When Jay Rood, vice president of race and sports for MGM, was reviewing his books odds to win the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, he seriously considered making the Dallas Cowboys the favorites -- even ahead of the New England Patriots.Rood stopped just short, trimming the Cowboys odds to win the Super Bowl from 4-1 to 11-5, after their 27-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots are 9-5 at the MGM.Theyre pretty neck-and-neck with the Patriots, if not a little bit better, Rood said of the 9-1 Cowboys, who are close to even money to win the NFC. Theyve won nine in a row and are looking really solid. Its apparent theyre the favorites for home-field advantage [in the NFC].The MGM sportsbook now has Dallas listed at 6-5 to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Dallas began the season at 8-1 to win the conference, behind five other teams.The Cowboys have traditionally been a popular public team to bet, but with quarterback Tony Romo going down with a back injury in preseason, bettors shied away. As of Sunday at the MGM, five teams had attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than the Cowboys.(In fact, more Super Bowl bets have been placed on the Green Bay Packers than on any other team at the MGM and Westgate SuperBook. The Packers fell to 4-6 on the season after a 42-24 loss at Washington on Sunday night, Green Bays fourth loss in a row).With rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott shining, the betting public has begun to gravitate toward the Cowboys in recent weeks, though.It took [the public] a while to get on them, but they have the last three weeks, Jason Simbal of sportsbook operator CG Technology said. The most telling thing was last week, when theyre playing Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, one of the major public teams, and we needed the Steelers.But not everyone was on board the Cowboys bandwagon this week, when they hosted Ravens as 7-point favorites. Earlier in the week, Dallas had been a 7.5- and even 8-point favorite over the Ravens at the MGM. Respected bettors thought that was too many points.The Ravens were a big wiseguy play, Rood said.Other shops werent as lucky and were overwhelmed by public money on the Cowboys, who were one of nine favorites to cover the spread Sunday. All three favorites in the late afternoon kickoffs -- the Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and the Patriots -- covered the spread, turning what had been a decent morning for the house into a losing day for some shops.Not a good afternoon, Simbal said. In our three biggest decisions of the entire day, just on straight bets, not even on parlays, we needed the Eagles, we needed the Rams and we needed the Niners. And we lost all of them. Losing day for us.The Patriots, per usual, delivered the largest blow of the day for the Westgate SuperBook. Twice as much money was bet on New England as was bet on the underdog San Francisco 49ers at the Westgate. New England, which closed as a 12-point favorite, beat the 49ers 30-17.For an afternoon NFL kickoff, that was as much money as weve written on game like that in a long time, Ed Salmons, assistant manager at the SuperBook, said.The New York Giants were one of the most popular picks on parlay cards at the MGM. The Giants, who were seven-point favorites over the Chicago Bears, won 22-16. Giants kicker Robbie Gould missed two extra points.Boxing fight deals six-figure blowAndre Ward defeated Sergey Kovalev on a controversial unanimous decision Saturday night to win three light heavyweight world title belts. Ward, the favorite, winning by decision was the worst-case scenario for the MGM sportsbook. It cost the book a small six-figure loss, Rood said.It also delivered a blow to William Hills Nevada sportsbook, which took a $150,000 bet on Ward at -140 odds on Oct. 24. The bet netted $107,142.85.College football odds & ends-- Alabama opened as an 18.5-point favorite over the Auburn Tigers on Sunday at CG Technology. In the first 15 minutes, the line moved to Alabama -20, after a respected customer placed a $2,000 limit bet on the Crimson Tide. The only other early bet on Iron Bowl as of 6 p.m. PT was a $20 wager on Auburn.-- Ohio State opened as a 7-point favorite Michigan on Sunday at CG Technology. The first bet the book took was a $2,000 limit play on the Wolverines, which dropped the line to Buckeyes -6.5. The Westgate SuperBook also opened Ohio State -7 and attracted some early action on the Wolverines.-- Colorado improved to 10-1 against the spread this season with Saturdays 38-24 win over Washington State. Temple is also 10-1 ATS, the two best ATS records in the nation. Arizona has the worst ATS record at 1-10.