Bet BetIndiana News staff

The college basketball season tips off Tuesday, November 5, but the outlook isn’t bright for the programs of the Hoosier State.

Ranked No. 23 in the preseason AP poll, Purdue provides the state the most hope for success. At 14/1 odds to win the Big Ten, however, the Boilermakers are a distant sixth on the conference futures board, a canyon away from even-money favorite Michigan State and also below Maryland (7/2), Ohio State (7/1), Michigan (10/1) and Minnesota (12/1).

Purdue loses key pieces Carsen Edwards and Ryan Kline, but juniors Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms return to the starting lineup for coach Matt Painter’s team. The Boilermakers have been a model of consistency, finishing top-10 on KenPom’s end-of-season rankings in three of the last four years.

By Eric Dewberry, BetIndiana News

Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a legitimate MVP candidate through the first half of the season, leads the team into Week 8 as solid favorites hosting the Broncos on Sunday (1 p.m. ET / noon CT, CBS). On advanced betting lines offered last week in Las Vegas, Indianapolis was a 4.5- to 5-point favorite, but the game reopened -6.5 after the Colts’ win over the Texans and went as low as -5.5 before settling at -6 early in the week.
The total is up to 44 following a 43.5 initial offer.
Betting market respects Colts
The point spread is flirting with the largest ever for the Colts with Brissett under center, as Indy laid 6.5 in a 31-24 home defeat to the Raiders in Week 4.
The fourth-year pro is coming off the best game of his young career, passing for an all-time high four touchdowns in a 30-23 win as a 1.5-point favorite over the Texans.
Brissett, whose only blemish in the victory was a lost fumble, compiled a 126.7 passer rating, also an all-time high in 29 career games.
His 14 touchdown passes through six contests is on pace to top the league with 37 overall, and he’s listed at 60/1 on some MVP oddsboards.

The Wabash Apache volleyball team withstood a comeback attempt by South Adams to capture the Bluffton Sectional championship Saturday, Oct. 19.

The Apaches won the first two tough sets 25-19, 25-20 to take early control of the match.

South Adams bounced back in the third setting closing out a tough 25-21 third set, but the Apaches closed it out with a 25-23 edge in the fourth set to clinch the sectional title.

In the first set Wabash jumped out to an 18-13 lead before the Starfires used a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 19-18. Wabash regrouped and closed the set out with a 6-1 run.

After the Apaches took the second set 25-20, South Adams led most of the third set to extend the match with a 25-21 score.

The fourth set was tight throughout with South Adams taking a 21-19 lead to force an Apache timeout.

The timeout worked with Wabash finishing the match with a 6-2 run to close out the match.

On the night, Alivia Short led the Apaches with 11 points, 11 kills, five blocks and seven digs, followed by Mariah Wyatt with 10 points, 18 kills, four blocks and seven digs, and Jordan Stumbo with nine kills and 10 digs.

Faryn Morris added seven points, four kills and 10 digs, Lexi Westendorf had six points, 26 assists and 20 digs, Hayley Faust had eight point and 25 digs, Emma Tracy had 12 assists and eight digs, Ashlynn Cruz had 12 digs, and Jade Stumbo added three kills.

With the Three Rivers Conference championship on the line, the Southwood Knights broke a 7-7 tie with two touchdowns in the final 6:29 left in the game to top Tippecanoe Valley 21-7, claiming the TRC title Friday, Oct. 18.

Southwood got on the board first with a 70-yard pass play with Alex Farr hit Dawson Filip with 11:00 to go in the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead.

The score remained 7-0 going into the fourth quarter.

Tippecanoe Valley tied the game at 7-7 early in the fourth quarter before Southwood took control in the final minutes.

With the Vikings punting deep in its own territory, Filip blocked the put and pounced on the ball in the end zone to give the 

Knights a 14-7 with 6:29 remaining in the game.

Southwood stopped the Vikings on Valley's next possession to force another punt.

