College Football Betting: BCS Futures

One school's BCS futures are going to take a beating on Saturday as college football plays the first week of its regular-season schedule. That's because No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 LSU will meet at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday evening in a marquee matchup.

And the loser of that contest will then be squarely behind the eight ball as they try to get back into the national title picture – they'd basically have to run the table the rest of the way to get a shot at playing for the BCS National Championship next January.

At the Bodog Sportsbook the oddsmakers have both Oregon and LSU at 14/1 odds to win the national title, odds that will need adjusting one way or the other for both teams on Sunday morning. That ties those schools with Boise State for fourth on that list.

No. 5 Boise State, however, has a tough matchup of its own this weekend, as they take on No. 19 Georgia on hostile ground at the Georgia Dome. The Broncos hope that having a higher profile in the Mountain West Conference will help their chances of making it to the BCS National Championship – a loss on Saturday kills those hopes.

The top three teams on the BCS title odds list at Bodog to start the season are Oklahoma (9/2), Alabama (5/1), and Florida State (11/1). No. 1 Oklahoma hosts Tulsa on Saturday, while No. 2 Alabama gets a visit from Kent State, and No. 6 Florida State plays at home against Louisiana-Monroe. None of those three teams are expected to have any trouble picking up their first victory of the season this weekend.

The next tier of contenders at the Bodog Sportsbook are then Wisconsin (18/1), Florida (20/1), Stanford (20/1), Nebraska (22/1), Notre Dame (22/1), Ohio State (25/1), and South Carolina (25/1). Arkansas, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia are then all at 30/1, with Texas A&M at 40/1. The No. 8 Aggies will close out Week 1 of the schedule at home against SMU on Sunday night.

Penn State is then at 45/1, with Arizona State, Georgia, and Miami at 50/1, Michigan State at 60/1, and Mississippi State at 65/1. Defending-champion Auburn is back at 100/1 as they look to compete without Cam Newton this season; the No. 23 Tigers begin their season at home on Saturday afternoon with a game against Utah State.