Point Spreads » College Football » Midseason BCS futures watch

Midseason BCS futures watch

by Thomas Jensen on Friday, October 13th, 2006

We're at the halfway point of the college football season, and the contenders are already separating themselves from the pretenders.

The futures market for the 2006-07 Fiesta Bowl BCS Championship is tightening up. Teams like Florida State, Miami, Oklahoma, Penn State and LSU have already dropped off the odds list after picking up two losses apiece. Meanwhile, the strong have survived: Ohio State, USC and Florida are among the undefeated. Here's a look at the cream of the crop heading into Week 7.

Ohio State Buckeyes (+175)

With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish plunging to +1500 after a sluggish start, the Buckeyes have seized what many analysts felt was their rightful place as the favorites to win the national championship. Ohio State has destroyed the competition at 6-0 straight up and 5-1 ATS.

Quarterback Troy Smith is looking more like a Heisman winner every day, and his rapport with wideout Ted Ginn borders on telekinetic. But it's the work of the retooled defense that has the Buckeyes on top – the UNDER is also 5-1 heading into the second half of the season.

Bet on College Football at BetUS

Get the latest college football lines here.

USC Trojans (+250)
Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, John David Booty. It seems the Trojans can do no wrong in the Pac-10. They've lost just one game in the past three years. But USC has also dropped the cash in its last three straight outings.

Playing in a disappointingly weak conference helps (Arizona State has taken a big step back); however, if the Trojans don't start picking up their game, they might be in for a rude awakening even before they encounter the Irish on Nov. 25. Getting injured wideout Dwayne Jarrett back in the lineup will go a long way to ensuring USC gets through the rest of the season with no more than one loss.

Florida Gators (+650)
The Auburn Tigers have done Florida a huge favor in the SEC. First, Auburn put away LSU 6-3 to put a serious dent in the Bayou's title hopes, then Auburn managed to find a way to lose a 27-10 stunner to Arkansas.

That left QB Chris Leak and the Gators one leg up on the rest of the SEC heavyweights at 6-0, their first undefeated start since 1996 – the year they won the national championship. The Tigers (still on the title radar at +2500) can push Florida even closer to glory when the two clubs meet in Auburn this Saturday. The Gators have won eight of their last nine matchups with Auburn.

Bet on College Football at BetUS