Butler hopes to continue winning ways in Motor City

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01/27/2007 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Butler Bulldogs continue to be the class of the Horizon League, and they hope to score yet another win in today's meeting with the Detroit Titans.

On Thursday, Butler once again showed its toughness by knocking off a solid Loyola-Chicago team on the road by a 70-66 final in overtime. The victory was the fourth in a row for the Bulldogs, who are a stellar 18-2 overall this season, including 6-1 against Horizon League foes.

With back-to-back wins, Detroit has managed to improve to 7-12 overall and 4-4 in conference. Like Butler, the Titans also recorded an overtime victory, as the 91-84 decision over Wisconsin-Milwukee featured the team's best offensive output of the season by a wide margin.

Butler holds a 33-27 edge in the all-time series with Detroit, and the teams will meet again next month.

A.J. Graves was the hero once again for Butler in the win over Loyola-Chicago just two days ago, as the standout guard nailed three shots from behind the arc in overtime. Graves finished with 26 points, and the fact that he missed two free throw attempts in the contest was surprising considering that he entered the contest as the nation's most efficient shooter from the charity stripe. Pete Campbell pitched in 12 points for the Bulldogs, who only committed seven turnovers in 45 minutes of action. Defensively, they limited Loyola to 34.3 percent shooting. All of the positives enabled the squad to overcome a 48-35 rebounding disadvantage. Graves is averaging 18.6 ppg this season and is undoubtedly a front-runner for Horizon League Player of the Year honors. Mike Green adds 13.4 ppg to the lineup for the Bulldogs, and Brandon Crone is contributing 10.6 ppg.

Prior to scoring 91 points on Thursday night, Detroit had been held to 66 or fewer points in nine consecutive outings and had not surpassed 73 points in any game. The Titans shot 50.8 percent from the floor against Wisconsin- Milwaukee, and they racked up 20 assists in the contest. A 41-22 rebounding advantage, including 17-9 on the offensive glass, certainly helped the team. Jon Goode scored a team-high 18 points off the bench to lead the way, and Ryvon Covile finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Detroit also got 14 points apiece from Chris Hayes, Brandon Bell and Brandon Cotton. Cotton is the team's leading scorer through 19 games with 17.9 ppg, and he is netting an even more impressive 19.5 ppg against league foes. As for Covile, he is averaging 13.2 ppg and 11.3 rpg overall. The Titans are far from explosive at the offensive end, as they are only scoring 61.9 ppg this season.

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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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