Surging Coyotes make a stop in Dallas

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02/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Phoenix Coyotes will take aim at a seventh consecutive victory when they visit the Dallas Stars for today's Pacific Division battle at American Airlines Center.

The Coyotes earned a sixth straight win Friday in Chicago, edging the Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout. It was the second win in a row in the shootout phase for Phoenix, which also downed Nashville 1-0 on Tuesday.

Phoenix is in the midst of its longest winning streak since a seven-game stretch from December 28, 2006-January 9, 2007. The Coyotes' recent surge has vaulted them into fourth place in the Western Conference with 75 points.

Adrian Aucoin netted the decisive goal in Friday's win at Chicago. With the shootout tied heading to the third round, Aucoin fired a shot that deflected in off the right shoulder of Chicago goaltender Cristobal Huet. The Coyotes prevailed when Jason LaBarbera poke checked the puck off the stick of Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa.

Radim Vrbata scored a power-play goal, and LaBarbera turned aside 28 shots for the Coyotes.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. "I thought we made some mistakes to give them some chances, but LaBarbera was really strong in goal for us. It was a very competitive game again; we competed hard, and we found away to hang around the game, and we found a way to get two points."

Today's game marks the final stop on a four-game road trip for the Coyotes. Phoenix is 14-10-3 as the visiting club this season.

Phoenix has won all three meetings with the Stars this year and has taken six straight and seven of eight overall in the series. The Coyotes posted a 4-2 win in Dallas on January 31 and have five victories in their last six trips to Big D.

The Stars have dropped two of three coming into tonight and were dealt a close regulation loss Thursday in Columbus. R.J. Umberger registered a goal and an assist to lead the Blue Jackets to a 2-1 victory in their first game since firing head coach Ken Hitchcock.

Brad Richards scored for Dallas, while Marty Turco made 24 saves in defeat. The Stars were without center Mike Modano, who missed the game with an upper- body injury and is questionable for today's contest.

Dallas comes into tonight with 61 points and is tied for 10th in the Western Conference. The Stars, who are 17-6-5 as the host this year, are also playing their final home game before the Olympic break. Dallas will kick off a three- game road trip Tuesday in Chicago.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

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The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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