No matter how inferior his foe is, Lou Holtz’s subsequent opponent is always the paramount team in recent football history.  His own team is always overrated and fortunate not to be winless.  So says he anyway.  A first-class handicapper can differentiate between “coachspeak” and legitimate handicapping information.

The most indispensable bit of information that I look for is when coaches evaluate how his team executed in practice that week.  Coaches have demonstrated very trustworthy and impartial for such tidings that have proven priceless in foretelling the ATS outcome of games.

Anytime a coach has expressed either glee or disenchantment in how his team has functioned on the practice field the week preceding a game, this handicapper sees a gargantuan red flag.

Coaches are legendary about blowing smoke, but I have found when it comes to evaluating his team’s frame of mind as game day approaches, such pertinent specific quotes to be invaluable bits of handicapping information.

Player quotes are also magnificent gauges of a team’s mindset. This is especially the case in college sports when a team faces a potential letdown or revenge situation. Too often uneducated gamblers choose to conjecture when a team will overlook an opponent or when for example a large favorite will be motivated or unmotivated to run up a score.

Thank goodness the media needs some fodder and helps us by spotting such potential situations. While the scribes can often write worthless claptrap, when they center on motivational mindsets, I find infinitely meaningful articles covering such angles of consequence to handicappers.

Steve Spurrier is of course the antithesis of Holtz.  However back in December of 2001, Spurrier was conspicuously low-keyed before his traditional rivalry against a Tennessee team that he had beaten seven consecutive times and in many cases quite soundly.

Sirens went off as far as I was concerned.  The biggest trash talking coach in contemporary times gone by was quite the diplomat against a team and coach who he never failed to dis’ until that time.  His unspoken works said more than any that he could have uttered.  Thanks to such, we unloaded on one of our largest plays ever and the Vols not only snapped the jinx, they did it in Gainesville, winning outright 34-32.

So often it is the subtleties that separate the winners from the losers in sports handicapping.  You can quote me on that.

Duffy’s plays are part of the Dream Team at GodsTips.com.  He is perhaps the most published and respected author on sports gambling theory and has been featured as a regular guest as the handicapping expert on the Rick Ballou Show on Sporting News Radio, Gamblers Zoo national radio show, the Meat and Potatoes gambling show, Pro Fantasy Sports Internet radio and Grogan’s Fantasy Football show.