LSU in the BCS Title Game?

We already know that Ohio State is heading to the BCS title game.  Is LSU the team they will be playing?

The USA Today coaches' poll released Sunday had Ohio State as a comfortable No. 1, which was no surprise. The Buckeyes received 46 first-place votes and 1,469 points.

LSU, the Southeastern Conference champions which less than two weeks ago lost for the second time, was a solid No. 2 in the coaches' poll. The Tigers had 1,418 points.

LSU was listed with 8-1 early odds of winning the BCS Championship at Super Book.  Better still was Ohio State's huge 30-1 odds, which would pay $3000 for every $100 bet should they win the January 7, 2007 title game.

BCS analyst Jerry Palm said Sunday in a phone interview that Ohio State and LSU are both likely to be among the top three teams in the computer ratings. If so, it would take a dramatic difference in the Harris poll to keep LSU from grabbing the second spot in the final BCS standings and a matchup with Ohio State at the Superdome.

"Unless Oklahoma is No. 1 and USC is No. 2 ... Unless we see something totally off the wall in the Harris poll," Palm said LSU is safe.

USC was the early favorite to win the BCS title game while Oklahoma had early odds of 12-1.  If USC were to play in the title game and win, it should be pointed out that just a few weeks ago they were listed with odds of 100-1.  That's a $10,000 payout on every $100 bet if anyone got them at those long odds. 

Brad Edwards of ESPN Insider doesn't see USC getting in.

USC (10-2) won the Pac-10, but as fate would have it, the Trojans ended up with just two wins over teams with a winning record (Arizona State and Oregon State). Even if that doesn't hurt them in the polls, it certainly will hold them back in the computers in relation to the other two-loss teams.

Georgia and Kansas were two other possibilities with Georgia early odds set at 45-1 and Kansas at 100-1. 

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Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com

Originally published December 2, 2007 3:40 pm EST