Yes, we are still, what, 30-some days away from the BcS title game, but the early line out of Las Vegas and online sports books has Alabama as prohibitive favorites.
The early lines started with the Tide giving in the neighborhood of four points, but now the line has been up as far as 5.5 points according to SportsBook.com.
Still another has the Tide at -5, a number that has the operator of the betting blog labeling the title game as “the most surprising point spread” in the early going.
The sports book director for the MGM Mirage tells the Associated Press that his early line gave the Longhorns 4.5 points, but that number has been pushed to 5.5 on heavy betting coming in on the Tide.
Danny Sheridan‘s early line has the Tide as just a 3.5 point favorite.
30-some days. 30-some days? When you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous! How did we manage to stretch this out so long? Talk about a bye! How do you keep players focused and hungry that long? I don’t envy those coaches.
It is absolutely amazing at how betting lines have become so ingrained in our daily conversation that we casually toss them around as if they have anything to do with what actually happens in the game…and if they do, then someone is going to jail. Even preachers and Sunday School teachers who shout against gambling talk about who’s favored and by how much when discussing the college games from the day before or the NFL games later that day while standing around waiting for church to begin.
In any event, I don’t put any stock in the betting line. All I care about is that my Tide wins on January 7…and I don’t care if it’s by one point or one hundred. Leave the point spread to the fools who bet their hard-earned money on what 18-22 year-olds do as they play a game.
@DCroz … What a great post!!!!!! Amen!!!
@ 30 days—-Well if you went to college you would know that this week is usually dead week for students in most colleges. Next week is final exams for students. What most people tend to forget beating their chest for a playoff is that these kids are suppose to be students first.
On that note, pls do not compare it to division 2 or 3 playoffs. The logistics of Division 1 is like comparing apples and oranges. 100,000 fans, 150,000 coaches,players, trainers, band members etc. not to mention how you would distibute tickets within 4 days.
@ 30 days—-Well if you went to college you would know that this week is usually dead week for students in most colleges. Next week is final exams for students. What most people tend to forget beating their chest for a playoff is that these kids are suppose to be students first.
On that note, pls do not compare it to division 2 or 3 playoffs. The logistics of Division 1 is like comparing apples and oranges. 100,000 fans, 150,000 coaches,players, trainers, band members etc. not to mention how you would distibute tickets within 4 days.
The shame of it is, in 30 days those will be two entirely different teams than they are today.
Texas will be relishing their role as underdogs. Texas played with a huge chip on their shoulder when USC was made prohibitive favorites in 2005, and ESPN suckled on their nuts by crowning them the best college football team in history before Texas had even played them with one of their stupid weeklong analysis features.