Pigskins and Ponies: Key Conference Showdowns, Del Mar Standout

Gambling

If you like betting both football and horse racing, you've come to the right place!

Each week in Pigskins and Ponies you'll find analysis and key football bets from Payne Insider and Todd Fuhrman plus racing picks from Jose Contreras.

Professional bettor Payne Insider and former oddsmaker Todd Fuhrman are founders of Bet the Board, a cutting edge sports betting company focused on written and digital content. You can listen to Bet The Board podcast every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday during football season on iTunes and Soundcloud.

Handicapper Jose Contreras is an analyst for horse racing network TVG and a regular contributor to America's Best Racing.

Get this week's picks below, and be sure to check back for new selections each week. Happy betting!


Pigskins

Minnesota @ Iowa ML (-145):

Minnesota is now a household name in the college football landscape after its upset victory against Penn State last weekend, but that won’t help them in Kinnick Stadium come 4 p.m. Saturday. Iowa is finally healthy in its talented secondary, and the Hawkeyes should provide enough defensive stops to give QB Nate Stanley a chance to secure the victory on the other end. As long as Iowa can stay away from 3rd and longs on offense, we would expect them to be able to move the football on this porous Minnesota defense, that’s 64th in the country in first-down success rate allowed. Time to sell high on the Gophers.

Georgia @ Auburn +3:

Georgia comes in a little banged up, with center Trey Hill and receiver Lawrence Cager battling injuries from the Missouri game last week. The Auburn defensive front is extremely strong with two future pros, so the Tigers should have success slowing down Georgia’s ground game, which is really what gets the Bulldogs offense going. Quarterback Bo Nix has been much better on home soil this season, and with an extra week to prep, expect Gus Malzahn’s creativity to be on full display Saturday afternoon. With a total of 40.5 at FoxBet.com, make sure you take +3, as the key number becomes even more valuable in a lower-scoring game.

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay +6 (-115):

Tampa Bay closed 3-point underdogs in New Orleans Week 5 (granted, Teddy Bridgewater was starting), and now finds itself catching three more points at home just six weeks later. The Bucs got the monkey off their back and FINALLY winning a close game, and now they have a chance of playing spoiler to the Saints. Tampa should once again slow down this Saints run game, and make New Orleans as one-dimensional as possible. Jameis Winston will be able to move the ball through the air here, especially with stud corner Marshon Lattimore unlikely to play. The Bucs should do enough to keep this game close late, and the price is inflated. Grab +6!

New England @ Philadelphia Under 22.5 First Half:

Both teams are coming off of a bye week, and we expect it to show more favorable early for the defenses. The past two weeks the Eagles have gotten healthy on the defensive side, and it shows. They currently rank Top 12 in both offensive and defensive success rate, and should live in the Patriots backfield, pressuring Brady and limiting their rushing attack. Meanwhile, the Birds recently signed Jordan Matthews, who may play a much bigger role with Alshon Jeffrey banged up as well. New England was setting historic defensive numbers (No. 1 defensive efficiency) before the Ravens game, and should limit the Eagles early before they get a chance to figure out the different schemes Head Coach Bill Belichick will put together. Go UNDER early here.

Best Bet: [372] Auburn +3


Ponies

For this series, I will be looking for one key horse to single in a pick-3 in hopes of cashing a profitable exotic wager. The budget will be in the $20 range and will keep track of ROI each week. This week’s key horse:

Saturday, Nov. 16

Del Mar, Race 8, Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes, 7 p.m. ET

#3 Thousand Words: He lived up to favoritism when winning his debut by half a length under this rider. The second-place finisher from that race has some talent as well and he was more than six lengths clear of the third-place finisher. Thousand Words' dam (mother) was a very good sprinter and was a multiple graded stakes winner. The extra half a furlong should be no problem. I expect more speed from him today.

$1 Pick-3 ticket:

Race 7: 1,3,5,7,8

Race 8: 3

Race 9: 2,5,7,8

Total: $20

Total Wagered: $240

Total Returned: $0


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