posted July 11, 2008 at 13:29 in Other Betting Trends

Week 3 of the Canadian Football League season continues on Friday night from Canada Inns Stadium in Winnipeg, and CFL betting faithful get a chance to sink their teeth into the action when the British Columbia Lions (0-2, 0-2 ATS) take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (0-2, 0-2 ATS). Both teams were highly touted favorites to win their respective divisions in the preseason, yet both find themselves mired in a slump to open up their 2008 campaigns. As six-point home favorites, BC fell 26-16 against a Saskatchewan team playing with its third string QB for the entire second half. Meanwhile, the Bombers didn’t fare much better, coming up on the short end of a 38-24 game against Montreal where they were slim one-point road choices. This is the first of back-to-back games between the two teams, who will meet in BC Place next weekend.

There really hasn’t been a facet of the game that the perennial powerhouse Lions has excelled in yet in 2008. Former Notre Dame QB Jarious Jackson has struggled in relief of Buck Pierce, completing just 50% of his passes. The bigger concern might be RB Joe Smith. The Louisiana Tech product ran for a league-high 1,510 yards a year ago but has only 81 yards on the ground in two games this year. He’s now battling a shoulder injury and may not be available to go Friday night. It all adds up to just 34 points in two games this season, thus it should be no surprise to see the mighty Lions struggling both 0-2 SU and ATS.

The Eastern Division representatives in last year’s Grey Cup haven’t been anything to write home about either. The Bombers opened up with back-to-back disappointing losses against division rivals Toronto and Montreal, but their problem rests on the defence’s shoulders. Winnipeg has surrendered 58 points in two games, the second worst mark in the CFL. The inability to produce a solid running game for QB Kevin Glenn has hampered the offence, and made both HC Doug Berry and its CFL bettors extremely disappointed to start the season.

The CFL betting trends all seem to favor the Lions in this match-up. In their last ten meetings, BC is 8-2 SU and 7-3 ATS. Last season, both team won and covered on the opposition’s field. CFL bettors have had a difficult time backing either team of late, as BC is 0-5 ATS in their L/5 while Winnipeg is 1-5 in their L/6 home games. It should be worth mentioning that Winnipeg is 7-2 SU its L/9 overall.

Oddsmakers tagged the host’s lofty 2-point home favorites in this intra-conference showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 48. Watch out for a lower scoring affair since the betting trends all point towards the under. BC has played to the under five straight times and its cashed in 5 of their L/6 road games, while Winnipeg has played to the under five straight times in Canad Inns Stadium.

You can find all of the CFL betting lines at BetUS.com, so be sure to login and get your wagers down in what should be a heated clash between two teams trying to notch their first win of the 2008 CFL season!