniform, passing Hall of Famer Peter Dalla Riva for the most in franchise history.
Avon Cobourne rushed 17 times for 89 yards and a touchdown, and also caught 10 passes for 96 yards in the win. Danny Desriveaux had eight receptions for 105 yards and a score.
Kevin Glenn was 26-of-40 for 313 yards and a score for the Blue Bombers (0-2). Derick Armstrong caught eight passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, while Terrence Edwards hauled in eight passes for 84 yards.
Montreal jumped out to a quick lead on Calvillo's 11-yard TD strike to Jamel Richardson just over five minutes in. Later in the first, Calvillo found Cahoon for his record-setting score -- a four-yard connection -- as the Alouettes led 14-0. Calvillo followed by hitting Kerry Watkins from 18 yards out early in the second for a 21-0 lead.
Calvillo's fourth scoring pass of the half, a three-yard toss to Desriveaux, extended the lead to 28-0 before Charles Roberts got the Blue Bombers on the board with a three-yard run with just under a minute and a half left in the quarter. Duval drilled a 42-yard field goal just before the half to send the Als to halftime leading 31-7.
Winnipeg hit the comeback trail late in the third, pulling within 31-14 when Glenn found Armstrong for a 29-yard score. On Montreal's next possession, Jovon Johnson intercepted a Calvillo pass and sprinted 69 yards in the other direction for a touchdown to bring the Blue Bombers within 10.
Alexis Serna's nine-yard field goal cut the lead to 31-24 early in the fourth, but Cobourne's one-yard plunge late in the quarter secured the final margin.
Game Notes
Calvillo put up most of his numbers in the first half, when he completed 24- of-28 passes for 286 yards and all four of his touchdowns. He also ran for 57 yards on three carries for the game. Over the first two weeks of the season, the CFL's second all-time leading passer is 59-of-81 for 665 yards and six scores...Winnipeg managed just 12 rushing yards on seven carries.
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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.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*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."
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