We have the final College Football Playoff rankings, which means that the national semifinal pairings (and all 43 bowl games, in total) are now set. TCU benefited from USC’s inability to handle Utah, sliding into the top four despite losing the Big 12 Championship to a Kansas State team that had its backup quarterback running the offense. Tulane will be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six, and Alabama and Clemson are both in the rare position of being on the outside of the CFP. Take a look at the final rankings of the 2022 season for your NCAA Football betting, along with some of our thoughts about the bowl schedule.
NCAA News: College Football Top 25 and Betting Opportunities
#1 Georgia Bulldogs
#2 Michigan Wolverines
#3 TCU Horned Frogs
#4 Ohio State Buckeyes
#5 Alabama Crimson Tide
#6 Tennessee Volunteers
#7 Clemson Tigers
#8 Utah Utes
#9 Kansas State Wildcats
#10 USC Trojans
#11 Penn State Nittany Lions
#12 Washington Huskies
#13 Florida State Seminoles
#14 Oregon State Beavers
#15 Oregon Ducks
#16 Tulane Green Wave
#17 LSU Tigers
#18 UCLA Bruins
#19 South Carolina Gamecocks
#20 Texas Longhorns
#21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
#22 Mississippi State Bulldogs
#23 N.C. State Wolfpack
#24 Troy Trojans
#25 UT-San Antonio Road Runners
One matchup that seems a bit unbalanced in bowl season is the Texas Bowl, set for October 28. Ole Miss takes on Texas Tech, and now that Lane Kiffin has cleared the air about a possible departure for Auburn, the Rebels should be focused on the task at hand. Ole Miss’ offense ranks eighth in the nation in yards per contest (491.3), and freshman tailback Quinshon Judkins is just the best in a solid collection of running backs that have put up the third-most yards in the nation. Judkins has run for almost 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns this season, averaging 5.9 yards per attempt. Texas Tech permits 166.3 yards on the ground per game, 89th in the nation. When Ole Miss has been favored this year, they have gone 8-2 against the spread, and given that they win straight up almost 80% of the time, they are a solid pick.
The Citrus Bowl will feature LSU and Purdue. The Boilermakers pushed Michigan hard in the first half of the Big Ten Championship, but then the Wolverines ran away with the game after the intermission. LSU shocked the nation by following up an early loss to Florida State with an SEC West title that featured an overtime win over Alabama. Jayden Daniels has a 16:3 TD:INT ratio for the Tigers this year while throwing for 2,774 yards. He also leads the team in rushing with 818 yards and has scored 11 times on the ground. Purdue did drop three of six to finish the season, so LSU is a smart favorite, especially with the game taking place in SEC territory.
The Cure Bowl will feature a pair of 11-2 teams in Troy and UT-San Antonio. They’re at the bottom of the CFP Top 25 because of the conferences in which they play, although if UTSA had managed to pull off that upset of Houston in the early going, they could have been the Group of Five’s New Year Six team. Troy has won 10 in a row, but their defense will struggle to deal with Frank Harris, who had 342.5 all-purpose yards per game, fourth among all FBS players. UTSA should be able to get the upset here.
You might be tempted to think that Florida will take advantage of the disappointment that Oregon State may feel by getting sent to the Las Vegas Bowl despite sitting at #14 in the CFP poll. However, the Gators won’t have either of their top two quarterbacks, as Anthony Richardson has already declared for the pro draft, and his backup, Jalen Kitna, has been dismissed from the university after getting arrested recently.
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