Down goes Bama! Week 7 in College Football is in the books and for the first time this season we have ourselves a major shakeup atop the College Football Playoff odds. Tennessee’s 52-49 win over Alabama created a little bit of separation in the National Championship odds, where for most of the season we had three teams jostling for the shortest odds, now it’s down to two teams. Following the loss, Alabama’s nearly doubled going from +220 to +400 while Ohio State and Georgia saw their odds shorten to +170 & +190.
#24 Mississippi State vs #6 Alabama Betting Preview
Georgia is on a bye week this week, but Alabama and Ohio State are both in action against teams they should probably take care of business again. For some reason Mississippi State keeps getting the unfortunate draw of playing Alabama coming off a loss, and Ohio State hosts Iowa who we know really struggles to score. Alabama sits as of this writing as a 21-points favorite over the Bulldogs and Ohio State is laying 29.5 points against the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iowa vs #2 Ohio State Betting Preview
The #5 Clemson Tigers are team that’s quietly going about their business, but taking care of it impressively. They host number #14 Syracuse in one of two Top 15 matchups this week. If you do like Syracuse in this one, now is the time to bet them at +20000, but realistically this seems like a spot where Clemson rolls. Syracuse has been a nice story so far this year, but they have played just one road game at UConn and they don’t have many marquee wins outside of beating a ranked NC State team that played without their quarterback.
#14 Syracuse vs #5 Clemson Betting Preview
The lone Top 10 matchup on this weekend’s slate should be a really fun one as Chip Kelly takes his undefeated UCLA Bruins up to his old stomping grounds to take on the #10 Oregon Ducks. I mentioned Syracuse only playing the one road game, and UCLA is in a similar boat having played just one true road game and that was a visit to an awful Colorado team.
Both UCLA and Oregon own +5000 odds to win the National Championship while Oregon owns +1000 odds to make the College Football Playoffs and UCLA’s odds to make the CFP are +750. If you like either side in this game, now is the time to grab those futures bet as well. Whoever wins this game has the inside track to the Pac 12 title game and will likely see their odds shorten quite a bit.
#9 UCLA vs #10 Oregon Betting Preview
College Football Playoff Odds: National Championship Winner
Ohio State +170 | Georgia +190 | Alabama +400 |
Clemson +1200 | Michigan +1600 | Tennessee +2000 |
Oregon +5000 | UCLA +5000 | TCU +8000 |
USC +8000 | Mississippi +8000 | Oklahoma State +10000 |
Texas +13000 | Penn State +20000 | North Carolina +20000 |
Syracuse +20000 | Illinois +25000 | Utah +25000 |
Purdue +25000 | Wake Forest +25000 | Kentucky +50000 |
Kansas State +50000 | Mississippi State +100000 |
National Championship Value Bets
I haven’t been a USC believer since the start of the regular season, I think they’re wildly talented and Lincoln Riley is a very good head coach but I think they have a few holes. That being said, I think there’s a ton of value on them now if you are a USC believer. The have been very impressive up to this point and their only loss came last week by one point in one of the toughest road environments in the country. They have a bye week this week, then should cruise in their next 3 games until they face UCLA on the road and Notre Dame at home.
At +8000, the odds will never be shorter for the Trojans if they get back to their winning ways which they should the next three weeks. If they run the table, they’ll find themselves in a Pac 12 title game with a win over a ranked UCLA team and a chance at a Pac 12 title with a win over most likely Utah, Oregon or UCLA again. The path got more complicated after the loss to Utah, but if USC runs the table through the Pac 12 title game, they’ll have a resume up there with any other 1-loss team.
Blogger Bowl: Week 8 College Football Picks & Preview
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