With college and pro football in full swing the online sports betting action and intensity is at a peak and the best is yet to come as gridiron surprises abound so far in 2011.

The New England Patriots remain the Team of the Decade as they won 5 of their first 6 games while getting the money 4 times. If there was any doubt about the Patriots ability among online sports betting handicappers that doubt has been erased as quarterback Tom Brady was lights out with a 104.8 quarterback rating and 16 touchdown passes. New England coach Bill Belichick has proven to have the best mind in the game as football’s dominant leader. New England is not going away and the only question is if their board value will decline as the betting public re-boards the Patriot bandwagon.

One of the biggest surprise teams in pro football has been the Cincinnati Bengals as they won 4 of their first 6 games while getting the money 5 times. Cincinnati was a consensus online sports betting pick for last place in the American Conference North and this was a classic handicapping reminder about the dangers of wagering on “consensus.” The Bengals have a defensive mastermind as head coach in Marvin Lewis and ranked 2nd overall in the NFL for total defense and 5th for points against. Meanwhile rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has been a sensation with a 62% completion rate, 1311 yards, and 7 TD passes. If Dalton maintains that type of production the Bengals will not be leaving the race and could be a bargain value all the way to the playoffs.

In the college ranks the first major upset of the season took place as Texas Tech went into #3 Oklahoma and ruined the Sooners BCS title hopes with a stunning 41-38 upset win as whopping 29 point dogs. This was a classic reminder about “forgone conclusions” and how fans can easily be trapped into making overlays with teams that get a lot of hype from the media.

Speaking of online sports betting overlays how about the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame? Second year coach Brian Kelly resorted to gimmickry in their matchup with USC as the Irish flashed extra shiny gold on their helmets and chose to ignore tradition with blaring rock music during USC offensive plays. The hype blew up in their face as USC dominated in a 31-17 win as whopping 9.5 point dogs!