The SEC’s top dogs shook up the national title odds again, with the preseason favorite Georgia reclaiming the driver’s seat after a convincing win over Texas. The Bulldogs, now +350 on BetMGM, took complete control of the game in Austin after some early stumbles and looked a long way from the squad that got mollywhopped by Alabama in Week 5.
Looking mortal for the first time all season, the Longhorns dropped out of poll position (+375 last week) down to +500.
After a thriller in Knoxville, Alabama and Tennessee passed each other on the stairs, with 5-2 Bama tumbling from +850 all the way to +2000 and the Vols getting a slight bump to +1600. Even with two losses, oddsmakers aren’t ready to quit on Alabama. The Tide are still ahead of LSU (+3000) and Texas A&M (+4000), despite both the Tigers and Aggies being 6-1 and undefeated in conference play. Twelve postseason slots means the window, albeit narrow, is still open for Bama and pedigree still counts for something.
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Ohio State is the Big Ten’s lead horse at +450, and the conference now holds three of the top five spots in the title race. The Buckeyes’ bye week kept their odds in the same place after the previous week’s loss to Oregon, and though the Ducks are still behind them, their beatdown of Purdue moved their odds even with Texas at +500.
Penn State is the next closest contender, but it’s a massive gap. The Nittany Lions remain +1400 after their bye week, but will get a chance to make a leap in two weeks when they host Ohio State in Happy Valley.
2025 college football national title odds
If you’re looking for longshot Big Ten bets, Indiana (that’s undefeated Indiana to you) crept up to +8000, and Illinois… well never mind. The 6-1 Illini just handled Michigan and only lost 21-7 to PSU, but they can’t get no respect.
The ACC still has two teams in the race, with Clemson and Miami moving up from +2000 to +1600 with wins this week. Of the two, Clemson seems safer given they rebounded from an opening loss against Georgia with six straight wins and are averaging a 23.6-point margin of victory against conference opponents. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are keeping cardiologists across the southeast in business with a wild three weeks in which their biggest margin of victory was a touchdown against Louisville.
Notre Dame is still hanging around the perimeter of the contenders circle at +5000, but draws Navy this week and has to go through Army and USC to end the season. Both academies are undefeated and rolling, with the Black Knights looking particularly ferocious of late. What are usually easy wins for the Irish look like a gauntlet this season.
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Believers in the Big 12 have their pick of three capital-L longshots with Iowa State climbing to +6600 from +10000 last week, Kansas State at +10000, and undefeated BYU at (woof) +20000.
The most interesting gamble is out West, where Heisman favorite Ashton Jeanty has Boise State at +15000. Those odds could shorten coming out of a Broncos bye with a soft schedule ahead and the Broncos’ lone loss came on a last-second Oregon field goal. If Boise State can get in the College Football Playoff, Jeanty is the type of miracle-maker that can upend the status quo in a 12-team free-for-all.
Through the halfway point of the season, it’s a two-conference battle for who has the top contender, but the next few weeks are when the dark horses start surging. The modern blue bloods will still be the ones to catch, but the next tier of contenders will start to solidify in November.
(Photo of Julian Humphrey: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
