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11/06/2006 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Nedney kicked three field goals as the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 9-3, in a defensive battle at Monster Park.
Alex Smith was 13-of-21 passing for 105 yards and an interception and Frank Gore rushed for 41 yards on 19 carries for the 49ers (3-5). Brandon Moore led the Niners' defense with 14 total tackles and a sack.
San Francisco, which snapped a two-game losing streak, will travel to Detroit to play the Lions next Sunday.
The Vikings were led by quarterback Brad Johnson, who was 21-of-31 passing for 136 yards with an interception. Chester Taylor had 96 yards rushing on 26 carries and caught eight passes for 45 yards in the loss.
Minnesota (4-4) has lost two straight games and will host the Green Bay Packers next Sunday.
The Vikings had 238 yards of total offense, while the 49ers had 133.
After the 49ers went three-and-out on their first series of the opening quarter, the Vikings put together a 16-play, 69-yard scoring drive that took 9:00 minutes off the clock. Led by Taylor, who carried seven times and had two catches for 41 yards, Minnesota had moved the ball down to the San Francisco 11-yard line. Following three minimal gains, Minnesota had to settle for a 21- yard field goal by Ryan Longwell to make it 3-0.
Brandon Williams then returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards to the 49ers 39- yard line, and two plays later, Smith hit Antonio Bryant with a 22-yard strike, moving the ball to the Minnesota 37. The Vikings, behind Gore and an 18-yard catch by Arnaz Battle, got down to the Minnesota 15, but the drive stalled and Nedney converted on a 25-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3, sealing a 13-play, 54-yard scoring drive.
The Vikings tried answering right back with points of their own, but after four modest offensive plays, Johnson was sacked by Marques Douglas, who stripped the ball and was recovered by the Niners' Shawntae Spencer on the Minnesota 32. San Francisco could muster very little offense after the turnover and Nedney booted his second field goal of the contest, a 30-yard effort to give the 49ers a 6-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
After both teams exchanged punts to open the second half, the Vikings appeared to be mounting a decent offensive set. Starting on their own 34, Johnson connected on passes of 14 and 11 yards that moved the ball down to the San Francisco 34. But Johnson, looking for wide receiver Troy Williamson across the middle, had his pass picked off by Walt Harris.
The 49ers couldn't capitalize on the turnover, as Smith was intercepted by Antonio Winfield just three plays into their next offensive set.
After both teams traded punts, the Vikings' offense went back to work, starting on their own 23. Following two modest gains, Johnson hit Taylor on a short screen pass that went 65 yards for a score, but the touchdown was nullified by a block in the back penalty on Travis Taylor.
However, Vikings backup running back Artose Pinner tried keeping the drive going by rushing for back-to-back carries of 16 and nine yards that moved the ball down to the 49ers 37-yard line. But four plays later, Johnson lost the ball after he was sacked by Bryant Young and Moore, with the recovery by San Francisco's Manny Lawson.
The Niners took advantage of the Minnesota miscue when Nedney kicked a 51-yard field goal, finalizing a 36-yard, nine-play series and giving San Francisco a 9-3 advantage midway through the final quarter.
After both teams exchanged punts again, the Vikings got the ball back with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Starting on their own 39, Johnson led Minnesota down to the 49ers 27. The drive stalled when Williamson, appearing to have enough yardage for a first down on a 3rd-and-7, dropped the ball. Johnson then tried forcing one to Bethel Johnson into double coverage near the goal line, but had his pass patted away by Mark Roman with 1:10 remaining in the contest.
Game Notes
The 49ers have won seven of the past eight meetings against Minnesota at home...Prior to today's game, the Vikings outscored their opponents 59-16 in the fourth quarter and overtime...Minnesota's defense has not allowed 20 or more points in eight of its last nine games.
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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