Ducks are favored to repeat

The NFL begins its regular season in six days with the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts playing host to the New Orleans Saints.

Not far behind the NFL on the calendar is the beginning of the lengthy NHL season. In four weeks, the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks will get things started with two games against the Kings in London.

On the website Vegasinsider.com, the Ducks are favored to win the Cup again. There has been no repeat champion in the NHL since Detroit won in 1997 and 1998.

Ottawa, which fell to the Ducks in the finals less than three months ago, is the 6-1 second choice, followed by the Red Wings at 8-1. Buffalo, hurt by the loss of free agents Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, opened at 7-1 but is now 10-1, and the New York Rangers, who added Scott Gomez and Drury, are 11-1 after opening at 14-1.

The Kings, who haven’t made the playoffs since the 2001-02 season, are 60-1 and Phoenix, which has struggled under the leadership of Wayne Gretzky, is the longest shot in the league at 125-1.

College football

The last time Washington played a game at Syracuse, the quarterback for the Huskies was Warren Moon. In 1977, Washington fell, 22-20, at Archbold Stadium, losing when the home team kicked a 31-yard field goal with 23 seconds left.

But the loss wasn’t devastating to the Huskies. They went on to win the Pacific 8 title and defeated Michigan, 27-20, in the Rose Bowl.

A trip to Pasadena looks out of reach for this year’s edition of the Huskies, who will begin the season in the Carrier Dome against the Orangemen. Opening the season away from Seattle isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Washington. The Huskies are 6-5 in their last 11 road openers and will be facing a team starting a new quarterback (Andrew Robinson).

This will be the second visit to the Carrier Dome for Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham and he hopes this one turns out better than the first. On Dec. 6, 2003, Willingham, then coach at Notre Dame, saw the Irish lose, 38-12.

Golf

Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh will both be looking to win the Deutsche Bank Championship, which begins today in Norton, Mass., for a second time.

Woods, the defending champion, is the 2-1 favorite on the website Vegasinsider.com and Singh, who won the tournament in 2004 and finished second last year, two shots behind Woods, is 15-1.

Ernie Els is listed at 10-1, but he announced earlier in the week he is skipping the event, so the shortest price on any individual other than Woods is Phil Mickelson, who has never played in the event, at 12-1.

Adam Scott, who won the inaugural tournament in 2003, is 15-1, as is Jim Furyk. Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia are 20-1 and Angel Cabrera, who won the U.S. Open earlier this year, is 40-1.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com