BCS Championship Betting - Ohio
State vs. LSU
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The four traditional
major bowls have come and gone. There are a
couple of minor bowls to take care of, but
these are mere preliminaries to the main event
of the NCAAF betting season: Monday’s
BSC Championship Game between the No. 1 Ohio
State Buckeyes and the No. 2 Louisiana State
Tigers.
The Tigers go into
this matchup as 4.5-point favorites (-200 on
the moneyline) with a total of 48.5 points.
From a purely technical standpoint, the Tigers
have been something of a disappointment this
year at 5-7-1 against the spread. Expectations
in Baton Rouge have been sky-high; the smallest
pointspread LSU saw this year was 6.5 points,
and 10 of the Tigers’ 13 games featured
double-digit spreads. That turned out to be unrealistic
in a deep and talented SEC. The Tigers were 2-6-1
ATS within their conference compared to 3-1 ATS
outside.
The Big Ten’s reputation took something
of a hit last year at this time when the favored
Buckeyes were bitten by the Florida Gators (+8)
for the national title. Things didn’t go
too smoothly this year either, as all the Big
Ten heavyweights found themselves on the canvas
at one point or another. OSU’s moment of
truth was in Week 11, when the Illinois Fighting
Illini came to Ohio Stadium as 15.5-point underdogs
and beat the Buckeyes 28-21.
It took monumental collapses by a number of
elite teams over the final two weeks for Ohio
State and Louisiana State to become the chosen
ones of the BCS. However, despite complaints
of snubbery from two-loss teams like Georgia,
the computers did a pretty good job of piecing
together a deserving contest for the college
football betting title.
Playing in the tough SEC and suffering both
their losses in triple overtime, the Tigers are
the top-ranked team in the nation in terms of
game efficiency. Ohio State was dominant enough
at 7-4 ATS to merit the No. 3 spot in the efficiency
rankings. The Buckeyes dropped Michigan and Penn
State by double digits in their own buildings,
shredded Wisconsin 38-17, and hit the West Coast
to pound Washington by 19 points for good measure.
Ohio State’s strength, as it was last
year, is defense. The Buckeyes allowed just 227.6
yards (148.2 through the air) and 10.7 points
per game, by far the stingiest numbers in the
FBS. But this is hardly a carbon copy of last
year’s club. The concern for 2006 was that
the young defense wouldn’t keep up with
players like QB Troy Smith, WR Ted Ginn and WR
Anthony Gonzalez. The shoe was on the other foot
for 2007; however, junior QB Todd Boeckman acquitted
himself in his first full year under center with
23 TD throws and 12 interceptions.
Boeckman’s level of play wasn’t
spectacular, but it was sufficient for OSU to
post an average winning margin of 22.7 points
and drive the over to a 6-5 record. Now he has
to at least maintain that productivity against
the No. 9 pass defense in the nation (180.8 yards
allowed per game). The Tigers have a stellar
defensive line, led by Glenn Dorsey at tackle,
and LSU turned the heat up high enough to produce
33 turnovers. It can’t be stressed enough
that the Buckeyes’ offense will be performing
indoors at the Superdome in front of 70,000 screaming
Louisianans.
The Tigers are
even better on the other end of the ball. The
combination of Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux
at quarterback was a rare luxury for LSU; Perrilloux
is the more dangerous of the two, although
off-field distractions contributed to his limited
minutes this season. Coach Les Miles hasn’t
used the two pivots in tandem the same way
Florida did last year with Chris Leak and Tim
Tebow, but if one fails to produce on Monday,
the other will get his chance. Consider it
an insurance policy for the Tigers and their
supporters.
The NCAAF odds are loaded with proposition
bets for the title game, so make sure to check
them out. Kick-off is at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on
FOX.
NCAA football betting has started, and BetUS
sportsbook already has tons of college football
Futures betting available for those of us who
can't wait. Bet on the Heisman winner, Conference
and Divisional winners and, of course, the 2008
BCS National Championship winner. Bet NCAA Football
Futures in our sportsbook today in the Future
/ props section!
Posted on 1/4/2008 5:14:25 PM
BCS Championship Betting Preview - Ohio State vs. LSU
By BetUS Staff
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