Notre Dame favored by oddsmakers
despite Ohio State AP poll
ranking
Ohio State
finishes atop AP poll of schools but it is Notre
Dame that has the best odds of winning a BCS
championship according to oddsmakers
For the first time
since 1998, Ohio State is preseason No. 1 in The
Associated Press Top 25.
"Around here,
whether you're high in the polls or not, the
expectations are still the same," Ohio State coach
Jim Tressel said.
The Buckeyes
received 35 of a possible 65 first-place votes from
a panel of media members in the poll released
Friday. Notre Dame was No. 2, the best preseason
showing for the Fighting Irish since they were
second in 1994.
But while Ohio
State sits firmly atop the list of colleges likely
to win a BCS Championship this season, oddsmakers
give the edge to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
At both Sports
Interaction and Pinnacle Sports, Notre Dame has the
best odds of winning a BCS Championship.
SportsInteraction lists Notre Dame with odds
of 6.00 compared to Ohio State with odds of
7.00 of winning the BCS National
Championship Game while PinnacleSports.com
has Notre Dame at +684 compared to Ohio
State at +730
See Sports Interaction here ---------->
See PinnacleSports odds here ------->
SportsInteraction.com has Notre
Dame listed with odds of 6.00,
which is approximately a $600
payout for every $100 bet.
PinnacleSports lists Notre Dame
with odds of winning the BCS
Championship title at +684 (that
number represents a $684 payout
for every $600 bet.
SportsInteraction.com has Ohio
State with odds of 7.00 and
PinnacleSports.com has odds on
Ohio State at +730.
"A
smart gambler might consider
placing a future bet on Notre
Dame at Pinnacle Sports (see
website here ----->
) and a separate future bet on
Ohio State at
SportsInteraction.com (see
website here ---->
)," advises Tyrone Black,
resident sports betting expert
at Sports911.com. "One
might even wish to consider a
small future bet somewhere else
on West Virginia, which believe
it or not has shorter odds than
Ohio State at Pinnacle Sports."
Pinnacle now lists West
Virginia's odds at +705.
Sports Interaction still has
them at 8.00.
The Associated Press Poll,
however, has been all over the
Buckeyes.
Unlike the past two seasons,
when USC started the season as
an overwhelming No. 1, the
Buckeyes received 54 percent of
the first-place votes, and all
the teams in the top six
received at least three votes
for No. 1. Notre Dame had 10
first-place votes, Texas eight,
West Virginia six and Auburn and
USC three each.
Ohio State closed the 2005
season on a seven-game winning
streak and was No. 4 in the
final AP poll. The Buckeyes' two
losses were to Texas and Penn
State, by a combined 10 points.
These are the full AP Poll
results:
AP preseason poll
The Associated Press
preseason Top 25 poll
(with first-place votes
in parentheses and last
season's record):
Ohio State
finishes atop AP poll of schools but it is Notre
Dame that has the best odds of winning a BCS
championship according to oddsmakers