The 2014 college football season is weeks away and more importantly. football betting season is back!
I don’t normally get too excited at this time of the year but with College Football implementing a playoff this year for the first time, there’s an air of anticipation that is hard to ignore.
The Florida State Seminoles are the favorites at 6/1 odds under this new playoff format.
The Seminoles as favorites is not surprising. The Alabama Crimson Tide sharing top billing at 13/2 odds is not shocking. These two teams were the last two champions of the old BCS format and it is only appropriate that they are favored to decide who wins the inaugural playoffs system this year.
Unfortunately, college football is a lot more complicated than that and prematurely expecting the Seminoles and the Tide to play in the championship game on January 12, 2015 would be a disservice to the other highly touted football teams.
Take the Oregon Ducks for example. They don’t have the pedigree and cache of Alabama and Florida State but they’re close at 7/1 odds to win the national championship. That’s a testament to the caliber of the Oregon team. Just below the Ducks are two football heavyweights, Ohio State and Auburn, at 10/1 odds apiece.
Oklahoma and UCLA are joined at the hips at 15/1 odds while Georgia, LSU, and South Carolina are 20/1, 23/1, and 25/1 odds, respectively.
Looking at the top 10 teams, it is evident that the SEC’s dominance is once again coming into the forefront. Of the top 10 teams with the best odds to win the national title, five are from the SEC (Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, and LSU). The other five are made up of one ACC team (Florida State), one from the Big 12 (Oklahoma), one from the Big Ten (Ohio State) and two from the Pac-12 (Oregon and UCLA).
Other notable teams that are also worth considering, albeit at your own risk, include Michigan State (30/1), Baylor (30/1), Wisconsin (30/1), USC (35/1), Florida (40/1), Notre Dame (45/1), Texas (50/1), and Stanford (55/1).
Keep a close eye on any of these teams because the Florida State Seminoles won the BCS title last year despite entering the season at 20/1 odds to win it. Oh, and Auburn was 300/1 to win the title game and look how close they came to actually pulling it off.
