'Tis the season for College Football Bowls

Dec. 8, 2009 / By Danny Sheridan

Well, it's that special time of year, when sports betting fans go to bed with visions of footballs dancing in their heads.

This truly is like Christmas for football bettors, with the College Football bowl matchups all set, and the NFL playoff race heating up.

I'll be writing about Week 14 of the NFL season later this week, but today I want to focus on the five BCS bowl games, which kick off New Year's Day.

I'm not picking sides – at least not yet. I'll wait until we get a little closer to the big bowls. But here's a little preview:

The five Bowl Championship Series bowls start, as they do every year, with the Rose Bowl. This year, the Pac-10 champion No. 7 Oregon Ducks go up against the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes, who won the Big Ten title (5 pm ET, ABC). Oregon is a 3.5-point favorite in College Football Odds.

Then we have the Sugar Bowl, which I think could be one of the best of the bunch.

It has the No. 5 Florida Gators against the No. 3 Cincinnati Bearcats in New Orleans, also on New Year's Day (8:30 pm ET, FOX). The Gators are 10-point favorites.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will have the No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs facing the No. 6 Boise State Broncos on Jan. 4 (8:10 pm ET, FOX). TCU is a 7-point favorite.

And the FedEx Orange Bowl (Jan. 5, 8:10 pm ET, FOX) features the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes against the No. 9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech is a 4-point favorite in that one.

And then there's the biggest game of all. The No. 2 Texas Longhorns take on the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 (8:10 pm ET, ABC).

Alabama is a 5.5-point favorite in College Football Bowls odds at Legends.

That should be a great game, with two undefeated teams (Alabama: 13-0 SU, 8-5 ATS; Texas: 13-0 SU, 5-7-1 ATS) going head to head.