Vegas Odds: Florida vs. USC or Utah?

Las Vegas, Nevada (January 8, 2009) – With the college football season over, the water cooler conversation about the National Champion is in full swing. People are especially curious about the opinion of Las Vegas, since sportsbooks back their opinions with millions of dollars.

RJ Bell of Pregame.com has polled numerous Las Vegas and offshore sports betting professionals. Listed below are the top 8 BCS teams entering the bowls, ranked from a betting perspective. The number beside each is the estimated number of points that team would be underdogs to Florida (the most highly regarded team) on a neutral field if the game were played today.

Florida
USC +4
Oklahoma +5
Texas +11
Alabama +13
Utah +14
Penn St +14
Texas Tech +15

You can compare any two teams with these rankings: the team with the higher number would be the underdog by the difference between its number and its opponent’s number. For example, Alabama would be -1 over Utah, and Texas would be -3 over Penn St. USC would be -1 over Oklahoma.

RJ Bell of Pregame.com said: “Florida would be a clear favorite against any team in the country, and Oklahoma would still be a clear favorite against all but two teams.”

Keep in mind that these rankings are unable to account for the nuances of individual team match-ups. Such nuances can affect a point spread, but rarely by more than 1-point.

A little known fact is that Las Vegas is no longer the center of the sports betting world. Many of the sharpest professionals bet offshore. Las Vegas oddsmakers follow offshore action closely, but for political reasons they are often uncomfortable disclosing this fact. Pregame.com takes into account experts worldwide, providing the clearest estimate of the true sports betting market.

MEDIA NOTE: Print, radio, TV, and Internet media should feel free to quote any information above. Please attribute: RJ Bell of Pregame.com. For follow-up questions, or media appearances – email: rjbell@pregame.com

About RJ Bell of Pregame.com
RJ Bell, president of http://Pregame.com, has been featured on CBS News with Katie Couric, ABC News with Charles Gibson, Nightline, Sportscenter, Outside the Lines (ESPN), First Take (ESPN2), ESPN.com, ESPN National Radio, Yahoo, AOL.com, CNN.com and in Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, LA Times, Newsweek.com, Bloomberg, Maxim, and Forbes.

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Contact Information

RJ Bell

President

Pregame.com

Contact via E-mail