College Football Playoff odds: Picks & parlays featuring Georgia, FSU, Michigan and more

The season's first College Football Playoffs rankings will be released on Halloween this year (scary, right?). But bettors do not need to wait to bet on CFP odds. In fact, FanDuel is allowing bettors to parlay their CFP picks.

Technically, every team in the country is still eligible (unless they are serving a postseason ban) to make the College Football Playoff. But as college football fans know all too well, we can probably get away with focusing on a handful of teams.

Odds of making the College Football Playoff

CFP odds are available for many teams at Caesars, FanDuel and Bet365. But in the interest of keeping this post from becoming a book, we'll stick to the top 15 in the AP Poll:

1. Georgia -190 (FanDuel)
2. Michigan -140 (Bet365)
3. Ohio State +200 (FanDuel)
4. Florida State -130 (FanDuel)
5. Washington +130 (Caesars)
6. Oklahoma +160 (Caesars)
7. Penn State +300 (Bet365)
8. Texas +230 (FanDuel)
9. Oregon +800 (Bet365)
10. North Carolina +800 (Caesars)
11. Alabama +450 (Bet365)
12. Oregon State +1600 (FanDuel)
13. Ole Miss +4000 (Bet365)
14. Utah +1500 (Caesars)
15. Notre Dame +2500 (FanDuel)

Starting next season, 12 teams will qualify. But for this season, it is still just four teams, which means we can lean on history a little to get an idea of who has a solid shot of making it and who doesn't.

The idea is to give the best four teams in the country a shot to win the national championship. To that end, the committee has unofficially established a standard for selection:

• Only 14 teams have qualified for the CFP.
• Teams are not required to be from a Power 5 conference (Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC, SEC, Big 12), but only one team from outside the Power 5 has made the CFP (Cincinnati, 2021)
• 13 teams were undefeated heading into the playoffs.
• Three one-loss teams went undefeated during the regular season but lost in their conference title game.
• No team with more than one loss has ever made the CFP.
• 11 SEC teams have made the CFP
• 8 ACC and Big Ten teams have made the CFP.
• The breakdown of the remaining participants: Big 12: 5; Pac-12: 2; AAC: 1; Independent: 1
• Alabama has the most appearances with seven, followed by Clemson (6), Ohio State (5) and Oklahoma (4).

Bets to consider: College Football Playoff picks and parlays

These are teams that have a definite road to the CFP and have a solid chance of winning the games they need to win to get there:

• If Washington +130 can finish the regular season undefeated, they will still have a solid shot at making the playoff if they lose the Pac-12 title game. However, as dominant as they have looked, the Huskies have games remaining against four ranked teams.
• Texas +230 must run the table and win the Big 12 title to have a shot after losing to Oklahoma. But as close as the Red River Rivalry game was, Texas could win a rematch.
• As competitive as the Pac-12 has been this season, Oregon +800 still has a solid shot if they can finish the regular season with no more losses and win the Pac-12 championship game.

CFP parlays to consider

FanDuel is giving bettors the option to create parlays with their CFB playoff picks. Parlays involve substantial risk, but there can also be a significant reward. You can combine up to four selections into a parlay, but you do not have to pick four teams.

Here's a selection of CFB parlay picks that we like:

• Georgia (-190), Michigan (-145), Florida State (-130) and Washington (+115): Parlay odds: +880.

These are the four teams with the shortest odds at FanDuel. A $100 wager will result in a $980 payday, your stake plus $880 in winnings.

• Georgia (-190), Michigan (-145), Oklahoma (+140) and Washington (+115): Parlay odds: +1293.

All four are favored to win their conference and will likely make the CFP if they do. A $100 wager will result in a $1393 payday, your stake plus $1293 in winnings.

• Georgia (-190), Texas (+230), Florida State (-130) and Ohio State (+200): Parlay odds: +2573

Texas could win a rematch against Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Ohio State has yet to play its best game. They'll make the playoffs if they continue to improve and run the table (not an easy task with Michigan upcoming).

A $100 wager will result in a $2,673 payday, your stake plus $2,573 in winnings.

Shop around for CFP odds

CFP odds is a great market to use a bonus bet on or one of the other generous welcome promos sportsbooks offer.

Here are sportsbook bonuses offered by the top sports betting sites in the U.S.:

* Offers may vary between states.