With the kick off of the college football season less than a month away, the projections for who will take the last BCS title next year are doing a little shifting around. Of course two time BCS winner Alabama is still slated as the number one pick with a newly eligible Ohio State team, under the leadership of former Florida coach Urban Meyer, emerging as the second favorite choice of bettors so far this summer.
The Crimson Tide and head coach Nick Saban continue to be the unanimous pick to take their unprecedented third national championship in a row next January. A playoff bowl between Alabama and Ohio State has already drawn some early interest but there are few other top teams looking to upset that applecart.
The SEC is always a stacked deck and Alabama will have to get past both LSU and Texas A&M next season to reach their 11 game season win totals projected by the major books for the Tide. They will be traveling to College Station to take on Johnny Football and his Aggies right in their own back yard.
SEC rival Florida is also expected to be a contender in the SEC this year along with the Georgia Bulldogs who have a strong returning team from last year’s already strong squad.
Out on the Pacific Coast we have a couple of Pac-12 teams who are also figuring in the summer speculation for the BCS title. Both the Oregon Ducks and the Cardinal’s of Stanford are expected to make strong showings next season.
One team that hasn’t received much love this summer in spite of a sterling 18-5-1 against the spread over the past two years is Kansas State. The Wildcat’s season win totals were originally set at 7 but have now moved to 7.5, the only major college team to move in that direction and the perennial overachievers could actually even move to 8 before the season begins.
So, with just a few weeks remaining before the season starts, only Alabama and Oregon are being given season win totals of 11 while both Ohio State and a surprising Louisville team are close behind at 10.5.
The Seminoles of Florida State are expected to be strong next year with 10 wins followed by Boise State, Clemson, Texas, Georgia, Stanford, South Carolina and Nebraska all currently bunched at 9.5 wins for the season.
