Power edges teammate Castroneves for Edmonton pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/24/2010 - Edmonton, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power won the pole for Sunday's Honda Indy Edmonton, while his teammate, Helio Castroneves, qualified on the outside pole to give Team Penske another front row start in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season.

Power rounded the 1.96-mile, 14-turn Edmonton City Centre Airport course in one minute, 0.7126 seconds for his sixth pole of the season and the eighth of his IndyCar career. He started on the pole and won his first IndyCar race one year ago at Edmonton.

"It's awesome to get the car on the pole again," Power said. "All the points count, and I know here it's important to be at the front, because it is tough to pass. If all the strategy goes well, like it did last year, it makes it easier to win. It's a long day tomorrow. We have a good starting spot, and we have to keep going to win this championship."

Castroneves came up short of winning the pole by qualifying 0.0765 seconds behind Power.

"We had a very good lap out there, and I just made a little mistake, and this place is about not making mistakes," Castroneves said.

Team Penske has dominated qualifying in the series this season by winning the pole for nine of the last 10 races. Last weekend at Toronto, Justin Wilson ended Penske's streak of eighth consecutive poles.

Scott Dixon, who won the inaugural 2008 IndyCar race at Edmonton, qualified third, while his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and defending series champion, Dario Franchitti, took the fourth spot.

Power will attempt to win a series record-tying third consecutive race. He won on the street/road courses at Toronto and Watkins Glen, NY earlier this month. The Australian driver currently holds a 43-point lead over Franchitti.

Ryan Briscoe from Penske and KV Racing's E.J. Viso will share the third row.

Rookie Simona de Silvestro, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Wilson and Raphael Matos completed the top-10.

Danica Patrick did not make it out of the first of three qualifying sessions and will start 21st in the 25-car field.

Canadians Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani qualified 15th and 19th, respectively.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.