NFL Divisional Round Weekend opens in Nashville Tennessee where the Cincinnati Bengals take on the host Houston Oilers. Oh, yea sorry the Tennessee Titans. This is only the second all-time meeting with the Bengals in the playoffs since Cincinnati defeated the then Houston Oilers back in 1990. With the Bengals win last week versus the Raiders it was their first playoff win since defeating the Oilers in 90. That was the longest active drought in NFL history. We always give career games and history making games a second look because we have found teams are not as motivated in their next game when coming off a career performance or a history making or in this case breaking record. We are not using that as our sole reason for taking the Titans its just one small element included in the process. The Titans are the better overall team and getting Derrick Henry back it changes the gameplan entirely for both teams. Henry has not played since late October, but he still rushed for 937 yards this season. The Titans averaged 147.6 yards per game with him and 135.8 rushing yards per game without him. They went 6-2 with him and 6-3 without him. The key difference with him in the lineup has been their ability to control the time of possession which is crucial when you need to keep a high-powered offense on the sidelines. Tennessee won the time of possession battle in six of the eight games with Henry in the lineup. Our numbers tell us Tennessee holds the advantage over Cincinnati in today’s game. Database research has uncovered several tech elements for each team and this situation so we needed to find the ones that would really matter in this contest. NFL teams that forced more turnovers during the regular season than their opponent are 30-19 straight up and 33-15-1 against the spread in the division round of the playoffs. NFL teams that averaged more rushing yards per game are 39-24-1 against the number including 23-12-1 against the spread the last nine seasons. Also, NFL teams that averaged more yards per rush are 38-25-1 against the spread. Our TPR Index projects a 11.9-point advantage. The MM projects a point differential of +7.87 points against the current line range. The SIM Matrix has the Tennessee Titans with a 73.95 percent advantage against the oddsmakers number this afternoon. The Titans won eight games versus teams with a winning record this season and a quick check reveals that is more than any NFL team in history. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has a perfect record when playing with rest his team has won eight straight times in this situation. With significant support on both sides of the ball we will lay the points with the Titans on Saturday afternoon they will not need a Music City Miracle in this one.

We are in Pac 12 country Saturday night with the USC Trojans on the road in Utah taking on the host Utah Utes. Utah has struggled this season, but this situation favors them as they are solid on their home floor when it comes to covering the number. They are 76-50-3 against the number at home and 64-43-1 with a losing record including 30-16-1 when facing conference opponents. USC has fallen victim to the homecourt advantage of the Utes going 1-6 both straight up and against the spread their last seven visits to Mormon country. Utah coming off back-to-back losses and now installed as a home underdog in the current price range have posted a perfect record of 6-0 ATS. The Utes coming off a home game and now facing a division opponent have gone 21-9-1 against the spread including 7-1 ATS at home as a division underdog. The TPR Index projects a point advantage of 1.79 points in favor of the Utes. The MM projects a point differential of -7.87 with a line range of +5.0 to +7.5. The SIM Matrix has the Utah Utes with a 73.95 percent advantage against the spread in this contest. We know the Utes are 15-3 ATS at home coming off a home loss including a perfect eight wins no losses both straight up and against the spread their last eight in this situation. They are also a perfect seven wins no losses in this situation if they are installed as an underdog of four or more points. Play Against CBB division road favorites off a SU/ATS win on the road in a game in which the total went Under, 25-49-4 ATS including 7-26-2 ATS in the current price range. With significant support for the home team, we will take the points in Utah on Saturday night as they take the Trojans down to the final seconds of the contest.