Odds to Win the 2012 BCS Championship

Odds to Win the 2012 BCS Championship

While the BCS hasn't exactly lived up expectations, it's still the only game in town as far as selecting a national football champion. Its flaws have been evident the past couple of seasons, but until college football wises up and uses a playoff format, it's going to be around.

The early favorite to win the 2012 BCS championship is Oklahoma and the Sooners are likely to open the season as the No. 1 team in the country, at least according to the polls.

Alabama is likely to be the No. 2 team, followed by Oregon. After that things will get a bit more jumbled, but expect Stanford, Texas A&M, LSU and Boise State to fight it out for the top five.

From a betting standpoint, we're only interested in which team wins the title, or at the very least, makes it to the title game, as the opportunity to hedge out bets comes into play.

Now, we'll take a look at the odds currently found at the Greek. Remember to always shop for the best odds when betting futures, as sportsbooks can, and will, have different odds and they fluctuate much than the odds on a regular game.

The Odds

Alabama +500
Arkansas +3000
Auburn +10000
Arizona +15000
Boise State +1200
Boston College +17500
BYU +15000
California +10000
Cincinnati +8000
Clemson +10000

Florida +1200
Florida State +1200
Georgia +4000
Georgia Tech +15000
Iowa +6000
Kansas State +12500
LSU +1800
Miami +5000
Michigan +10000
Michigan State +5000

Missouri +8000
Miss. State +6000
Nebraska +2500
North Carolina +8000
Notre Dame +2800
Ohio State +3000
Oklahoma +385
Oklahoma State +2500
Oregon +1500
Oregon State +10000

Penn State +2500
Pittsburgh +15000
South Carolina +2800
South Florida +12500
Stanford +2000
TCU +3000
Tennessee +8000
Texas +2500
Texas A&M +4000

UCLA +17500
Utah +15000
Virginia Tech +3300
Washington +15000
West Virginia +2500
Wisconsin +3500
Field +2000

Early Thoughts

The field bet is probably the worst bet on the board, as it's highly unlikely that team not listed above makes it to the title game, let alone wins the game. Even if a team not mentioned above goes through the regular season undefeated, it's doubtful they will be able to jump past enough of the big boys to play in the title game.

The two favorites, Alabama and Oklahoma, are favorites for good reason, but offer very little in the way of value at their current prices.

Where things get a little interesting is in the third tier of teams, such as Oregon, LSU and Stanford. Oregon will likely be the No. 3 team in the polls to open the season and the Ducks will have a strong test with a road game at LSU. Oregon's toughest conference game is another road game, this time at Stanford. With wins in both of those games, Oregon could very well move into the title game.

Likewise, a win by LSU would likely see the Tigers moving into the No. 3 spot and the early boost in strength of schedule could have the Tigers ready to hit the top two.

We still have plenty of time to finalize our selections, but the odds tend to go down slightly as the regular season approaches.