Betting Picks

These two teams are heading in opposite directions as the season comes comes down to its final month, so why is the team that still has a pulse getting six points here?

It's backup quarterback week in the NFL. Drew Stanton is in for the injured Carson Palmer for Arizona, and he'll be opposite C.J. Beathard, San Francisco's designated placeholder until newly-acquired Jimmy Garoppolo is ready to assume the role, as the Cardinals face the 49ers. In Denver, the Broncos finally tired of watching Trevor Siemian complete passes to the other team and will go with Brock Osweiler.

Everywhere you look, there are big games on the NCAA football schedule. In the Big 12, Oklahoma tangles with Oklahoma State. In a Big Ten match-up, Penn State faces its third straight top-25 team in Michigan State. No. 4 Clemson is at North Carolina State in a key ACC showdown, while the big SEC game sees LSU visiting second-ranked Alabama. Stanford-Washington State and USC-Arizona are huge Pac 12 tilts.

For the 2017 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar, the Filly & Mare Turf will be run at a shorter distance than usual of only 1 1/8 miles, which should benefit front-running horses. A full field of 14 have drawn into Saturday's race, and they'll be going after a purse of $2 million.

As usual, Europe sends over a strong contingent of horses to challenge for the 2017 Breeders' Cup Mile title, a race that has produced some big long shot winners in recent years. The field of 14 will race over the Del Mar turf for a total purse of $2 million.

Don't look now, but those are the Buffalo Bills right there in the midst of playoff contention. It's been a long time since you could say that. The drought goes all the way back to 1999. No NFL team has gone longer without a taste of the postseason than the Bills. But with a win Thursday over the New York Jets, they will top the AFC East standings.

In 51 Super Bowl match-ups, only twice have both teams come from the same state - the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV and the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Could we be looking at an all-Pennsylvania showdown in Super Bowl LII? Certainly at this stage of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers look to be the best of the best.

With the winner typically the early favorite for the next Kentucky Derby, Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile features one heavy favorite and and a bunch of other colts looking to show they belong. Twelve two-year-old colts race 1 1/16 miles on the dirt for a purse of $2 million.

The Juvenile Fillies kicks off Saturday's card of nine Breeders' Cup World Championship races from Del Mar race track, with a field of 13 going to the gate. The third of four races for two-year-olds, they'll race 1 1/16 miles on the dirt for a purse of $2 million.