Spartans and Gophers mix it up in Big Ten action

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02/22/2012 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Michigan State Spartans will try to remain in sole possession of the Big Ten Conference's top spot as they head to Williams Arena for a league bout with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

This will be the second meeting this season and 109th encounter in history between Michigan State and the Golden Gophers. The all-time series is tied up 54-54 after the Spartans' 68-52 victory on Jan. 25th of last month in the initial matchup of the season. Michigan State shot 54.2 percent from the field against Minnesota in the first contest, while the Golden Gophers managed to make only 38.3 percent of their field goals.

Tom Izzo's squad picked up its fifth straight victory on Sunday as it downed the Purdue Boilermakers 76-62 on the road to stay a game up on Ohio State and Michigan in the league standings. Michigan State's triumph was helped by a tremendous defensive effort, as Purdue was held to an ice-cold 33.8 percent shooting from the floor. The win improved the Spartans' record to 22-5 overall. Michigan State was very impressive on the glass against Minnesota, as it held a 44-32 edge in the rebounding battle in the contest. The Spartans have outscored their opponents by an average of 14.6 ppg this season.

Draymond Green has been the driving force of the Spartans' success this season. The senior forward averages a double-double with 15.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per contest. Green had 20 points, 10 boards, and seven assists as the Spartans trounced Purdue on Sunday. Austin Thornton added 17 points versus the Boilermakers, while Branden Dawson recorded a double-double of his own with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Keith Appling is typically the team's second leading scorer, as he averaging 12.0 points and a team-high 3.8 assists per outing.

The Golden Gophers are on a three-game losing slide after their 64-53 loss to the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday. In their loss to the Wildcats, the Golden Gophers held a 41-20 advantage in the rebounding battle, but could not keep up as Northwestern drained 10 three-pointers to gain an edge. Minnesota is outscoring its opponents by an average of 4.2 ppg this season. The loss dropped Tubby Smith's team to 17-10 overall and 5-9 in Big Ten play.

Rodney Williams leads the balanced attack for Minnesota with team highs of 11.0 points and 5.4 boards per game. Julian Welch contributes 10.5 ppg. Williams was held to just nine points by the Wildcats, while Welch poured in a team-high 21 points and handed out five assists. Joe Coleman netted 12 points in the losing effort. Austin Hollins, Ralph Sampson III, and Andre Hollins will need to improve their play to help the Golden Gophers turn it around.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

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.

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