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Earlier this week, the BCS bowl pairings were announced. Now, the money is starting to trickle in on the various matchups. Notably the BCS Championship game between Florida and Oklahoma opened with the Gators a 1.5 point favorite but the Gators have edged forward to three point favorites. With Bob Stoops' poor BCS record and shaky defense relative to Florida's, I'm surprised the Gators don't have a bigger edge.

Elsewhere, shunned Texas opened as eight point favorites over Ohio State but the 'Horns are now 9.5 point favorites at most casinos. Non-BCS attendee Utah didn't get much love from the LVSC, opening as an 11 point dog to Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Betters, however, are a touch more optimistic giving an extra half point edge to Alabama -10.5 right now.

In the game almost nobody outside of Cincinnati is excited about, the LVSC opened the Virginia Tech/Cincinnati Orange Bowl as a tossup, but gamblers have nudged Cincinnati to favored status, albeit by a single point. The money seems to be on a defensive struggle as the over/under is a mere 41 points compared to the 72 expected between Florida and Oklahoma.

Personally, I don't see it happening but let's take a look at something interesting here.

What jumps out at me is this Las Vegas Sports Consultants' Top 30 ranking. Scroll down the list a bit. Ok, maybe scroll down all the way. See that, right there at #30? That's Arizona (! ! !)

They're not a terrible team, but Arizona clearly has its issues as their coach may get fired and as recently as three games ago lost 21-20 to Stanford. However, Las Vegas obviously sees something in them and even more notable is the company they keep.

Nearby to them in the rankings are two solid teams who have already knocked off a #1 team this year. There's #28 Kentucky who knocked off #1 LSU a few weeks back. There's also #27 Illinois, victors over #1 Ohio State last weekend. Hmm . . .

Not convincing enough? Well, keep in mind that Arizona is at home and they're red-hot these last two weeks, scoring 48 and 34 points in victories over Washington State and UCLA. As noted by the wise guys, Arizona has turned things around with their offense in a hurry and they are dangerous.

Normally, total overhauls like this take at least a season or two to start showing progress – see Nebraska. However, in Arizona's case, the year-over-year difference is obvious. The Wildcats offense has scored almost 13 more points per game this season, going from 16 points last year to 28.5 points this year.

Finally, this is a weird setting for both teams. The Pac-10 doesn't play very often on Thursday nights so the unfamiliar prep times may cause sluggish play for one or both teams. The last time we saw a Pac-10 team on Thursday, Oregon State was getting manhandled by Cincinnati. Anyway, just something to keep an eye on. This season has been madness and an Arizona victory over Oregon - improbable as it seems - only adds to the insanity. Be sure to stop by our First and Second Half Live Blogs of tonight's game.

Oh, and let it be known that Oregon isn't alone in these worries - Kansas better be on the lookout as well.

For all the talk about undefeated Kansas, there's a team in their own conference with nearly just as much at stake these next few weeks in the Missouri Tigers. Yes, Missouri is 9-1 with a loss to Oklahoma and thus likely out of the national championship race.

However, if the Tigers win their next game and beat Kansas, they will be on their way to the Big 12 Championship Game for a rematch with Oklahoma. Win there and it's a BCS appearance. Strong play from quarterback Chase Daniel and some unexpected stumbles from the other two Heisman front-runners could vault their quarterback from out of nowhere into becoming the next Heisman Trophy winner.

It's not out of the realm of possibility.

Most intriguing is that Las Vegas thinks the Tigers are plain better than the undefeated Jayhawks.

Another clash college football observers are anticipating is the Nov. 24 meeting between Kansas and Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for the right to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship. That contest certainly will have national title implications.

"I like what Kansas is doing, but K-State is its only win over a ranked team this season and that K-State team was just blown out by lowly Nebraska 73-31," Boyd observed.

"It will take a win over Mizzou and a Big 12 title game victory before I'm ready to jump on this bandwagon."

White likes Missouri over Kansas and is looking at the Tigers as a 2 1/2 to 3-point choice. LVSC's weekly power ratings have Missouri sixth and Kansas ninth.

It's put up or shut up time for the boys from the Show Me State. Their loss to Oklahoma was closer than the score indicated and keyed by a fumbled exchange between quarterback and tailback. That's not how you want to go down to a power team like that and I have a hunch the Tigers are motivated enough to shake off their choke job ways and steamroll to the Big 12 Championship game for that rematch.

But then again maybe not, Kansas is pretty good. Show me!

Previously at FanHouse

We Burned Your Town to the Ground!
Kansas Shouldn't Look Past Iowa State