It is time to run it back here at betcha with our best bets for the weekend of sport, as we always do at this time of the week. This time around it is an opportunity for a bounce back from last week’s results, with a couple getting away from us down the stretch of the slate.
Once again we have our five best bets lined up and ready to roll, so why not crack into our most recent edition of the series now.
We tip off the slate with a bit of Friday basketball action, as Los Angeles head back out on the road to take on what has been a resurgent Toronto side to begin the season. While Toronto are the favourites, with Los Angeles not having their all-world star Luka Dončić, that will open the door for their other back-court star Austin Reaves to run the show.
This season Reaves has taken over as the second option and primary ball handler when Dončić is not on the court. Early in the season we also saw Reaves as the only option for Los Angeles when both Dončić and LeBron James were out for a few games.
In those outings Reaves averaged an astounding 40 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds, clearly blowing this PRA number out of the water. I understand that this time James will be back on the court, but I still expect Reaves to be the guy for the side from the City of Angels today.
We finally saw England apply themselves at the crease during day one of the second Ashes Test at the Gabba. While most of their top order failed, they were led by the best Test batsman in the world, Joe Root, who brought up his maiden Test ton on Australian soil.
This has put the visitors in a good spot, sitting at 325 for 9 at the end of day one, as Root and Jofra Archer look to tack on as many as possible during the first session this afternoon. However, most of the interest will be in the Australian batting innings, where Travis Head and Jake Weatherald are set to open up. As we know, Head is in blistering form off the back of his match-winning knock in Perth. His partner, on the other hand, is still trying to establish himself at Test level, and I feel that with runs on the board the English seam attack might cause him plenty of issues early today.
A great weekend of American football starts up on Sunday morning, with conference championships taking place in the world of college football. The first big game of the day is the SEC Championship, which will see a repeat clash between two titan programmes of the sport. Those, of course, are the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs, who have become very used to seeing each other in these high-stakes games over the past few years.
Both teams were 7 and 1 in conference play and did meet earlier in the season, with Alabama getting the better of Kirby Smart and his side, which really turned the season around for the team from Tuscaloosa.
This time around I think we might see a different outcome, as ever since that result Georgia have been rolling, which was epitomised by their blowout win over 13th-ranked Texas Longhorns. While Alabama have hit some late-season bumps in the road, I think this could lead to the Bulldogs winning in this one.
Moving on to the next big college football game, and likely the biggest so far this season, with the two best teams in the country set to face off for the Big Ten Championship. That, of course, is between the defending national champions, Ohio State, and this year’s college football darlings, the Indiana Hoosiers.
Both of these sides are unbeaten this season, with Ohio State cruising through their regular season schedule, which was no doubt weaker than others. Indiana, meanwhile, had a tougher one, highlighted by their big win against the Oregon Ducks in Eugene.
Both these teams are talented, but looking at this Ohio State side on paper, they could potentially be viewed in the same light as the 2019 LSU team when it comes to NFL players drafted. For that reason, and given the far superior talent advantage, I think Ohio State not only come away with the win, but I also expect them to cover in this one.
We close out this weekend’s slate with a Monday morning NFL option, as the Cincinnati Bengals look to run the table and give themselves a playoff shot, while the Buffalo Bills aim to build on their dominance last time out against the Steelers.
In a season that looked gone with Joe Burrow going down, the Bengals franchise signal-caller returned from his injury two weeks earlier than expected and even led his team to a big division win on Thanksgiving against the Ravens. With the rest of the AFC North floundering, the Bengals have a puncher’s chance to claim the crown if they can win out, starting this week against the Bills.
For Buffalo, after hitting a mid-season lull, they seem to have found an identity in the run game with James Cook and Josh Allen beginning to tote the rock more. With that said, I think this one will be closer than many expect, as the Bengals offence should be able to keep up relatively easily with the Bills, even though they are on the road at Highmark Stadium.
