Updated College Football Championship Odds (Oct 5th)
Thank you to @espn for participating in today's mock selection. First Rankings will be released November 1, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/YNCqBulMja
— CFBPlayoff (@CFBPlayoff) October 6, 2016
Teams With Best Odds to Win College Football Championship
| Team | Odds |
| Alabama | 11/4 |
| Ohio State | 11/4 |
| Clemson | 13/2 |
| Washington | 15/2 |
| Houston | 8/1 |
| Louisville | 8/1 |
| Michigan | 14/1 |
| Texas A&M | 20/1 |
| Tennessee | 25/1 |
| Florida | 35/1 |
| Miami, Fl. | 35/1 |
| Nebraska | 60/1 |
Analysis: While I absolutely abhor No. 1 Alabama (5-0) and arrogant head coach Nick Saban, beating the Tide during his tenure has become almost impossible. Even with a new starting quarterback and a slew of new starters on defense, Alabama remains downright scary!
Even without Zeke Elliott and Joey Bosa, No. 2 Ohio State (4-0) remains a top title contender, mostly because they have an elite quarterback in J.T. Barrett and a bunch of elite talent everywhere else.
No. 3 Clemson (5-0) was my preseason pick to get back to the national championship and after watching them get past dangerous Louisville a week ago, my faith in the Tigers has been renewed after a slow start. Oh…and apparently, a lot of folks forgot just how good Deshaun Watson is, but I didn’t.
As far as No. 5 Washington (5-0) is concerned, I’m now fully on board as seeing the Huskies as a legitimate championship hopeful after they completely crushed Stanford last weekend. Washington has a great head coach in Chris Petersen and a seriously underrated quarterback and running back in Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin respectively.
Next up, the sixth-ranked Houston Cougars (5-0) were also one of my preseason picks to reach the four-team CFB Playoff this season after going 13-1 a year ago but getting left on the outside looking in by the CFB playoff committee. Now, the Cougars may be forcing their way into the playoffs if they can get past dangerous Louisville in a few weeks that is!
Oh…and speaking of now, No. 7 Louisville, I hope the Cardinals still receive serious consideration for a playoff berth after their stellar performance against Clemson last weekend. The fact of the matter is that it looks like the Cardinals can beat almost any team in the nation if you ask me – and I suspect Clemson’s Dabo Swinney would agree.
I know No. 4 Michigan is undefeated right now, but I still think the Wolverines are facing a bit of an uphill battle to reach the postseason because of their inexperience at quarterback and mostly pedestrian offense. Right now, I don’t believe Jim Harbaugh’s team is better than the four or five teams ranked directly below them.
As far as No. 8 Texas A&M is concerned, I think the Aggies are extremely dangerous right now as they are playing phenomenal defense this season and getting just enough solid play out of graduate transfer quarterback Trevor Knight to remain unbeaten. We shall see what A&M is really made of over their next few SEC matchups.
No. 9 Tennessee is unbeaten, but they’ve gotten ‘lucky’ twice this season already, so I expect their bubble to burst at some time in the next few weeks.
No. 10 Miami suddenly looks quite scary with a defense that is as stingy as any in the country and a quarterback in Brad Kaaya that can really sling it.
Last but not least, No. 12 Nebraska seems like a team on a mission this season. If athletic, but previously erratic, signal-caller Tommie Frazier can continue to play mostly mistake-free football, the Cornhuskers could find themselves in the race for one of the four available playoff berths.
Teams With Worst Odds to Win the College Football Championships
Out – Each of these teams, save three, have all seen their playoff chances either take a serious hit – or completely obliterated, depending on your viewpoint.
| Team | Odds |
| North Carolina | 60/1 |
| Ole Miss | 60/1 |
| Baylor | 70/1 |
| Wisconsin | 75/1 |
| Arkansas | 80/1 |
| Boise State | 100/1 |
| Colorado | 100/1 |
| Oklahoma | 100/1 |
| Stanford | 125/1 |
| Florida State | 150/1 |
| Utah | 150/1 |
| Virginia Tech | 150/1 |
| West Virginia | 150/1 |
Analysis: No. 13 Baylor, No. 19 Boise State and No. 22 West Virginia are all unbeaten at the time of this writing, so their playoff chances are still very much alive, although I suspect none will get a real chance to get in unless they run the table.
Ole Miss has taken two losses and let me down against Alabama a couple of weeks ago after smacking the Tide around in the first half. Oklahoma and Florida State both have two losses and just aren’t championship caliber teams this season.
No. 15 Stanford, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 17 North Carolina and every other one-loss team on this list could theoretically make a run at a playoff appearance – if they win out and each of the top six title contenders listed above suffers a humbling loss, but that’s asking a whole lot!
