Road is perfect fit for Cowboys

For most NFL teams, playing at home is a positive. But not for the 2007 Dallas Cowboys, who have been a better bet on the road than at Texas Stadium.

Under first-year Coach Wade Phillips, Dallas leads the NFC East with a 12-2 record, which includes a spotless 6-0 mark away from home.

That’s good news for loyal supporters of the Cowboys, who are listed as 10 1/2 -point road favorites for tonight’s game at 6-8 Carolina.

Dallas is 7-2-1 against the spread in its last 10 road games and 10-4 against the spread in its last 14 games versus a team with a losing record.

Another good sign for the Cowboys, 9-5 against the spread this season, is that they have won two in a row at Carolina, including last year’s 35-14 victory.

In that game, quarterback Tony Romo made his first NFL start and completed 24 of 36 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown. With Romo as a starter, Dallas has won 20 of its last 24 regular-season games.

Carolina, 6-8 against the spread, will start rookie Matt Moore at quarterback, and the Panthers are hoping that he can deliver as he did in last week’s 13-10 victory over Seattle.

In his first career start, Moore completed 19 of 27 passes for 208 yards and gave Carolina’s offense some much-needed stability. Moore needs to play well again tonight to help Carolina break a few negative trends.

The Panthers are 1-4 against the spread in their last five games against a team with a winning record, and 1-5 against the spread in their last six games as an underdog.

And finally: The over/under for tonight’s game is 43 points. The over is 11-1-2 in the last 14 games Dallas has played as a road favorite and the over is 5-1 in the Panthers’ last six games played as an underdog of 10 1/2 points or more.

College football

Southern Mississippi won its final two regular-season games to earn a spot in today’s PapaJohn’s.com Bowl against Cincinnati, but that did not save Coach Jeff Bower from losing his job.

The Golden Eagles (7-5) are 11-point underdogs against the Bearcats (9-3) and strong money has flowed in favor of Cincinnati for this lower-tier bowl game in Birmingham, Ala.

According to Wagerline.com’s betting trend, Cincinnati has received 71.38% of the bets against the spread and theSpread.com reports the Bearcats’ support at 82%.

Boxing

Here’s a tidbit from Floyd Mayweather’s knockout victory over Ricky Hatton this month in Las Vegas:

As a favorite, winning Mayweather bets came in at $2.10, but tickets that had Mayweather winning by 10th-round knockout paid at 20-1.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com