Ohio State would be favored over Auburn

Alabama’s loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday caused a ton of confusion in the BCS National Championship Game picture and opened up a spot that most figured was going to be claimed by the Crimson Tide. Florida State currently holds the top spot in the BCS, while the Ohio State Buckeyes are second followed by one-loss Auburn and Alabama.

Knowing that his school would be fighting with Ohio State for the second spot, Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said after Saturday’s win that it would be “a disservice to college football” not to have a one-loss SEC champion in the BCS title game over Ohio State. Las Vegas oddsmakers feel otherwise.

According to RJ Bell of Pregame.com, the consensus opinion from oddsmakers is that Ohio State would be favored by about 2.5 points over Auburn. On Saturday, Bell tweeted that Jay Kornegay of the Las Vegas Hilton would have listed the Buckeyes as 1.5-point favorites over Auburn. Bell said Johnny Avello at the Wynn had Ohio State as a 3-point favorite.

What does this all mean? Ohio State is considered a better team than Auburn and deserves to be in the title game assuming they win their next game. Auburn still has to beat Missouri in the SEC Championship Game first. Ohio State has to beat Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship. And 12-0 Florida State needs to beat Duke in the ACC Championship Game.

Also of note: Florida State would be around a 10-point favorite against Ohio State, so they are clearly considered the top team in the trio. But despite their loss to Auburn, Alabama would still be favored over Florida State and every other team in the country.