Can Florida repeat? According to the offshore book Pinnacle Sports, the team to beat for the 2008 Bowl Championship Series title is USC. Pinnacle made the Trojans a 5-to-2 favorite (win $5 for every $2 bet) when it posted odds last week. Michigan, the Trojans’ opponent in the Rose Bowl, was second at 13/2. Then came the Gators at 7/1, followed by Texas at 10/1, West Virginia at 14/1, Louisiana State at 15/1, Oklahoma at 17/1 and Arkansas at 19/1. Other opening odds: Ohio State 28/1; Nebraska 38/1; Auburn 46/1; Notre Dame 47/1; Rutgers 52/1; Louisville 52/1; California 67/1; Brigham Young 67/1; Georgia 73/1; Tennessee 99/1. Teams listed at 100/1: Wisconsin, Miami, Florida State, Wake Forest, Boise State, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Clemson, UCLA, Texas Christian and Hawaii. As a sidenote, Pinnacle announced shortly after it released the odds that it would no longer accept clients located within the United States. This appears to be a response to a crackdown against online gambling by U.S. authorities that started in July with the arrest of David Carruthers, chief executive of Bet On Sports, a publicly traded company in Britain. Carruthers remains under house arrest at a hotel in St. Louis, pending a trial later this year. Two months after Carruthers’ arrest, Peter Dicks, a former chairman of Sportingbet PLC, was detained in New York. … Thanks to Image of Sport for the shot of USC mascot Traveler.