-- William Hills Nevada sportsbook took four money-line bets on Texas to beat heavy underdog Kansas straight-up. None were very big, but one bettor did place $120 on the Longhorns to win at -2,400 odds. The bet would have netted $5. William Hill took 11 money-line bets on the Jayhawks at +1,200, the largest a $50 poke that netted $600.-- The Golden Nugget sportsbook in Las Vegas posted an early line on the SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida. The Crimson Tide opened as 20-point favorites.NCAA Jerseys Outlet . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Replica NCAA Jerseys . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ .com) - Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer were easy first-round winners Tuesday at the Australian Open. Clearance NCAA Jerseys . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Cheap Basketball College Jerseys . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season.IOWA CITY, Iowa -- It turns out that Iowa might have a say in the Big Ten title race after all.By stunning Michigan 14-13 on Saturday, the Hawkeyes made it possible for a two-loss team to represent the powerful East division in the conference championship game -- and for the once-unthinkable prospect of a playoff without the Big Ten.It can no longer be assumed that the annual rivalry game between the Wolverines (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) and Ohio State (9-1, 6-1) will determine the leagues playoff representative.Thats because Penn State (8-2, 6-1), which beat the Buckeyes two weeks ago, has joined Michigan and Ohio State atop the East.If Michigan wins out, including beating Ohio State in regular-season finale in two weeks, the Wolverines move on to the Big Ten title game. If Ohio State and Penn State win out, the Nittany Lions would win the East, leaving the Buckeyes out of a chance to win the conference title while likely being the Big Tens highest ranked team.A loss by Penn State to either Rutgers or Michigan State in the next two weeks is what Ohio State needs to regain control of the East.That seems unlikely, but so was the idea of Iowa (6-4, 4-3), a 24-point underdog, finding itself it time to stun Big Blue.Give Iowa credit. They tackled. They blocked. They played a very good football game. So, congratulate them and we move on, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.Thats exactly what Michigan needs to do, because if it wins out, it should be in the playoffs.But the Wolverines resume still took a hit on Saturday.Overshadowed by all of its big wins was the fact that Michigan didnt have a single significant road win. Michigan State and Rutgers, the only teams Michigan had beaten away from Ann Arbor, had yet to win a Big Ten game until the Spartans throttled the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.On a windy and chilly night in Iowwa City, the Wolverines wilted.dddddddddddd.The nations top-ranked scoring defense allowed Iowa to score a touchdown on fourth down on a perfectly timed screen pass.On the biggest play from scrimmage, it let Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard run for a first down that set up the game-winning kick -- after a facemask that gave Iowa 15 free yards.Michigans offense, which had scored 49 points against Penn State, 78 against Rutgers and 59 against Maryland, gained just 201 yards. Wilton Speight missed a litany of deep balls, going just 11 of 26 passing and throwing a pick to true freshman Manny Rugamba late in the fourth quarter.Theres absolutely no excuse. Weve got to be a lot better than we (were Saturday), tight end Jake Butt said.Iowas performance kept it alive in the West race, though just barely.Wisconsin (8-2, 5-2), by virtue of its win over Nebraska (8-2, 5-2), is in position to face whatever team the East sends to Indianapolis for the title game. The Badgers might also be in position to steal a playoff spot, should they win out and see more upsets like the ones that occured on Saturday further shake up the postseason picture.But Iowa answered for one of its worst losses in years, a 41-14 wipeout at Penn State, with a win that was more about culture than talent.Youve only got two options. You surrender and mope and feel sorry for yourself, or you do something about it, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. Dont think that we werent thinking about that on Saturday night coming home. But its more about just the way we operate and what our response is going to be. And we knew this was going to be a tough task.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '
