Updated Odds to Win the National Championship before Playoff Standings

Ahead of the first College Football Playoff standings release on Tuesday evening, it’s time to take an updated look at the sports betting odds that the college football contenders have at winning the national championship. There will only be one shot for any Group of Five team now, as SMU decided to kick the ball to Houston’s best returner after clawing back from a 17-point deficit, only to lose by seven in the waning minutes, so the last unbeaten in the AAC is Cincinnati, already dinged a spot in the AP poll for having trouble in the first half against Tulane before pulling away to win by 19. It will be interesting to see if the CFP committee decides to leave the Bearcats outside the top four despite outright losses by Power 5 schools.

Check out the updated college football Championship odds and our contender discussion.

NCAA News: Updated Odds to Win the National Championship

Team Odds

Cincinnati rode its defense until the offense kicked in against Tulane, and it helped that the Green Wave had their third-string quarterback, Kai Horton, running things. The freshman took four sacks and threw a pair of interceptions. Cincinnati now has five games with more than one interception, more than any other FBS school.

Oklahoma continues to put up monster offensive numbers with freshman Caleb Williams leading the unit. He threw for 402 yards against Texas Tech on Saturday, notching six touchdown passes without a pick. It only took the Sooners 55 offensive plays to post 541 yards. However, they permitted 373 yards even though Texas Tech fumbled the ball away once and threw two interceptions. This begs the question of whether anyone besides Texas or Oklahoma deserves to be in one of the conferences that has an easier road to the College Football Playoff — and whether beating the likes of Texas Tech, Kansas and Kansas State really makes them a better candidate than a team like, for example, Cincinnati.

Oregon is a team that makes us ask similar questions. Yes, the Ducks are 7-1 (and yes, they beat Ohio State). However, they barely escaped Cal and UCLA the last two weeks. They did unload on Colorado, 52-29, but the Buffaloes are just 2-5. Anthony Brown threw three touchdown passes and had 345 all-purpose yards, but again, how much better opponents are the likes of Colorado and Arizona than Memphis or Tulsa?

If you have questions about the Ohio State defense, take a look at their win over Penn State. Yes, the Nittany Lions put up 24 points, but the Buckeyes permitted just 33 yards on the ground and had four quarterback sacks. Jerron Cage scored a defensive touchdown to add to the margin of victory. C.J. Stroud threw for 305 yards and a score. However, Penn State was 11 of 18 on third down conversions, which is a stat that must improve with big rivalry games on the schedule ahead.

Wake Forest had never started a football season 8-0 until this year, but their 45-7 shellacking of Duke has them there. The Demon Deacons hung 70 points on Army last week and hasn’t looked back. Sam Hartman broke the 400-yard passing barrier, threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more, just the fourth ACC signal-caller to do that in the last 25 years. Now, the defense allowed Army to run that triple option for 56 points, but this time they shut down the Duke defense, as seven points permitted was a season low.

 

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