The Wiz of Odds

Alabama-LSU BCS Title Gets Low TV Rating

Editor's note: Story has been updated to reflect final ratings after initial overnight ratings.

Monday night's Bowl Championship Series title game between Alabama and Louisiana State was the third-lowest rated title game in the 14-year history of the BCS.

The ESPN telecast drew a 14 rating. The only BCS games with lower ratings were the 2005 USC-Oklahoma matchup, which got a 13.7, and the 2002 Miami-Nebraska game, which had a 13.8.

Ratings were down 8% from the 2011 title game between Auburn and Oregon.

Monday's telecast had regional appeal, with seven of the top 10 metered markets having a Southeastern Conference footprint, according to the overnight numbers. Birmingham topped the list with a 61.2, followed by New Orleans at 53.3.

Then the ratings took a steep drop, with Oklahoma City (29.1), Minneapolis-St. Paul (27.5), Atlanta (26.8), Memphis (25.8), Knoxville (25.5), Greenville (24.5), Jacksonville (23) and Austin (20.5) completing the top 10.

The Mother of All BCS Title Game Prediction Posts

Which team will win Monday night's Bowl Championship title game between Louisiana State and Alabama? For the fifth year in a row, the Wiz went to distinguished members of the news media and blogging community for the answer. Opinions vary, but nearly everyone agrees that one of these teams will actually score a touchdown in this Rematch of the Century.

At the bottom of the post, readers are invited to vote in two polls. The first asks which team will cover the spread. At the time of this post, Alabama is favored by 1.5 points. The second asks if the total number of points will go over or under 40.5.

Let's get to it (Twitter feeds are linked off names):

Larry Brown of Larry Brown Sports: Bama 20, LSU 17. Even though they lost, Bama appeared to be the better team in the first meeting between the squads. It moved the ball slightly better than LSU and lost because it couldn't make a field goal. I don't think LSU will get that lucky this time.

Yost of the Michigan blog M Zone: 'Bama 21, LSU 17. I just think it's going to be too hard for LSU to beat 'Bama twice in a season. Plus, unbeknownst to LSU, Nick Saban has probably signed 42 additional players since the end of the regular season.

The Complete List of BCS Title Game Odds

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas aren't the only ones breaking down Monday night's Bowl Championship Series title game between Louisiana State and Alabama. After the jump is the complete list of odds from Bovada, everything from which team will win the coin toss to total number of interceptions thrown by Alabama's A.J. McCarron.

Rematch of Century? How About Probation Bowl?

You can't spell cheaters without S-E-C.

No doubt one of the forgotten items in the hypefest leading to the Jan. 9 Bowl Championship Series title game will be that the participants are both on probation.

That's right, Louisiana State and Alabama are proof that it pays to cheat.

Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal writes, "Somehow, it seems fitting to me that this scandal-filled year in college football should end with two teams on NCAA probation playing for the national title."

LSU's transgressions centered on former assistant D.J. McCarthy, who improperly arranged for transportation and housing for former defensive lineman Akiem Hicks in 2009 before later trying to cover it up.

Three Harris Voters Put Oklahoma State No. 6

Oklahoma State's 44-10 faceplanting of rival Oklahoma impressed a lot of people, but three voters in the Harris Interactive Poll didn't think much of it.

Former Notre Dame player Derrick Mayes (top left), former Hawaii coach Bob Wagner (center) and former Iowa sports information director George Wine (right) ranked the Cowboys No. 6 on their ballots. All ballots of the 115 voters in the poll were made public Monday, one day after it was determined that Louisiana State and Alabama would play in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Jan. 9 in New Orleans.

Mayes and Wagner had the same top six — LSU, Alabama, Stanford, Boise State, Oregon and Oklahoma State. Wine's ballot was even more of a head-scratcher. He had the same top four — LSU, Alabama, Stanford and Boise State — but put Houston at No. 5, one spot ahead of the Cowboys.

"I think the BCS is just a mess," Wine said. "I think college football is crying for a playoff system. This voting is highly subjective. I realize that voting is subjective and often arbitrary. I probably don't do as much research ... but who the hell knows whether Oregon is better than Wisconsin?"

BCS Guru Projects LSU-Oklahoma State Title Game

This is why the BCS Guru makes the big bucks.

The Guru projects that Louisiana State will play Oklahoma State in the Jan. 9 Bowl Championship Series title game in New Orleans. The Cowboys, according to the Guru, will finish behind Alabama in the Coaches and Harris polls, but will slip into the No. 2 spot on the strength of computer rankings. The two polls the compilation of six computer rankings each make up a third of the BCS formula.

If the Guru's projection is correct, Oklahoma State can credit its 44-10 rout of rival Oklahoma on Saturday night for pushing it over the top.

Is this the right choice, or should LSU and Alabama play again? Vote in the poll below.