No. 21 LSU escapes late charge from Yates, No. 18 UNC

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/05/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - T.J. Yates led 18th-ranked North Carolina to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and nearly a third on the final play of the game, but it wasn't enough for the short-handed Tar Heels, as No. 21 LSU barely held on for a 30-24 win at the Georgia Dome.

The Heels were without 13 players for the season-opener. Seven of those were for violations of school or NCAA rules and six others were kept out while the investigation continues into possible violations of North Carolina law involving sports agents.

Yates had over 400 yards passing, with over half of that being reeled in by Jheranie Boyd, but the Tigers (1-0) were able to thwart the final pass to the end zone.

It all seemed lost for the Tar Heels (0-1) after Yates was sacked from the blind side by Tyrann Mathieu, and the Tigers recovered at the UNC 39 with 1 1/2 minutes left. But Stevan Ridley fumbled the ball away on third down, giving UNC life again.

Boyd made a key 21-yard catch, and Yates followed that with a 20-yarder to the sideline for Joshua Adams. A nine-yard connection to senior tight end Zack Pianalto put the ball at the six with six seconds left. The two tried hooking up again in the back of the end zone, but Pianalto couldn't hold on.

That gave Yates a last try with two seconds left. He looked for Pianalto over the middle, just over the goal line, but the pass fell incomplete as linebacker Stefoin Francois impeded the tight end's progress with his left hand. Yates motioned for a penalty flag, but none came and LSU coach Les Miles breathed a sigh of relief.

Jordan Jefferson completed 15-of-21 passes for 151 yards with a pair of touchdowns and was picked off once for the Tigers, who won their eighth straight season-opener. They've won 30 straight non-conference games in the regular season, the longest in the nation.

Patrick Peterson set an LSU record for combined return yards with 257. His 244 return yards in the first half was an SEC record for a half.

Yates finished 28-of-46 for 412 yards and three scores. Boyd made six grabs for 221 yards, including a 97-yard TD, which was the longest play from scrimmage in the UNC history.

Defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who had already been suspended by head coach Butch Davis for violating team rules, was one of the players ruled ineligible for UNC. The others are cornerbacks Charles Brown and Kendric Burney, wide receiver Greg Little and defensive ends Michael McAdoo and Robert Quinn, and safety Deunta Williams. The six others who were withheld from Saturday's game were tailbacks Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston, defensive end Linwan Euwell and safeties Brian Gupton, Da'Norris Searcy and Jonathan Smith.

Josh Jasper's 44-yard field goal try clanked off the right upright for LSU early in the first quarter. UNC then fumbled the ball away, which led to Jefferson's six-yard TD pass to Russell Shepard.

Yates tied the game early in the second on a nine-yard TD pass to Devon Ramsay.

Casey Barth's 20-yard field goal moved UNC to a 10-7 edge with 8:24 left in the second, but just 18 seconds later Shepard broke off a 50-yard TD run.

A high snap through the end zone gave LSU a safety less than a minute later, and Peteron rumbled 87 yards on a punt return for a 23-10 margin with four minutes left in the half.

Jefferson's 51-yard TD strike to Rueben Randle widened the gap to 30-10 with 2:28 to go in the second quarter.

Ridley fumbled the ball away deep in UNC territory early in the third and UNC pulled closer in the fourth. Yates, off play action, threw a 97-yard bomb down the middle to Boyd with 10:34 left in the game.

A 14-yard TD pass from Yates to freshman Erik Highsmith made it 30-24 with 2:32 to go.

Game Notes

The last time LSU lost a non-conference regular season game was at Virginia Tech in 2002...LSU is 8-1 all-time at the Georgia Dome...The Tigers went 9-4 last year, losing to Penn State in the Capital One Bowl...The Tar Heels finished 8-5 last season, falling to Pittsburgh in the Meineke Car Care Bowl...The Tigers set a school record for consecutive wins in season-openers, breaking the record of seven straight wins from 1963-69 under head coach Charles McClendon...LSU won its 14th straight game in the month of September.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.