For the past few years the college football power hierarchy has looked like this: Clemson, Alabama and everyone else. That doesn’t look to change anytime soon. Even though its just a few weeks since Clemson beat Alabama to claim their second National Championship in the past three season they’re already the favorite to repeat in the initial college football futures odds.
The Clemson Tigers are the favorite at +225 but Alabama isn’t far behind at +275. The Tigers are looking for the first back to back National Championship in school history and their fourth overall (they also won the title in 1981 under legendary head coach Danny Ford). Of course Clemson has a long way to go before they can match Alabama’s National Championship pedigree. The Crimson Tide has a ridiculous 17 National Championship titles to go along with 31 conference championships.
Only two other schools are priced at single digits. Alabama’s SEC rival Georgia is +600 and there’s plenty of optimism surrounding the Bulldogs’ program. Under third year head coach Kirby Smart they’ve gone 24-4 in the past two seasons including back to back 7-1 records in SEC play. Georgia was probably a more deserving playoff candidate than either Notre Dame or Oklahoma but the NCAA as usual had their ulterior motives for putting the aforementioned Midwestern schools in the bracket instead. Ohio State is +900 with Oklahoma (+1000) the only other school priced at less than +1600.
The next tier of teams is as follows: Michigan (+1600), Texas (+2000), Florida (+2500), Notre Dame (+2500), Oregon (+2500), Washington (+3300), LSU (+3300) and Nebraska (+3300). Every other school is priced at +5000 or higher. The highest odds among the top 27 betting interests are Kentucky and Syracuse, both priced at +25000.
Clemson will open their 2019 season on August 29 against Georgia Tech at ‘Death Valley’. Their first road game is September 14 at Syracuse. The Tigers will also play Texas A&M, Charlotte, Florida State, Boston College, Wofford and Wake Forest at home with road games scheduled against North Carolina, Louisville, NC State and traditional rivals South Carolina.
Alabama will open their season at home against Duke followed by a game against overmatched New Mexico State (3-9 last year). They’ll then play a tricky game at South Carolina before returning home to face Southern Miss and Ole Miss. A road game at Texas A&M is next up followed by three straight at home against Tennessee, Arkansas and LSU. They finish their season at Mississippi State, at home against Western Carolina and on the road against Auburn.
