11/29/2008 - Edinburgh, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers title hopes took another hit on Saturday at Tynecastle Stadium as the club suffered a 2-1 loss to Hearts, while league-leaders Celtic earned a 1-0 win over Inverness.
The day's results leave Walter Smith's men seven points back of their Glasgow rivals, while the loss also snaps a seven-game unbeaten streak for Gers.
Marius Zaliukas scored 20 minutes into the match and Laryea Kingston added a second goal three minutes later before Rangers pulled one back in the 26th minute with an own-goal from Christos Karipidis.
Hearts was reduced to 10 men in the 76th minute when Lee Wallace picked up his second yellow card, but the visitors were unable to muster a second goal, helping third-place Hearts move to within seven points of Rangers.
The first-half goals all came from set pieces, with the first coming from Bruno Aguiar's free-kick that found the head of Christophe Berra. He nodded the ball off the post, but Zaliukas was on hand to knock home the rebound.
Aguiar and Berra teamed up once again three minutes later with Berra sending another header on target, only for Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor to turn the effort away. However, it was Kingston that benefited from being in the right place this time as he headed the ball home from a few yards to make it a two-goal game.
The hosts yielded an unlucky goal three minutes later when Charlie Adam's free-kick was swung into the box for Kris Boyd, who went up with Karipidis to win the header. The Hearts defender ended up getting his head to the ball, but it redirected off the crossbar and he was unable to keep it from going over the line.
Hearts looked to be the more dangerous side in the second half, but Wallace gave the Ibrox club a chance with 15 minutes to play when he was sent off.
Despite the numerical edge for Rangers, the club was only able to create one good chance, with Hearts defender Robbie Neilson appearing to pull on Boyd's jersey inside the area, but the referee's whistle remained silent.
Shaun Maloney scored Celtic's lone goal in the 29th minute for the club's 12th straight SPL win, while Dundee United got two goals from Jon Daly in a 2-0 win over St Mirren, Hamilton climbed off the bottom of the table with a 1-0 win against Kilmarnock, Hibernian finished 1-1 with Falkirk after Colin Nish scored with eight minutes to play and Aberdeen moved into fifth place after defeating Motherwell, 2-0.
<< Wild pay a visit to Predators
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild will aim for their third win in four
outings when they visit the Music City tonight to face the Nashville
Predators at the Sommet Center.
The Wild posted a victory over visiting Tampa Bay on Friday after
<< Blackhawks try to get back on track in LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to avoid a third
consecutive loss when they visit the Los Angeles Kings for an afternoon
battle at the Staples Center.
Today's test marks the end of a six-game road trip for the Blackhawks,
<< Flames and Canucks tangle in Calgary
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames will try to inch closer to the Vancouver
Canucks in the division standings tonight, as the two Northwest Division
rivals wrap a home-and-home set at Pengrowth Saddledome.
The Flames picked up their first
<< Mighty Sharks visit Phoenix, aim for seventh straight win
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The powerful San Jose Sharks will try to match their
longest winning streak of the season when they visit the Phoenix Coyotes for a
Pacific Division battle tonight at Jobing.com Arena.
The Sharks have won six straight cont
Bolton blasts Sunderland to claim top half spot >>
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bolton moved into the top half of the
Premiership standings on Saturday after recording a 4-1 win over Sunderland at
the Stadium of Light.
Djibril Cisse put the Black Cats in front just 11 minutes i
Bears place Vasher on IR >>
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears have placed cornerback
Nathan Vasher on injured reserve because of a broken hand.
Vasher originally injured his wrist in a Week 4 game against Philadelphia and
missed three games becau
Avs place Foote on IR >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche placed defenseman Adam
Foote on injured reserve, retroactive to November 22, on Saturday.
Foote is suffering from upper back and knee injuries and has just one assist
in 19 games this
Croom resigns at Mississippi State >>
Starkville, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mississippi State head football coach
Sylvester Croom announced his resignation Saturday, just one day after the
Bulldogs ended the 2008 season with a 45-0 loss to arch-rival Ole Miss.
Croom spen
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting