Take the points and cash a ticket.

Jay Cutler is out for the Chicago Bears at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bears are 7-point favorites and a 6.9-point value, according the the WhatToWager system. But without Cutler, who knows? Of course, the Chiefs are also missing their No. 1 quarterback, Matt Cassel.

The Houston Texans are in even worse shape at quarterback. First, they lost Matt Schaub for the season. Then, last week, Matt Leinart couldn’t even make it through one game before sustaining what is suspected to be a season-ending shoulder injury. All in all, a tough season for NFL quarterbacks named Matt. The Texans are getting three points at home against the Atlanta Falcons, which would have been an 8.81-point edge if it weren’t for the QB injuries.

The Detroit Lions are getting nine points on the road against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. WhatToWager.com calculates that the Lions should only be getting 2.5 points, making them a 6.49-point edge. Beware, though, because Detroit will be without Ndamukong Suh, who was suspended two games after a personal foul in the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Green Bay Packers.

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The WhatToWager.com NFL betting system went 7-0 in Week 5, rebounding from a couple of slow weeks. The big week was capped by the New York Jets covering 5 points against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Thank you Dwight Lowery for the Pick Six that covered the number.

Speaking of Lowery, his alma mater, San Jose State, was one of four winners (out of five games) that the WhatToWager.com college football betting system picked over the weekend. Of course, the betting system properly picked the Spartans NOT to cover getting 16.5 points against Nevada.

One home underdog in the NFL stands out. The Kansas City Chiefs getting three points at the new Arrowhead Stadium turns up as the best value on the NFL Week 3 schedule. The Chiefs are nearly a 12-point value against the San Francisco 49ers according the the WhatToWager.com betting formula.

The betting system also likes the Houston Texans as 2.5-point favorites at home against the Dallas Cowboys (8.15-point edge) and the Buffalo Bills as 14.5-point underdogs at the New England Patriots. Beware, however, of the quarterback change in Buffalo this week. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been promoted by coach Chan Gailey to start over Trent Edwards.

In college football, the betting system likes Fresno State as a 2-point underdog at Mississippi (12.11-point edge), and New Mexico getting 10.5 points at UNLV (10.3-point value).

The WhatToWager college football betting system is off to a screaming start to the season, correctly calling 10 of the 12 games it has recommended so far this season.  We’ve traditionally been a little shy about playing the early games, thinking that the power ratings need two or three weeks to mature. We might need to rethink that.

WhatToWager recommends college football games where there is at least a 10-point edge. Those games have covered 62 percent of the time in the last five seasons.

Our NFL betting system result haven’t been as good as college, but they are still good. The NFL system has covered on seven of the 12 games it recommended for wagering.

WhatToWager.com’s betting system recommended Florida Atlantic getting 14 points at UAB and East Carolina as a 7-point underdog at home against Tulsa. Both picks were winners.

This week, WhatToWager.com sees 10 college football games with betting value, including Florida Atlantic and East Carolina again.

Florida Atlantic is getting 28 points at Michigan State, about a 14-point edge. East Carolina is a home dog again, this time getting 12.5 points against Memphis. That represents an 11-point edge.

This is also Week 1 in the NFL, and WhatToWager.com recommends eight games for betting. The biggest value on the NFL schedule is the Philadelphia Eagles as 3-point home underdogs against the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles are one of five home dogs in Week 1. The others are the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers (minus Ben Roethlisberger), Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks.

The Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs are each listed as home underdogs.

NFL regular season betting begins September 9.

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Sounds a lot like the idea behind WhatToWager.com — look at historical data and trends and make statistically sound bets based on that analysis.

“We have unique software we’ve written over five years that ensures we purely trade on statistics and probabilities,” said Tony Woodhams, managing director of Centaur. “The process is very clinical, which is our edge.”

Bravo.