PSG maintains lead in Ligue 1 with win over Brest
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01/28/2012 - Brest, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSG maintained its three-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win over Brest at the Stade Francis-Le Ble on Saturday.
It looked as if PSG would comfortably cruise to three points after Milan Bisevac scored in the sixth minute, but the league leaders were kept at bay for the remainder of the match as Brest ensured a respectable scoreline.
PSG has won three-straight Ligue 1 contests and is unbeaten in its last six league games. The Paris club sets the pace in the French top flight with 46 points on the year.
The win turned out to be a crucial one in the title race as second-place Montpellier also picked up a win Saturday, defeating Nice, 1-0, at the Stade Municipal du Ray. It remains three points adrift of first-place PSG.
Brest, which sits just outside the top-half of the table on 24 points, sees its five-match unbeaten in league play come to an end.
Both sides return to Ligue 1 action on Feb. 4 as PSG welcomes Evian to the Parc des Princes and Brest heads to the Stade de la Mosson for a tough encounter with Montpellier.
Nancy 3, Auxerre 1
Auxerre, France - Yohan Mollo bagged a brace with Daniel Niculae notching a goal in between to help Nancy claim a 3-1 win over Auxerre on Saturday.
Mollo scored his first in the 68th minute before Niculae quickly doubled the advantage with a goal a minute later. Mollo wrapped up the affair with his second goal of the game in the 78th minute. Edouard Cisse nabbed the only goal for Auxerre, netting in the 82nd minute.
The win brings Nancy (22 points) three points clear of the relegation zone, while Auxerre (19 points) remains one spot out of the drop zone on goal differential.
Lille 3, St. Etienne 0
Lille, France - Lille notched three second-half goals to cruise to a 3-0 defeat of St. Etienne at the Stade Lille-Metropole on Saturday.
Eden Hazard converted from the penalty spot in the 50th minute before Nolan Roux grabbed his first two goals of the Ligue 1 season in the 86th and 87th minutes to wrap up the win.
Lille, now with 39 points, moves back into third place after Lyon claimed a 3-1 win over Dijon earlier in the day. St. Etienne sits in eighth place with 33 points.
Montpellier 1, Nice 0
Nice, France - Montpellier edged Nice in dramatic fashion Saturday as Olivier Giroud scored at the death to see his club claim a 1-0 win to keep pace with PSG atop Ligue 1.
Giroud notched his league-leading 15th goal of the season in second-half stoppage time, helping Montpellier to 43 points on the season. It trails first-place PSG by three points.
Nice drops its second-straight league result to remain in the relegation zone on 18 points.
Lyon 3, Dijon 1
Lyon, France - Lyon left it late but still managed to snap a two-game losing skid in league play as it defeated Dijon, 3-1, at the Stade de Gerland on Saturday.
Jimmy Briand opened the scoring for Lyon in the eighth minute, but Dijon equalized through Younousse Sankhare in the 61st minute. Bafetimbi Gomis lifted the home side to the victory, putting Lyon back in front eight minutes from time before Alexandre Lacazette added a third in stoppage time.
Lyon improves to 38 points as it looks to sneak back into the title race, while Dijon remains on 22 points as it looks to avoid relegation.
Lorient 1, Sochaux 1
Lorient, France - Lorient and Sochaux traded second-half goals on Saturday as the two sides played to a 1-1 draw at the Stade du Moustoir.
Alaixys Romao put the home side in front with his strike in the 63rd minute, but Sochaux leveled 10 minutes from time through French forward Cedric Bakambu.
Lorient has drawn three-straight league games to climb to 26 points on the season, while Sochaux sees its four-game losing skid come to end an end as it improves to 19 points.
Toulouse 1, Caen 0
Toulouse, France - French striker Emmanuel Riviere scored the lone for Toulouse in a 1-0 home defeat of Caen at the Stadium Municipal de Toulouse on Saturday.
Riviere provided the break through in the 35th minute to see his side improve to 34 points on the season.
Caen, winless in its last eight league matches, sits three points clear of the relegation zone on 22 points.
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
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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