Football Betting: BCS odds update

With college football's recruiting season now in the books, bettors and bookmakers can further evaluate what might lie ahead for the top BCS title contenders in 2010. While the Florida Gators captured the top recruiting class, SEC rival Alabama is still a solid favorite to repeat as national champions in 2010. Top contenders The Crimson Tide is a +385 choice to win the BCS this season. On the recruiting trail, Alabama finished third this year after ranking second in 2009. With some key experienced players back in the fold from the 2009 title club to aid the incoming talent, Alabama is poised to be in the championship hunt for the next several seasons. Ohio State is next on the list at odds of +650. While the Buckeyes 2010 recruiting class was only ranked 16th in the country, the return of versatile quarterback Terrelle Pryor and a favorable schedule puts the club near the top entering this season. USC, Oregon and Boise State are part of the next group of contenders at 12/1. New USC head coach Lane Kiffin made a late push in recruiting to enable the Trojans to finish with the seventh-ranked class in the country. A favorable slate could enable USC to quickly rebound from a down year in 2009. The Oregon Ducks had a respectable but not overwhelming recruiting season by ranking 22nd in the nation. Oregon will try to hold off USC as the defending Pac-10 champions. The Boise State Broncos didn't have a top 25 recruiting class in 2010. Of course, this isn't nothing new for the non-BCS conference upstart. Boise's intangibles and underrated players should enable the club to make some noise again in 2010 after running the table last season. Other viable squads Three teams from the Big 12 conference are in the hunt at 15/1. Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska will battle it out in the conference in 2010. On the recruiting trail, Texas (2nd) and Oklahoma (5th) both had top 5 classes but the Cornhuskers failed to land in the top 25. Virginia Tech and TCU are next at 18/1. While neither school produced a top 25 recruiting class in 2010, each team has been able to do more with less for several years. Florida, Miami-FL, Penn State and Iowa round out the field of viable BCS contenders at 20/1. While Iowa failed to produce a top 25 recruiting class, Penn State and Miami were able to yield top 15 classes.