Best Early 2018 Pac-12 Championship Odds

The Pac-12 can only go up from last year, when their champion didn’t have a chance of appearing in the College Football Playoff, and then Pac-12 teams went 1-8 in bowl play, including a 24-7 thrashing that Ohio State delivered to USC in the Cotton Bowl. The only Pac-12 team to win a bowl game was Utah, who took advantage of injuries when they took down West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. It looks like Washington is the early favorite to win the title this year, now that USC’s Sam Darnold has left for the NFL. Take a look at each team’s sports betting odds to win the 2018 PAC-12 conference, along with our thoughts about some of the contending teams.

Best Early 2018 Pac-12 Championship Odds

On a mission to prove it. Washington picked as the Pac-12 favorite in the preseason media poll. #PurpleReign >> https://t.co/ZADt0tjNLc pic.twitter.com/O92n7tAdtE

— Washington Football (@UW_Football) July 25, 2018

2018 Pac-12 Championship Odds

• Washington                                                     +140
• Stanford                                                          +300
• USC                                                                +300
• Oregon                                                            +1000
• Washington State                                           +1400
• Arizona                                                            +1600
• Utah                                                                +1600
• UCLA                                                              +1800
• Arizona State                                                  +2000
• Colorado                                                         +2000
• Cal                                                                   +2500
• Oregon State                                                  +10000

Yes, Oregon lost coach Willie Taggart to Florida State. However, they are definitely underrated in this odds table. Justin Herbert returns at quarterback, one of the best signal-callers in the nation. Mario Cristobal takes over the coaching reigns, but he was on Taggart’s staff last year, so there shouldn’t be a lack of continuity. Jim Leavitt returns as defensive coordinator with a unit that has gained experience from a year ago and that has picked up some depth from a solid recruiting class. Oregon has a home game against Stanford in early going, and they also play Washington at home, coming off a bye. USC benefits from playing in the Pac-12 South, which is akin go the ACC Coastal and the SEC East in that it gives a team a much easier path to the conference title game. They have to work in a new quarterback in the absence of Darnold and Ronald Jones, but this is a team that has won 39 conference titles in 95 seasons of membership, and a +300 moneyline only has to pay out 25 percent of the time for you to end up at even money. If you like to bet on the probabilities alone, then USC is a team for you to consider. The top five teams in the odds table only contain one Pac-12 South member (USC). However, what about Arizona? They have head coach Kevin Sumlin, who turned around Houston before struggling at Texas A&M. He has Khalil Tate at quarterback, who produces big plays, and Arizona gets to play USC at home the week after a likely laugher over Oregon State. That +1600 moneyline gives you some real value — and should Arizona manage to knock off the Trojans (who are likely to start a freshman at quarterback in T.J. Daniels) in the early going, that moneyline will shrink considerably afterward. Is Washington a legitimate favorite? They do return Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin at quarterback. They have to play Washington State on the road — always a dangerous proposition — as well as Oregon and UCLA away from Seattle. However, they do host Stanford, but that comes at the end of a run of 10 games without a bye week. So Washington has the talent to win, but their schedule isn’t doing them any favorites. Another interesting longshot is UCLA. Josh Rosen has headed off for the NFL, and Chip Kelly returns to college coaching for the first time in five seasons. However, Kelly has a team that is stocked with talent, because Jim Mora was great at recruiting blue-chip player s– just not at turning that talent into championship teams. UCLA is also in the Pac-12 South, and given the lack of powerhouses in that division, +1800 is a lot of value to overlook. It would just take a couple of wins — Arizona and USC come to mind — to get the Bruins up and running in the right direction in this conference.