With 5:59 left in the game, Tristin Hayslett scored on a 27-yard run for a 21-7 lead, and the Knights held on for the win.

Southwood travels to Churubusco for the sectional opener Friday, Oct. 25.

The Manchester High School boys soccer team saw its magical season come to an end Saturday morning, Oct. 19.

The eighth-ranked and undefeated Squires lost to 12th-ranked Leo 3-0 in the opening game of the Oak Hill Regional to finish the season with an 18-1 record.

Leo struck first in with a goal at the 34:16 mark of the first half.

Meanwhile, Manchester was having trouble finding its groove, spending most of the first 20 minutes at midfield and on defense.

“They played their defense back so you can't put anything over their defense for our offense to run on,” Manchester coach Dave McKee said.

By Joe Rodgers, BetIndiana News

First place in the AFC South is on the line in Sunday’s Texans-Colts game from Lucas Oil Stadium (1 p.m. ET/Noon CT, CBS), and based on the point spread, we are in for a tight division affair.

The Colts are consensus 1-point favorites in early betting action. When factoring 3 points for home-field advantage, the spread suggests the Texans (4-2 straight up and against the spread) would be favored at a neutral site, but Indianapolis (3-2 SU, 3-1-1 ATS) has owned the series both SU and ATS of late.

Since 2011, the Colts are 11-6 SU and 11-5-1 ATS against the Texans, including winning and covering four of the past five meetings. Last season, the Colts avenged a Week 4 home loss by beating Houston on the road as underdogs in Week 14, and more importantly, again in the wild-card playoff game on Jan. 5.

In that 21-7 wild-card win as 1-point away underdogs, the Colts, behind 148 rushing yards by Marlon Mack, outgained the Texans 422-322 and held Houston running backs to under 30 yards.

CULVER -- It was a game that Squire soccer fans will not soon forget.

After 90 minutes of play with out a winner and 14 more minutes of overtime, the Manchester Squire boys soccer team outscored Culver Academy 4-2 in penalty kicks for a 5-4 win to claim the program's first sectional title.

The eighth-ranked Squires remained undefeated at 18-0 with the win and will compete for a regional title this Saturday at Oak Hill High School.

“This is awesome,” Manchester coach Dave McKee said. “I just stood there and watched all the players dog pile on Sam (Reichenbach) … and all the bleachers clear. I got real emotional.”

Reichenbach clinched the win with Manchester's fourth goal on penalty kicks.

Both teams felt each other out over the first 15 minutes of play before the scoreboard started lighting up.

Harley Kruschwitz gave Manchester and early lead with a goal at the 23:16 mark by cutting through defenders and scoring unassisted for a 1-0 lead.

The Wabash Apache boys cross country team finished .05 seconds behind Oak Hill to finish second at the Marion Sectional Saturday, Oct. 12. With the top-five placement Wabash advanced as a team to regional.

Southwood placed eighth with Northfield finishing 10th.

Wabash's Derek Vogel was the overall individual winner with a time of 16:12.6.

Cole Blakley finished seventh in 16:39.9, followed by Caleb Callahan in 12th in 16:56.2, David Ford in 15th in 17:02.7, Jarrett Wilson in 20th in 17:17.4, Ethan Kocher 24th in 5:43.9, and Wyatt Davis in 37th in 18:21.0.

Southwood's Braden Sweet placed second overall in 16:12.6. He was followed by teammates Jacob Marlow in 36th in 18:20.5, Nathan Lehner in 50th in 19:39.0, Wesley Nelson in 53rd in 19:47.5, Landon Topliff in 60th in 20:33.1, Devin Drasny in 61st in 20:34.2, and Brayden Smith in 65th in 21:02.7.

Northfield's Andrew Burns finished in 11th place in 16:53.1, followed by Grant Dale in 47th in 19:25.2, Alex Reed in 54th in 19:55.3, Karson Pratt in 70th in 21:43.8, Ben Kissel in 72nd in 22:03.9, and Clay Herring in 74th place in 22:19.7.