Oddsmakers list Nittany Lions and Gators as BCS Darlings: The new BCS Poll for Week 11 of the 2008 college football season is out and Alabama and Texas Tech are the new No. 1 and 2 teams. So what do oddsmakers think of all this? Not much if betting odds have anything to do with it.
When online oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com released odds on the prospective BCS national championship Monday morning, Penn State was listed as the team with the best odds of winning the crystal football at +175. This bet would pay $175 on a $100 bet if the Nittany Lions were to win the BCS title.
Sportsbook.com oddsmakers look at Florida as second best having the Gators installed at +275 followed by Alabama at +450.
"Penn State has the easiest road to the BCS National Championship Game," said Point-Spreads.com resident handicapper Reno Gold. "That's why from a betting perspective, gamblers like their value."
Penn State has games at Iowa (Nov. 
followed by home dates with Indiana (Nov. 15) and Michigan State (Nov. 22) to close out the season. The Nittany Lions will more than likely be double-digit favorites in these games. Penn State is favored by -10 at Iowa. And the Nittany Lions do not have to worry about a conference championship game as do the SEC and Big 12 schools.
So why do oddsmakers like No. 5 Florida so much?
"Oddsmakers think the Gators have a soft schedule over their final four games," said Gold. "I am not sure if I agree with their thinking either. I don't see a problem for Florida beating a fading Vanderbilt this week or the Citadel Nov. 29, but South Carolina comes to the Swamp Nov 15 and Florida goes to Florida State to end the season Nov. 29. The Gators can't afford to look past either of these guys. But if the Gators win-out and beat Alabama in the SEC title game I expect they will get to the BCS championship game."
Alabama has a very stiff test at LSU this week before ending its regular season with home games against Mississippi State (Nov 15) and Auburn (Nov 29). The Tide can expect Tiger Stadium to be rocking when former LSU coach Nick Saban leads his Crimson Tide team onto the field at Death Valley. Alabama is a slight 3 1/2 point favorite in this one.
If Alabama can survive at Death Valley on Nov. 8, we can expect to see the Tide playing in the SEC title game in December probably against Florida.
So how about this week's darlings Texas Tech Red Raiders?
"Texas Tech has a big problem coming down from the clouds to play Oklahoma State," said Gold. "This is an upset waiting to happen if coach Rick Leach doesn't get his team's focus on the Cowboys. If the Red Raiders survive OSU, they face a trip to Norman to play Oklahoma. Can they run the gauntlet of Texas-OSU-OU and follow that up with a win in the BIG 12 championship game? Time will tell."
One thing we can be assured of, the Texas Longhorns will be cheering hard for Oklahoma State this weekend. The Longhorns need to take care of business with Baylor at home this week followed by a trip to Kansas Nov. 15 before they wrap up the regular season on Thanksgiving day with Texas A&M in Austin.
The Sooners are right in there too at +600 odds but will probably need some help while winning-out. And winning-out means defeating Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
The same goes for Southern California. They need some help from above; meaning, they need a few teams ranked above to lose to have any chance of reaching the top two spots in the BCS poll. The Trojans remaining four games are Cal, at Stanford, Notre Dame and at UCLA.
The bottom line…there is plenty of football to be played and anything can happen. If you don't believe it just look how 2007 played out.
Odds of winning the BCS National Championship(Sportsbook.com)
Penn State Nittany Lions +175
Florida Gators +275
Alabama Crimson Tide +450
Texas Longhorns +500
Oklahoma Sooners +600
USC Trojans +600
Texas Tech Red Raiders +1500
Oklahoma State Cowboys +2500
