LSU-Alabama won't lack for betting interest

Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, No. 2 Alabama will host No. 1 LSU. The winner will have an inside track to the Southeastern Conference's Western Division title and undoubtedly will be favored to knock off the SEC East champ in the conference-title game on Dec. 3 in Atlanta. Should LSU or Alabama complete both of those steps, it will be the likely favorite in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 9 in New Orleans.

But first things first. It is always special when the No. 1 team squares off with the No. 2 team in the country. I'm primarily a pro football guy, but I'm always excited about matchups like this. I think ... no, I'm sure of this ... it has to do with all of the Dan Jenkins stories I read growing up.

Living in Atlanta adds to the sensation, too. It's a good sports city because of the fall. College football is king here. On a Saturday night with college football on seemingly every flat-screen TV in the place, I've endured long waits at a local sports bar that isn't short on seating, mind you. God bless the place — there are televisions outside.

And there is college football on those TVs, too. 

Which brings us to LSU-Alabama, a game I surely will want to watch at that sports bar — assuming I can get a table.

Of course, my problems will pale in comparison to someone walking into a popular pub at game time Saturday night in, say, Birmingham or New Orleans.

Someone walking into a Las Vegas sportsbook trying to find a seat and get a bet down at kickoff could be up against it, too.

Such is the interest in LSU-Alabama that the game was on the board early at some Nevada sportsbooks. Lucky's Race and Sports Book put up a line for the game on Oct. 13, installing the Crimson Tide as six-point favorites. The line fell all the way to four, then was back up to 4½ on Oct. 28. Similarly, the Caesars Entertainment sportsbooks and the Las Vegas Hilton had Alabama as 4½-point favorites as of late last week, and Bodog.eu, a popular online sportsbook, was expected to open betting on the game on Halloween with the Crimson Tide laying 4½, the company's head oddsmaker, Adam Young, told PFW on Oct. 28.

So how has the public bet the game thus far? Jay Kornegay, the vice president of race and sports book operations at the Hilton, said that there had been "some money on LSU and we also have been impressed by them over the last few weeks," he wrote in an email on Oct. 29.

Said Kornegay, "Ticket counts are about even and we expect that to continue."

It's not surprising. LSU is getting respect as an underdog. The Tigers are 6-2 against the spread this season, according to VegasInsider.com closing lines. They have been an underdog only once this season, defeating Oregon 40-27 on Sept. 3 as 3.5-point dogs. As you might expect, they have been infrequent underdogs in Les Miles' seven seasons as head coach, posting an 8-7-1 ATS mark in this role. (Note: all pointspread data from before the 2011 season is from Mark Lawrence's Playbook Stat and Log Book.)

Overall, the Tigers are 4-2 straight-up vs. Alabama in Miles' tenure, with their most recent victory in the series a 24-21 home win vs. Alabama as 6½-point underdogs in 2010. That victory, for the record, is LSU's lone cover in the last six meetings vs. Alabama (1-3-2 ATS).

For as well as LSU has fared vs. the spread in 2011, Alabama has been even better. The Crimson Tide is 7-1 ATS, per Vegas Insider, and has covered five games in a row.

In Nick Saban's first season as Alabama's head coach, the Crimson Tide was 7-6 SU and 3-8-1 ATS. Since then, of course, Alabama has returned to prominence. The Crimson Tide is 44-5 SU and 33-14 ATS since 2008. Alabama is a lights-out 29-14 ATS as a favorite in this span.

Anyway you look at it, this is college football's game of the season. The winner can clear its own path to the BCS title game. The loser suffers a setback it may or may not be able to overcome, depending upon the fuzzy math of the BCS.

At Lucky's, director of sports operations and public relations Jimmy Vaccaro expects "five times" the normal handle for a college football game. Wrote the Hilton's Kornegay: "I would compare this game to a very good NFL game. The late start (5 p.m. PST) will help the handle tremendously."

Bodog's Young is expecting this to be a banner handle event, too.

"I would compare it to an NFL playoff game," he said.

Me? I'm curious — does a sports bar take reservations?

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/11/03/lsu-alabama-wont-lack-for-betting-interest

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