GATORS FAVORED TO SNARE NATIONAL TITLE
The Florida Gators are ranked 4th in the just released BCS Standings but they are favored to win the national championship at Sportsbook.com.
Florida is the 6:5 favorite, while their SEC counterpart Alabama is 5:1. These two teams will meet in Atlanta for Saturday afternoon’s conference championship game with the winner playing for the national title.
The Gators are 9 ½-point favorites and while it may seem surprising because Alabama is ranked #1 and undefeated, no one is playing better than Florida right now. The Gators are playing tremendous on both sides of the ball and this could be the biggest challenge of Nick Saban’s college coaching career.
One big injury note is that Florida’s star receiver/running back, Percy Harvin could miss the game due to a sprained ankle. Harvin is the second leading rusher on the team and the leading receiver and is a big reason why the Gators are averaging almost 54 PPG in their last seven contests.
The Big 12 championship game will be played Saturday night in Kansas City with Oklahoma (-17) vs. Missouri. The Big 12 South race set off a national firestorm as there was a three-way tie between Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech after last Saturday’s games.
The winner was determined by the highest BCS ranking and Texas Tech was out of the equation because they got blown out by Oklahoma two weeks ago and they barely beat Baylor last week.
That meant it came down to Texas and Oklahoma and the Sooners’ strong recent play outweighed the fact that the Longhorns beat them earlier in the year on a neutral site in Dallas.
Oklahoma will now play Big 12 North champion Missouri, who lost three conference games this season and is ranked #20 in the country. It is assumed by most that the Sooners will win the game and advance to the national title. That’s why Oklahoma is second at Sportsbook.com to win the national championship at 8:5 odds.
The question remains what happens if Oklahoma somehow loses to Missouri. Texas (7:1 to win the national title) is the most likely to go although it could be USC (15:1) as well.
USC plays their biggest rival this weekend, the UCLA Bruins. If the Trojans win, they will play in the Rose Bowl against Penn State. USC embarrassed Charlie Weis and Notre Dame last week, 38-3 as 32 point chalk. The spread this week has USC giving 30 points.
Some other games that don’t have national title implications are Ball State (-14.5) versus Buffalo for the MAC Championship on Friday night. Ball State has been a great story this season going a perfect 12-0 so far.
On Saturday, Boston College will play Virginia Tech for the ACC championship from Tampa. The Eagles beat them once already this year and the Hokies come in as one-point dogs.
