Top 8 BCS teams in order: See who would be favored . . .

Las Vegas, Nevada (December 5, 2008) - Heading into the last week of the regular season, there's tons of watercolor conversation about college football. People are especially curious about the opinion of Las Vegas, since sportsbooks back their opinions with big money.

RJ Bell of Pregame.com has polled numerous Las Vegas and offshore sports betting professionals. Listed below are the top 8 BCS teams, 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.

Florida . . . (BSC #4)
Oklahoma +1 . . . (BCS #2)
USC +5 . . . (BCS #5)
Texas +6 . . . (BCS #3)
Alabama +8 . . . (BCS #1)
Penn St +11 . . . (BCS #8)
Texas Tech +11 . . . (BCS #7)
Utah +17 . . . (BCS #6)

For example, Florida would be approximately a 1 point favorite over Oklahoma, and a 17 point favorite over Utah. 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, Oklahoma would be -4 over USC, and Penn St and Texas Tech would be "even" (also called "pick'em"). Texas Tech would be -6 over Utah.

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 this 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.

Lastly, 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.

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 /, 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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