Ohio State beats LSU...

in revenue. But LSU reported a bigger profit than Ohio State. Both schools are among the top money makers in college football and the rich teams keep getting richer.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- There has never been a better year for upsets in college football than 2007. But there's one place where the traditional powerhouses still dominate - in the rankings of revenue and profits.
Financial results filed by almost every college with the Department of Education show that the rich are getting richer while the poor college football programs and schools are continuing to struggle.
The top team in both revenue and profits was the University of Texas, with revenue of $63.8 million and a profit of $43.2 million. The rankings, which CNNMoney.com analyzes annually, are based on data from the 2006-07 school year, the most recent figures available.
It's a return to the top for Texas, which had been edged out of the revenue lead by Notre Dame and fell to No. 3 in profit behind the Irish and Georgia during 2005-06, even though that was the year Texas won the national championship. In 2004-05, Texas reported the most revenue and profits of any college football program.
Texas didn't have as great a year on the field in 2007 as it has in recent years. The Longhorns missed out on making it to the higher profile Bowl Championship Series games, finishing with a 10-3 record that was topped off by a win over Arizona State in the second-tier Holiday Bowl.
And big money doesn't necessarily guarantee wins. Notre Dame, after all, pocketed $63.7 million in revenue and $45.8 million in profits during the 2006-2007 academic year.
That would have made Notre Dame number two in revenue and profits but it wasn't enough to keep the storied football team from having one of its worst years ever in 2007 - the Golden Domers finished with 3 wins and 9 losses. Since it didn't earn a bowl spot, it doesn't make our rankings of college football profit and losses.
But many of the other schools going to the BCS games are, not surprisingly, as successful on the financial field as they are on the gridiron.
Flroida topped Ohio State in points and profits
Ohio State, which will play in the BCS championship game for the second consecutive season, had revenue of $59.3 million, putting it No. 3 among the 64 teams going to a bowl this year behind only Texas and Georgia. It was No. 9 in profit, at $26.6 million, as the school spent by far the most money on its football program - $32.5 million. That's more than twice the $15 million average spent by the 44 major conference schools in one of this year's bowls.
The Buckeyes' opponent in the Jan. 7 championship game, Louisiana State University, is No. 8 in revenue at $48.1 million, and No. 7 in terms of profit at $31.7 million.
Florida, last year's champ, was No. 4 in terms of revenue among this year's bowl teams at $58.9 million, and No. 3 in terms of profit at $36.2 million. It lost to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl on Tuesday.
Why do the teams with the best won-loss records also seem to consistently come out on top of the profit and loss standings as well?
It all starts with the $170 million paid out by the five BCS games. These bowl games tend to feature the top schools from the biggest conferences. And money from these games gets paid out not just to the participants in the games but to other schools from their conferences. So even losing teams in a top conference are assured a nice payout.
The 10 teams that get invited to the big dollar BCS bowl games get the same money whether or not they win, and they don't get to keep all of the $17 million appearance money that goes to each participant. Instead they share the money with other members of their conference.
So the major conferences that are assured spots in the BCS bowls - the Big Ten, the Big 12, the SEC, the Pac 10, the Big East and the ACC - are guaranteed to send huge paychecks to their members, no matter how they do on the field.
Most of the top schools also have huge stadiums, which means big revenue from ticket sales, as well as lucrative television contracts. All of this makes college football the most uneven financial playing field of any major U.S. sport.
Even so-called Cinderellas are in much better financial shape than schools not affiliated with big conferences.
Kansas, a Big 12 school that was one of the great surprise success stories of the year, would have been one of the smallest dollar contenders in recent years if the team wound up finishing the year undefeated. The Jayhawks lost to rival Missouri on November 24, dashing its national title hopes. It finishes its season playing Virginia Tech on Thursday in the Orange Bowl.
Texas was the 2005 BC$ champ
But while Kansas may not have the financial clout of a Texas or Ohio State, the Jayhawks football program is hardly a pauper. With revenue of $11.3 million and a profit of $1.4 million, Kansas would be considered a top dollar powerhouse among the programs outside of the BCS conferences.
Of the major conferences, only the ACC had numerous schools that lost money on their football program in the 2006-07 academic year. Not surprisingly, the ACC had only one team in the BCS bowls last year.
The teams that get spots in the other bowls also have to split their bowl appearance money with their conferences. But those 27 bowls together payout only about $80 million of appearance fees between them.
And with the high costs of sending the large roster of players, cheerleaders, bands and other support staff to the bowl games, generally for the better part of a week, teams that appear in the non-BCS bowls often lose money on the experience, or at best break even in all but a few instances.
There are 18 schools not from BCS conferences in bowl games this year which report their financial results (Navy and Air Force do not). Of those schools, half of them lost money last year, with Tulsa losing the most at $3.7 million after its appearance in last year's Armed Services Bowl.
Houston had the second biggest loss at $3.4 million, after traveling to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis last year. No. 3 in losses is Ball State, which lost $3 million, and did not make a bowl appearance.
Neither of those teams, which play in Conference USA and the Mid America Conference respectively, had much in the way of television money or ticket sales, and thus were among the lowest revenue schools trying to compete in the big dollar world of college football.
Ball State had the smallest revenue of any bowl team this year at $1.6 million, while Houston was the fourth smallest at $3.5 million.
Of course, there is the rare small conference school, like undefeated Hawaii this year, that gets to go to a BCS game. Last year, Boise State delivered a big payday for both its own program and its conference, the WAC, with its BCS appearance. Hawaii, which lost to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday, is also in the WAC.
College bowls: Too rich to die
Boise State, which memorably upset Oklahoma with a series of trick plays in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, took in $12.1 million in revenue during that academic year. This year it lost to East Carolina in the much smaller dollar Hawaii Bowl, which pays out only $1.5 million to the two teams that make the trip and their conferences.
But the big payouts for the small conference teams are the exception, not the rule. The 44 schools from BCS conferences that are playing in a bowl game this year had combined revenue of $1.3 billion, which represented about 72 percent of all the revenue from Football Bowl Subdivision, schools, formerly known as Division I-A.
These schools had combined profits of $623 million, which equals 91 percent of the combined profit in college football at any level and about 87 percent of the profit from all 123 FBS schools.
And remember, there are dozens of schools from those big dollar conferences that aren't even in the bowls, and are still pulling down the big dollars.
Meanwhile many if not most of the bowl eligible football programs from outside the BCS conferences are losing money, or posting at best a narrow profit.
And below that level, profits are even rarer. Appalachian State, which started this season with an upset win at Michigan and ended it with its third consecutive Football Championship Subdivision championship, formerly known as Division I-AA, was able to bring in $4.6 million in revenue and a profit of $2.6 million last year.
But overall, college football programs outside of the FBS lost $38 million between them last year.
So it's been a fun year for the underdogs and the upstarts in college football this year - at least until the schools have to take a look at their bottom line. Then, the real champs are once again in places like Austin, Texas, and South Bend, Ind., no matter what the scoreboards read.

