BCS Bowl odds could see a lot of running on Thursday night as Texas plays Alabama for the national title. The Crimson Tide have Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram while Texas has quarterback Colt McCoy who can be very dangerous running the ball. The Crimson Tide are four-point favorites in college football odds against the Longhorns. BCS Bowl odds may have Alabama favored but Texas has the ability to win this game, especially if they are able to run the ball. If Texas can run the ball they can beat Alabama in BCS Bowl odds. If not, they are probably in trouble in college football odds. Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis has said he wants the Longhorns to run the ball efficiently. Doing that against an Alabama defense that was second in the country is going to be difficult.
Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody makes running the ball very difficult. That does not mean teams didn’t try to do it this season. LSU, Tennessee and Auburn at least played with Alabama this season and they did it by continuing to run the ball. Alabama’ defensive coordinator Kirby Smart even said that in the game against Tennessee, the Tide was in trouble because the Volunteers never gave up on the run. “That was one of our poorer performances,” Smart said. “Not from the score outcome, but we were lucky a couple of times. They should have scored more points. They didn’t abandon the run. They were stubborn with the run and kept running it, and they were pretty effective.” LSU did the same thing a couple of weeks later and stayed in the game. For Texas to win in BCS Bowl odds against Alabama they not only have to run the ball, they have to stick with it.
If you don’t think running matters in BCS Bowl odds then look at what happened in Alabama’s last two games this year. Auburn led them 14-0 and ran the ball more often than not when getting that lead. Later in the game they threw the ball a lot more and the results were not good. In the SEC title game Florida ran it 14 times compared to 35 passing plays. Florida was blown out in college football odds.
On the other side of the ball in BCS Bowl odds there is no question Alabama will try and run it a lot with Mark Ingram. The bottom line in BCS Bowl odds is that the team that continues to run the ball, even when it is not successful will most likely win in college football odds.