The ultimate winners in the big annual SEC matchup between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide will be the SEC football fans no matter how the game comes out. LSU and Alabama have what is arguably the most intense rivalry in college football over at least the past decade.
With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the stable and the pending premiere of the new SEC network, the SEC is moving toward being not only the most powerful conference in football but one of the richest as well. Texas A&M alone took in over $30,000,000 more in their first year in the SEC and teams all over the south are going about expanding their stadiums and facilities to be ready for the upcoming boast in popularity once the new SEC network is up and running.
But it is not only the new monies flowing into the universities that is getting all the attention. Handicappers and wise guys out in Nevada are also paying extra special attention to the SEC these days. Why? Money, of course. There is a whole lot of money being wagered on SEC sporting events this year and more yet to come.
Wagering on college football games is bigger than ever before and bettors were treated to an early double-header last week when we watched the Baylor Bears take down the Oklahoma Sooners in convincing fashion and easily cover the 14.5 points given to them by oddsmakers in Las Vegas. Then we saw the Stanford Cardinals pulling off the NCAA football upset of the year by defeating #3 Oregon 26-20.
Sportsbooks everywhere reported an abnormal spike in wagering activity on Thursday evening for the big double-header which just goes to show how popular college football really is. There was an NFL game that evening and several NBA games as well. But the heavy action was on the college games.
The action has been heavy all week on the big LSU vs. Alabama game on Saturday. The line opened with at -11.5 in the preseason and remained mostly unchanged at kickoff time. One Vegas insider reported, “the action has been excellent with a large base of parlay action continually flowing in, and it’s been pretty even for both LSU and Alabama, except on teasers where Alabama is pretty weighed to one side.”
Experts predict that the incoming action on the game will more than triple by game time on Saturday with the national championship on the line.
