Top-25 foes collide in Big Ten brawl
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01/26/2012 - Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A top-25 showdown is on tap in Madison this evening, as the 25th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers play host to the 16th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in Big Ten action from the Kohl Center.
Tom Crean's Hoosiers were one of the real surprise teams in the country prior to league play, as they won their first 12 games of the season. Big Ten play has presented a different set of challenges however, as Indiana has split its first eight games in-conference. The team was able to end a three-game slide last weekend with a 73-54 pasting of Penn State.
Bo Ryan's Badgers are once again one of the top defensive teams in the nation and that has served them well en route to a 16-5 overall mark and a 5-3 ledger in the Big Ten. Wisconsin comes into this contest with a four-game win streak in tow, following a tough 67-63 road win at Illinois last weekend.
Indiana holds a 94-63 lead in the all-time series with Wisconsin, but the Badgers have won eight straight in the series and haven't lost to the Hoosiers since 2007.
An offensive-minded team, Indiana is averaging 79.8 ppg and ranks sixth nationally in field-goal percentage (.500) and second in three-point accuracy (.449). Five players are averaging double figures, including four starters. Freshman Cody Zeller leads the charge up front with 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Christian Watford adds 12.6 ppg and joins Jordan Hulls (12.4 ppg) as a potent one-two punch from three-point range. The pair have combined for 78 of the team's 145 three-pointers to date. Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey give the team a couple of extra options at the offensive end with 10.5 and 10.0 ppg, respectively. In the lopsided win over Penn State, Indiana shot a sizzling .533 from the floor, including 62.5 percent in the second half to run away with the game. Zeller led the charge with 18 points. Hulls added 14, followed by Watford's 11.
Wisconsin will counter with the nation's top defense. The Badgers lead the country in both scoring defense (49.6 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.359). In addition, the team also boasts of a +4.2 rebounding margin and is among the top teams in the country in turnovers, committing just 9.0 miscues per game. Offensively, the team is led by playmaker Jordan Taylor. The 6-1 senior can do a little bit of everything, leading the team in scoring (14.1 ppg) and assists (4.4 apg), while also pulling down just over four rebounds per game. Jared Berggren is next in the scoring column at 11.0 ppg, while Ryan Evans and Ben Brust chip in with 9.7 and 9.5 ppg, respectively. The Badgers fought hard in earning the three-point win at Illinois last time out. Trailing by four points with only nine minutes left in the game, Wisconsin went on a 7-0 run to establish the lead and earn the win. Taylor, who scored just five points in the first half, tacked on 14 after the break to finish with a game-high 19 points. Berggren netted 18 points in support, while Brust chipped in with nine off the bench.
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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.
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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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