National Championship: What are the Odds?

October 18, 2017 by Staff

Unless your head has been buried in the sand, you know Alabama is at the top of the list of the betting odds to win the national championship. So the real question is, at this point, does anyone else get any real consideration and, honestly, the answer is "no".

At mybookie.ag, Alabama is listed at -150, Ohio State at +380, Clemson at +800, and Georgia and Penn State at +1000.

Alabama this week hosts a Tennessee team that shouldn't put a dent in the Tide's ridiculous average victory margin of 32.6 points per game. Obviously, the Ohio State and Clemson plays are looking at who's most likely to still be a factor at the end of the regular season and conference championships. Georgia and Penn State bring their current undefeated records into the equation.

The Westgate Las Vegas Superbook lists Alabama at 4:5. Ohio State is next in-line at 7:2, followed by Clemson at 8:1, Penn State at 12:1, and then Georgia and Wisconsin at 20:1.

At oddshark.com, Alabama is -110 with Ohio State at +500. Clemson is at +900, followed by Penn State and Georgia at +1000.

A check of the Congrove Compute Rankings at collegefootballpoll.com says Ohio State actually has the top power rating at 94.75, with Alabama second at  93.73. After that, it's Penn State (91.30), Clemson (87.58), Wisconsin (86.87), Stanford (85.59) and Georgia (85.44).

Stanford is the wild card in that mix, having already absorbed 2 losses. With 6 teams from Power 5 conferences still undefeated, it seems highly unlikely that the committee would have to look beyond a 1-loss team to field a quality final 4.

Other teams that could potentially rise to greater consideration are TCU, Miami, Washington, USC and Notre Dame. The Trojans and Irish clash in South Bend this weekend with the loser dismissed from that field.

A small handful teams are not completely ruled out, though they would have to win the rest of their games, and their conference championship, to truly be in the hunt. Those teams are Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, N.C. State or Virginia Tech, and Michigan or Michigan State.

Of course, all of the above comes with the caveat that another upset weekend could be brewing and the chaos could just be beginning.