Duval boots 7 FGs as Als rout Hamilton
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07/23/2010 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal kicker Damon Duval tied a career-high with seven field goals as he helped lead the Alouettes to a commanding 37-14 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Percival Molson Stadium.
Duval finished the night with 22 points as Montreal (3-1) logged its third straight win after losing the season opener to Saskatchewan in overtime, 54-51.
Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo also had a strong outing as he converted 28-of-38 passing for 309 yards and a pair of touchdowns, getting his team into the end zone for the first time in six quarters when he struck in the fourth period.
Kevin Glenn, who was named the CFL Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after completing 29-of-36 passes for 336 yards with three touchdowns in a 28-7 decision over Winnipeg, hit on 16-of-32 for 201 yards for the Tiger-Cats (1-3) before being pulled in favor of Quinton Porter late in the contest.
Duval started off the night's scoring for the Alouettes with a pair of field goals in the first half, converting tries of 24 and 47 yards to provide the home team with a 6-0 advantage.
Hamilton and Sandro DeAngelis finally responded when the kicker knocked through a 19-yard effort, capping a 16-play, 64-yard drive.
In the second period Duval struck again for the Als, this time on a 27-yard effort, making the score 9-6.
DeAngelis took his turn later in the frame, booting a 27-yard field goal, but shortly after Duval added a 61-yard single to make the score 10-6 at the break.
Montreal struck first in the second half as well when Duval made good on a 45- yard field goal try.
On the first play from scrimmage on the ensuing Hamilton possession, John Bowman stripped Glenn of the ball and the Als recovered, putting them in prime position for a major. Unfortunately, yet another Montreal drive stalled prematurely and Duval was called upon to convert a 22-yard attempt, making the score 16-6.
"We had to show everyone that we can play football up front," Bowman said after the game. "We knew we had to give our offense a chance. We had a rough first half, but we gave them enough to change in the second...especially when it was 13-6 with what was my forced fumble on Kevin Glenn."
A blocked punt and subsequent recovery by Montreal's Michael Giffin once more gave the Als the ball deep in Hamilton territory, but once again Duval was brought in to convert a 21-yard field goal.
"I hate to see a blocked punt at a crucial time in the game," Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille lamented. "The forced fumble by John Bowman was a big play...for whatever reason the play broke down."
Finally Calvillo and the Montreal offense broke through in the fourth quarter when the signal-caller threw off his back foot and found Kerry Watkins with a 32-yard score. A two-point conversion toss to S.J. Green made the score 27-6 with under 13 minutes to play in the contest.
Another stalled drive by Montreal brought out Duval who knocked through a 45- yard field goal to push the score to 30-6.
Hamilton turned to Porter to supply some energy and he responded by finding Arland Bruce III with a 16-yard TD strike, with a pass to Maurice Mann on the two-point conversion cutting the deficit to 30-14 with under six minutes remaining.
Following the three-minute warning, Avon Cobourne weaved his way on a 16-yard run down to the one-yard line for the Als, but a penalty on the next snap moved the ball back to the six-yard line. From there, Calvillo fired over the middle into the end zone for Kerry Carter to make the score 37-14.
Montreal sealed the decision when Shea Emry intercepted a Porter pass with 1:36 remaining and the Als ran out the clock with reserve QB Chris Leak under center.
"It comes down to making plays and we just didn't make enough of them," Glenn said of his efforts. "The Als didn't do anything different...we had chances to make big plays but we didn't make them."
Game Notes
The TD for Watkins was the first for the Als in 115:39, dating back to the fourth quarter of the Edmonton matchup on July 11...Duval entered the night having made a total of seven field goals through the first three games of the season...Montreal receiver Ben Cahoon, who had two catches for 37 yards, now has 967 catches for his career, ranking him third all-time in the CFL behind Terry Vaughn (1,006 receptions) and Darren Flutie (972)...Montreal was a perfect 9-0 at home last season, the first time since 1955 that the club posted an unblemished record...Montreal has now won five straight over the Ticats and 13 of the last 14 encounters...Hamilton has not won in Montreal since 2002...The last defeat for the Alouettes overall at home was October 26, 2008 when the squad bowed to Winnipeg, 24-23.
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2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
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The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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