Sinking feeling for stocks

Futures tumble on prospect of massive mortgage-related hit at Merrill Lynch, American Express profit warning.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a negative open on Wall Street Friday after a big writedown from Merrill Lynch, combined with a profit warning from American Express, spooked investors and fanned fears that an economic slowdown is underway.
At 7:30 a.m. ET, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were mired in the red, although futures trimmed some of the losses after Bank of America announced it would purchase embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial for $4 billion in an all-stock transaction.
Countrywide (CFC, Fortune 500) shares fell 13 percent in pre-market trading on the news after surging 51 percent in trading on Thursday. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) stock fell about 3 percent in pre-market trading.
Investors were haunted by the prospect that bank losses stemming from bad mortgage bets may be even deeper than originally thought.
The New York Times reported that Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) is expected to take a $15 billion hit when it reports results next Wednesday, nearly twice its earlier estimate.
Merrill, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) are all due to report quarterly results next week.
Talk of the massive writedown appeared to dim the optimism that lifted stocks on Wall Street Thursday.
Stocks ended yesterday's session higher on talk of the Countrywide rescue and after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted in a speech Thursday that deeper interest rate cuts may be on the way. The central bank issues its next decision on rate Jan. 30.
The Fed chief acknowledged that the economic outlook in 2008 has weakened, but said again that the central bank doesn't think the economy will fall into a recession this year.
Oil prices slipped despite expectations of more aggressive rate cuts from the Fed. U.S. light, sweet crude for February lost 41 cents to $93.30 a barrel in electronic trading.
Investors only have one economic report to take in Friday - the November trade report, which includes a reading on import and export prices. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the trade deficit to widen to $59.5 billion from October.
In other corporate news, American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) warned of lower profits in 2008, as consumers slow their spending and miss credit card payments. The credit card issuer also said it plans to set aside $440 million for bad loans in the fourth quarter.
Delta Air Lines (DAL, Fortune 500) shares could enjoy another boost from merger speculation. The company's board is expected give executives the go ahead on merger talks with both Northwest and United, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Delta stock soared more than 20 percent Thursday on talk that the company was close to a deal with a rival air carrier.
In global trade, Asian markets tumbled, and European stocks fell in morning trading.

BofA to buy Countrywide for $4B

Announcement of much anticipated deal sends Countrywide shares sharply lower.
By David Ellis

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bank of America said Friday it would purchase embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4 billion in an all-stock transaction.
Wall Street, which embraced speculation about such a deal just a day earlier, was not encouraged about the news as Countrywide (CFC, Fortune 500) shares tumbled 16 percent in pre-market trading.
"We believe this is the right decision for our shareholders, customers and employees," Countrywide Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo said in a prepared statement.
As part of the deal, shareholders of Countrywide would receive 0.1822 of a share of Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) stock in exchange for each share of Countrywide. The companies said they expect the deal to close in the third quarter.
Last last summer, the pair struck a deal in which Bank of America would provide $2 billion in financing to Countrywide in exchange for a 16 percent stake in the company.
But Countrywide has experienced mounting woes recently as it reported rising delinquencies and foreclosures within its loan portfolio in December and on speculation that Countrywide was planning to file for bankruptcy itself. Countrywide later denied that rumor.
With Countrywide's shares hit hard, there had been talk about Bank of America buying the mortgage lender outright - although such a move could prove treacherous because of Countrywide's troubled loan portfolio.
Bank of America Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis suggested that he was aware of the troubles that his firm was taking on, but said acquiring Countrywide was a "rare opportunity" for his company.
"Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation's premier lender to consumers," Lewis said in a statement.