Vegas Lines Forming for BCS Games

Earlier this week, the BCS bowl pairings were announced. Now, the money is starting to trickle in on the various matchups. Notably the BCS Championship game between Florida and Oklahoma opened with the Gators a 1.5 point favorite but the Gators have edged forward to three point favorites. With Bob Stoops' poor BCS record and shaky defense relative to Florida's, I'm surprised the Gators don't have a bigger edge.

Elsewhere, shunned Texas opened as eight point favorites over Ohio State but the 'Horns are now 9.5 point favorites at most casinos. Non-BCS attendee Utah didn't get much love from the LVSC, opening as an 11 point dog to Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Betters, however, are a touch more optimistic giving an extra half point edge to Alabama -10.5 right now.

In the game almost nobody outside of Cincinnati is excited about, the LVSC opened the Virginia Tech/Cincinnati Orange Bowl as a tossup, but gamblers have nudged Cincinnati to favored status, albeit by a single point. The money seems to be on a defensive struggle as the over/under is a mere 41 points compared to the 72 expected between Florida and Oklahoma.

Finally, in the traditional Rose Bowl matchup betters are in agreement with the LVSC's opening line with USC favored by a solid 10 points over Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions.

The highest-scoring game as far as over/under was very nearly the Florida/Oklahoma tilt, but they were edged by a contest two nights earlier as Ball State and Tulsa open up at 76 points in the over/under.

What does all of this mean? Absolutely nothing, but seeing where people put their money for these games, and the contrasts between opening lines and how actual betters behave, sometimes points towards things unnoticed or not discussed. And they set at least a minimal expectation of how the teams will perform relative to each other.