We’re still two months away from the start of the 2021 college football season, but you’ve been able to place online betting wagers for the next national championship since shortly after Alabama was crowned yet again back in January.
Let’s take a look at some of the teams who are likely to qualify for the College Football Playoff this time around, with some thoughts about a few contenders.
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Alabama has won six national championships in the last 12 years. Yes, they have to make their way through the gauntlet known as the SEC West, with games against the likes of LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Arkansas ahead of them, but Alabama clearly occupies a spot in the minds of all of their division opponents. Even when Tua Tagovailoa was out for the Tide in LSU’s national championship season, Alabama almost pulled off a huge win with backup quarterback Mac Jones running the offense. The depth chart has a ton of five-star recruits, once again, and so a team that has lost more than two times just once in the last 13 seasons has to be a heavy favorite to return to the playoffs.
Clemson has a softer conference slate than does Alabama, which explains why they only have three ACC losses in the last six seasons. Yes, Clemson saw quarterback Trevor Lawrence depart for Jacksonville, where he will receive significant coursework in humility with the Jaguars, but D.J. Uiagalelei started in Lawrence’s stead at Notre Dame and led the offense to a rousing comeback in the fourth quarter, only to see veteran players make key mistakes on both sides of the ball, letting the Irish swipe a win. Eight starters return on defense, so Clemson will be back in the national semifinals as well.
Georgia would be a shoo-in if they belonged to, say, the Big 12 or the Pac-12, and maybe even the Big Ten. In the SEC, though, they have Florida in their own division and Alabama waiting for them in the other division, making the SEC Championship a potential stop sign for Georgia’s hopes. J.T. Daniels led the Bulldogs to four consecutive wins to finish out 2020, but they did not even win their division. The Georgia secondary is all new as well, which could lead to major issues on defense. But can they make the playoff? They open with Clemson, and if they drop that game and then lose another game in SEC play, that could make playoff qualification much less likely.
Iowa State returned just about all of their starters after getting to the Big 12 championship in 2020. They fell to Oklahoma, but with four senior starters returning, along with three star junior starters, but the problem that the Cyclones face, as far as a CFP slot goes, is that no Big 12 team seems capable of running the table against the others. Oklahoma has the best offense in the conference, but their defense is porous. Iowa State’s defense is somewhat better than Oklahoma’s, but their offense can be spotty at times. Oklahoma State is similarly one-dimensional, all offense with a defense that will give way at just the wrong time.
Ohio State saw Justin Fields head off to the NFL, but their schedule is fairly soft this easy. Oregon comes to Ohio Stadium in September, but Michigan and Penn State had awful campaigns a year ago. Indiana saw Michael Penix go down with an ACL injury. He is expected to return, but what will his mobility look like? Ohio State does not have to play Iowa, Wisconsin or Northwestern from the Big Ten West, so they should get to the Big Ten title game with a maximum of one loss, so a win there would give them another CFP berth.
USC may be the Pac-12’s best hope at a College Football Playoff team. In 2020, they put up 33.3 points per game and went 5-1 — but they didn’t play anyone outside the Pac-12. This season, they visit Notre Dame, Arizona State and Cal, but they don’t have to play Washington or Oregon. Kedon Slovis is an intriguing passer, and Bru McCoy and Drake London are elite talents at wide receiver. If the O-line can shore up some problems, then the Trojans could be cooking, and if they can roll through with a Pac-12 title and just one loss, they could snag one of those top four spots, especially if they beat Notre Dame and the Irish have a strong season otherwise.
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