NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/15/2019

There is any number of explanations for why underdogs are crushing it at the window each week. Quarterback play, league-wide, has regressed, and that's made everything more topsy-turvy. The sportsbooks have the most difficulty projecting teams early in the season. Defense has become en vogue in the NFL again, and that's led to lower-scoring games. Take your pick of the reason. But the reasons why don't matter. All that matters is that right now the only way to bet the NFL is to take road teams, underdogs and, when possible, road underdogs.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/8/2019

I don't know if I have ever seen a wider disparity between the top and the bottom of the NFL. There is still a clear, muddled middle class in the league right now. That's the forced parity that the league loves and the fuel for all of the weekly surprises on the field and at the window. However, if you look at the top eight and the bottom eight teams in the league right now, the variance is stark.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/1/2019

After last year's scoring explosion, in which teams combined to average 46.6 points per game, scoring has reverted back down to levels that we've seen only once this decade. With just 44.4 points per game, this season is on pace to be the second-lowest scoring year of the decade. However, this doesn't account to the fact that we are still in the early portion of the season.

NFL Power Rankings Week 4
by Robert Ferringo - 9/24/2019

The week after the season opener is the Overreaction Week. But now we are getting into Hype Week. Despite an extremely limited sample size and some outlier results, it appears that the bobblehead media is ready to make (more) wild, unsubstantiated claims on everything from Buffalo's viability in the AFC East race to Daniel Jones' Hall of Fame prospects.

The Ferringo Report: Sometimes It's Hard to Say Goodbye
by Robert Ferringo - 9/19/2019

In movies, The End comes with a musical crescendo and an emotional speech. In real life, you never know when it is Over. You never know the last time you are going to see or speak to someone. The last kiss. The last time you'll visit that place that you've been 1,000 times. Usually, you never know when those last times are going to occur. And you don't realize that it was The Last Time until much later, in retrospect.

NFL Power Rankings Week 3
by Robert Ferringo - 9/17/2019

Never forget that football is a war of attrition. It is battle. Football is sport. And it reflects the realities of nature. Football is two male rams smashing horns. It is two rhinos fighting for territory or male lions wrestling for command of the pride. It's primal and brutal.

The Ferringo Report: Overreaction Week for NFL Bettors
by Robert Ferringo - 9/12/2019

Week 2 is Overreaction Week in the NFL. Yes, it is always good for a chuckle while watching bettors, analysts and media bobbleheads freak out over the extraordinarily limited data set that is one single game. But the result is some of the most volatile, and difficult to read spreads of the pro season. For my money, Week 2 sits just behind Week 17 as the most difficult weeks of the season to handicap.

NFL Power Rankings Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2019

Obviously, the Patriots are going to win another Super Bowl, beating the Cowboys next February. Miami is going to go 0-16 and get the No. 1 overall pick, and Kyler Murray is going to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Everything has already been determined after just one week, so we can all just save ourselves some time.

Doc's Sports vs. a Financial Advisor: Sports Betting as an Investment
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2019

I still get a kick out of people's reaction when I tell them what I do for a living. When I say that I'm a professional sports handicapper, the first reaction is either surprise, expressed by raised eyebrows and a lean back, or confusion, expressed by a furrowed brow and pursed lips.

FAQs for Doc's Sports Handicapping Service
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2019

We get dozens of e-mails each week from people asking us all kinds of stuff about what we do and how we do it. So, what I've done here is taken the five of the questions that we get the most and tried to answer them as simply as I can to make things easier for you.

The Ferringo Report: SEC Falls on It's Face in Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/5/2019

Expectations are really at the core of football betting. That's exactly what a point spread is. I understand that on its face it is simply a tool used by the sportsbooks in an attempt to balance action and flaunt their 10-percent house advantage. But at a layer beyond that, the point spread is really just a measure of expectations. It's a mathematical bar for teams to surpass or surrender to.

Use the Sportsbooks' NFL Season Win Totals Numbers Against Them
by Robert Ferringo - 9/4/2019

Every year Las Vegas and offshore sportsbooks release NFL season win total over/under numbers for each team. These initial numbers usually come out in April, they get tweaked after the draft and during the summer, and then solidify in once the preseason games begin.

NFL Power Rankings Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/3/2019

There is a storm on the horizon. A storm of ritualized violence, presented by global telecommunications giants and the insurance industry, is about to make landfall. And it brings with it a hail of gambling and brutality and has helped define the sport of football as America's True National Pastime, a weekly ceremony of our own collective bloodlust and a measure of our national hedonism.

2019 Washington Huskies College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

Chris Peterson is one of the top tacticians in college football. And his bid to revitalize this Washington program has to be seen as a success after the Huskies won their second Pac-12 Championship in the last three seasons. Still, I can't help but feel like Washington has underachieved in the past two seasons. Yes, they went 20-7 combined over the past two seasons. They've gone just 12-15 against the spread in that time and finished each season ranked outside of the Top 10 after starting the season inside it.

2019 USC Trojans College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

Few head coaches in college football are on as hot of a seat as USC coach Clay Helton. And for good reason. Helton, despite opening his tenure with 10-3 and 11-3 seasons (including a Pac-12 title in 2017), has not done much to inspire confidence. And last year the Trojans fell off the map with an ugly, sloppy 5-7 season.

2019 Oregon Ducks College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

The pieces are in place for Oregon to be a national factor in college football this year. And the good news is that we don't have to wait very long to find out if the Ducks are going to be a national title contender or even a Pac-12 title contender. Oregon plays a mammoth nonconference game against Auburn to open the season.

2019 Stanford Cardinal College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

Stanford has been one of the best and most consistent programs in the entire country over the course of the last decade. They've averaged 10 wins per season during the last 10 years and have played in four Pac-12 Championship Games in the last seven years. David Shaw has won 76 percent of his games in his career, and the Cardinal have covered the spread in 60 percent of their games the past decade.

2019 UCLA Bruins College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

Remember when Bobby Petrino was considered an offensive genius? Then he completely and totally flamed out in the NFL, flopped back into college football, and never had anywhere near the level of success that he had originally? I feel like Chip Kelly is wandering down that same path.

2019 Washington State Cougars College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

Mike Leach is a stone cold weirdo. That is undisputed. But the guy can coach. Leach and the Cougars have gone 37-15 over the last four seasons. And while at first glance that may not be all that impressive, it becomes eye-popping when you consider that in the prior six years the Cougars were just 19-54 and a total nonfactors in the Pac-12.

2019 Utah Utes College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/21/2019

It took a few years, but Utah has finally ingratiated itself into the Pac-12. Last year the Utes made a surprise trip to the conference championship game. And with two of the best players in the league back at quarterback and running back, the expectations are that now is the time for Utah if it is ever going to take the next step.