2017 NCAA Football Championship Odds Preview

2017 NCAA Football Championship Odds Preview

Written by on April 21, 2016

The start of the 2016 NCAA college football season may still be months away from getting started, but college football betting fans everywhere are already starting to turn an eye toward the upcoming season in the hopes of cashing in early and often. Thanks to this look at the odds to win the 2017 National Championship, you’re going to get a great idea of which teams will be legitimate contenders, which ones will likely be nothing more than pretenders and those that have no shot at winning it all next season. Okay, let’s get started.

2017 NCAA Football Championship Odds Preview

Favorites To Win It

Alabama 6/1
Clemson 7/1
Oklahoma 7/1
Ohio State 8/1
Michigan 10/1
Florida State 12/1
LSU 12/1
Baylor 14/1
Tennessee 14/1
Notre Dame 18/1
Stanford 27/1
Michigan State 28/1
Analysis: The Clemson Tigers nearly won it all last season and will have arguably the nation’s best quarterback under center in 2016 in the gifted Deshaun Watson, but it is the defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide that are favored to win it all again in 2017. The Tide pulled off the nation’s top recruiting class by signing three 5-star recruits, a whopping 16 4-star recruits and six 3-star recruits. Clemson ranked 14th in national recruiting while Oklahoma ranked 20th, Ohio State second and Michigan, sixth. The bad news for Alabama is that the Tide will be breaking in a new starting quarterback thanks to the graduation of Jake Coker. Oklahoma will lean heavily on Heisman Trophy contender Baker Mayfield while Ohio State turns to J.T. Barrett to overcome the losses of Ezekiel Elliott and defensive end Joey Bosa. Last but not least, college football bettors can expect Michigan to continue improving its program in Year Two of the Jim Harbaugh ear, though the Wolverines need to find a replacement for quarterback Jake Rudock.

Contenders To Win The Title

Ole Miss 30/1
Georgia 33/1
UCLA 33/1
Auburn 35/1
TCU 35/1
Oregon 50/1
USC 50/1
Washington 50/1
Florida 55/1
Oklahoma State 60/1
Houston 75/1
Louisville 80/1
Utah 85/1
Analysis: Ole Miss has increased its win total in each of the last three years under head coach Hugh Freeze and will have a shot to do something big this coming season thanks to quarterback Chad Kelly. Mark Richt is out at Georgia and that could be a good thing for the perennially underachieving Bulldogs in Kirby Smart’s first season, especially if running back Nick Chubb regains his All-American form. UCLA will look to build on quarterback Josh Rosen stellar freshman season but will do so without star running back Paul Perkins in 2016. TCU loses four starters on the offensive line as well as elite stars in quarterback Trevone Boykin and wide receiver Josh Doctson. My favorite team in this group is the Houston Cougars. Tom Herman led his team to a stellar 13-1 mark in 2015 and 2016 could produce a similar campaign thanks to the play of quarterback Greg Ward first and foremost.

Pretenders To The Title

Arizona State 100/1
Arkansas 100/1
Boise State 100/1
Iowa 100/1
Miami, Fl. 100/1
Nebraska 100/1
North Carolina 100/1
Texas 100/1
Texas A&M 100/1
Wisconsin 100/1
Analysis: Arkansas lost Quarterback Brandon Allen, running back Alex Collins and tight end Hunter Henry and that likely means the Razorbacks will take a step backwards in 2016. While Boise State took a step back in head coach Bryan Harsin’s second season at the helm, quarterback Brett Rypien and running back Jeremy McNichols return to lead what should be another explosive offense for the Broncos. I also love Wisconsin’s chances to rebound as they’ll have gifted running back Corey Clement back on the field after the expected Heisman contender missed virtually all of the 2015 campaign due to a series of injuries, including a debilitating sports hernia.

Best Of The Rest To Win The Title

Washington State 250/1
West Virginia 250/1
Arizona 300/1
BYU 300/1
Georgia Tech 300/1
Mississippi State 300/1
Penn State 300/1
South Carolina 300/1
Virginia Tech 300/1
California 500/1
Kansas State 500/1
Minnesota 500/1
NC State 500/1
Pittsburgh 500/1
Virginia 500/1
Texas Tech 750/1
Boston College 1000/1
Cincinnati 1000/1
Colorado 1000/1
Duke 1000/1
Illinois 1000/1
Indiana 1000/1
Kentucky 1000/1
Missouri 1000/1
Northwestern 1000/1
San Diego State 1000/1
South Florida 1000/1
Temple 1000/1
Utah State 1000/1
Analysis: With Cal and Penn State losing starting quarterbacks Jared Goff and Christian Hackenberg to the NFL Draft, both schools will be hard-pressed to challenge for much of anything, even in their own conferences. The two teams that I really like to exceed their expectations in 2016 are Texas Tech and Temple. I love dynamic dual-threat Texas Tech signal-caller Pat Mahomes and I believe he can help the Red Raiders make another jump in the win column after helping them improve to 7-6 last season after going 4-8 in 2014. Last season, Mahomes led the Big 12 in passing yards (4,653, the best total in the Big 12 since 2011) and tied Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield with 36 touchdown passes. If the Red Raiders can improve their overly generous defense, they could surprise. As far as the Temple Owls are concerned, the Owls have an elite running back in Jahad Thomas but the Owls will need quarterback P.J. Walker to be better than he was down the stretch last season. Temple will also need to overcome the loss of super-active linebacker Tyler Matakevich, but they have an outstanding head coach in the widely-respected Vern Rhule and a schedule that features suddenly mediocre Penn State as its toughest opponent.