- 2023-24 college football national title odds: Georgia could three-peat

The Daily Gazette

11 January 2023

The 2022-23 college football season wrapped up with Georgia’s 65-7 rout of TCU on Monday night to give the Bulldogs the sport’s first back-to-back championships since Alabama did it after the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

We already have odds for next year’s national championship, and if they’re any indication, Georgia has a chance to do something truly historic: Win a third consecutive title, something not done since Minnesota in 1934-36, never in the national championship game era.

But the Bulldogs are +325 to win it all again at Caesars Sportsbook. They’re followed by more usual suspects: Alabama at +550 and Ohio State, which nearly knocked off Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals this season, at +650.

After that, it gets a little more varied. USC, which will return Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams and was one game away from the playoffs this season, is the fourth team listed at +1000.

Then, both at +1400, come Michigan and LSU. The Wolverines have been in the CFP the past two seasons, but coach Jim Harbaugh is flirting with NFL jobs. Then there are the Tigers. LSU surprised in its first year under coach Brian Kelly, wasting no time with a transition in going 10-4 and winning the SEC East division and the Citrus Bowl.

Next year will be the final year of a four-team College Football Playoff; it expands to 12 teams following the 2024 season. Next year’s semifinals will be played at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., with the national championship game slated for NRG Stadium in Houston.

After Michigan and LSU comes a trio at +1800, Florida State, Clemson and Texas. Each of the past 12 national champions have odds of +1800 or better. Notre Dame is given 20-to-1 odds, followed by Penn State and Tennessee at +2200 and Oregon at +2500. This year’s runner-up, TCU, is at +4000 along with Oklahoma and Utah.

As for the Heisman Trophy, Williams is the favorite to repeat at +550, followed by a bunch of other quarterbacks, starting with North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Florida State’s Jordan Travis (+1000) and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. (+1200). There are four more QBs at +1600: Oregon’s Bo Nix; Kyle McCord, who is expected to start at Ohio State; Sam Hartman, who transferred from Wake Forest to Notre Dame this month; and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who announced he’s returning for his senior season.

Of course, plenty of offseason remains, with the transfer portal still open in January and coaching changes still possible, followed by another opportunity for transfers after spring football. The odds will continue to shift throughout the offseason until preseason camp opens in late July or early August.