Nice to have "a man on the ground" as they say Freak, you're invaluable.
As a side note, I am off to a blazing 1-2 start to the beginning of the NHL season. That will improve....have the Bruins and the Stars the next two nights.
Home non-divisional dogs off an away win have been 7-5,....nothing spectacular and we are not much interested in this game as bucking the Stamps has been a bankroll killer. Love the Tiger Cats now against anyone not named the Stamps or Sasquatches. So, we will not investigate further.
The lines are out by the way and it looks like Mister Bookmaker is being kind in one game....not like him to be nice, but we won't complain.
My line in brackets....
1) Tiger Cats +10 (+10) Stamps
2) Sasquatches -3 (-6) Redblacks
3) Bombers NL (-7) Lions waiting to confirm Nichols status
4) Edmonton -7 (-7) Argos
Western Division teams have been 11-6 ATS as home favorites in the second half of the season the last couple of years versus the East......Sasquatches, Eskimos. Still wouldn't pull the trigger on the Eskimos, as teams that are home favorites that broke at least a three game losing streak the week before on the road have been 3-3 ATS. It is a red flag for me that they gave up >200 yards rushing to the anemic Als, even though they did win. To me that signals that they have weaknesses in their run defense and teams that are away dogs that win the running battle cover over 75% of the time......so to make sure, I looked it up.
Home favorites that are outrushed have been 45-174 ATS
20.5%!!
Non-divisional home favorites have been 23-79 ATS and non-divisional western divisional teams have been 12-49 ATS that are outrushed in the game. I could conceivably think that I may consider the Argos here even though Rickey cannot throw more than 20 yards these days. Taking the ugly, fugly dog is a winning strategy in the "C".
James Wilder (is he playing?) and company must be licking their chops.
Now on to the Sasquatches.....we're lovin' the line they gave us.
Teams off an away dog win whose opponent is off an away dog win have only been 3-5 ATS, 1-4 in non-div contests, 2-3 ATS. If our home favorite has a better record it goes to 1-2 ATS but 2-1 against the number they're giving us. Not enough data really.
From a fundamental point of view, we're ok with Kevin playing qb at home, as running and defense wins at home, and if he hands off to Richardson 20 times this game, we're thinking that is sound strategy. It is fairly obvious to me and AussieDownUnder that Bridge is the better quarterback and that Kevin Glenn's days are numbered in Saskatchewan.
"Why not do it now?".....we can surmise that the coaches want the old reliable to be "The Man" the rest of the season....I think it will cost this team in the end, but this will be a season for a young team to get experience in the playoffs, they will probably get crushed by the Bombers or the Stamps and then make the necessary changes next year to make a strong push for the title the following season.