Sports Handicapper Michael Alexander's Picks & Predictions

Rating: 8 Units

Rating: 2 Units

The underdogs have won each of the Panthers’ last four games at Amerant Bank Arena. The Panthers have lost each of their last four games as home favorites against Central Division opponents.

Rating: 2 Units

The Senators are rolling defensively and are efficient on special teams. The Predators aren’t the sort of team I believe can go on the road and cool things off. The Preds have had consistency issues dating back to last season, and I’ve never been eager to run to the window to back them. The Senators are in great form, and the line is reasonable. I’ll ride the hot hand. Give me the Senators on their home ice.

NHL Play of the Day

Rating: 4 Units

Colorado comes into this matchup after winning three of their last four games and they have scored 6+ goals in all three of those wins. The Avalanche are 2-0-0 at home this year, while the Maple Leafs are 0-0-1 on the road. Toronto has alternated wins and losses over their first five games and they have allowed four goals in each of their last two. 

Rating: 2 Units

North Dakota State has been undefeated this season and have allowed just 10 points combined in their last two games. They have the second-best defense in the entire country and a +23.8 point differential, while UNLV has allowed 75 points combined in two of its last three games. The number is small, so lay it on the road with North Dakota State in this one.

Rating: 2 Units

Vandy is 4-0 ATS against teams coming off the bye, while the Rebels are an alarming 0-3 ATS when coming off a loss of 20 or more points and a terrible 7-22-2 ATS as single-digit road chalk. 

Rating: 3 Units

USC is 2-14 ATS in conference play when coming off a win, and they’re run into yet another Happy Valley Whiteout, games where the Nits are 11-7. It’s hard to trust both teams, but luckily riding to the rescue is a powerful stat that USC is 1-15 SU/1-14 ATS on the road as a single-digit underdog.

Rating: 3 Units

Indiana isn’t easily outdistancing foes the way they did during last year’s ‘scorched earth’ run to the title: IU’s 221 points scored and 54 points allowed ledger isn’t all that superior to the Cornhuskers’ 218 scored and 71 allowed, despite being gifted with a much weaker schedule to open the season. Head Hoosier Curt Cignetti’s facial expression has changed very little so far this year, but it might when he gets a look at Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule’s 71-50-4 ATS long-term overall in his CFB career. Today’s winner will claim sole possession of first place in the Big Ten race until next week. Consider that 5-0 teams in Game Six often perform better as underdogs, going 64-43-4 ATS overall. And when these dogs won 10 or more game the previous season they improve to 15-4-1 ATS in those games.

Rating: 3 Units

So, here we’ve got two undefeated teams, one ranked second, the other six and both likely to make the playoffs. Let’s just hope Isaias doesn’t flood it out. Consider that playing on any college football underdog in any regular season game from Game Four onward if both teams have a 1.000 winning percentage is 203-16-10 ATS since 1980. Better yet, if we put our undefeated dog up as a competitive dog of 7 or fewer points against an opponent coming off a win of more than 25 points, the record is 30-9-1 ATS (77%).

Big-10 Game of the Week

Rating: 5 Units

Chesney has sung for his supper quite successfully, going 19-4 SU and 14-8 ATS when his team has the better record, and 6-2 SU/6-1 ATS in games when his team is undefeated. The Bruins have been whacked to the tune of nearly 86 yards per game. We balance that concern with how the UCLA defense is whacking offenses, with a plus-eight turnover margin after just four games. It’s the best game not named Alabama-Georgia this weekend. Finally, Chesney is 3-0 ATS in his career as the underdog.