Think Ohio State has the best chance to make the 2019 College Football Playoff? This is your chance to put your money where your mouth (or keyboard) is.
The sports book at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, SuperBook, just released its odds for more than 70 teams to make this year’s college football final four.
Ohio State was given 3/1 odds, meaning you would win $3 for every $1 you bet (minus the vig, of course).
Those are pretty good odds, putting OSU ahead of schools like Oklahoma, Texas, LSU, and Notre Dame.
The Buckeyes are behind only a handful of perennial college football powers like Alabama and Clemson. The Crimson Tide and Tigers both have 1/6 odds, meaning you would have to put down $6 today for a chance to win $1 in December. Georgia is an even-money bet, so you would win $1 for every $1 you bet.
But there is another team given better odds to make the field than OSU: the Michigan Wolverines.
Jim Harbaugh’s program is a 9/4 bet. If it’s been a while since you’ve had to think about fractions, that means you would have to put down an extra dollar ($4 instead of $3) to win the same amount of money as a bet on the Buckeyes.
Many OSU fans will likely blanch at that, and numbers like 62-39 and 16-2 may come up early in their responses.
Michigan does have a returning starter at quarterback and get the Buckeyes at home, where they’ve managed to win The Game in one of their last seven tries. So that’s something.
On the OSU side, there is still a good bit of uncertainty nationally about new head coach Ryan Day and largely-unproven starting quarterback Justin Fields. The Buckeyes also have to replace four starters along the offensive line, three top wide receivers, and the defense is still something of an unknown. So there is an explanation, whether Ohio State fans like it or not.
Other Big Ten teams on the list include Nebraska at 6/1, which are better odds than teams like Florida, Auburn, or Oregon.
Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Penn State are 20/1. Iowa is 40/1, Purdue is 60/1, Minnesota is 100/1, and Northwestern is 200/1.
If you want a real underdog, you can lay your money on Indiana or Maryland (1000/1). And if you just hate money, Illinois and Rutgers are 2000/1 bets.
You can find the full odds sheet below. Just click on the photo to see it in its entirety.
If you’re willing to let the good folks @SuperBookUSA hold onto your money for a couple of months, Clemson to make the CFP is still a good bet, even at that price. pic.twitter.com/vQ3D4Fi02K
— Chris Fallica (@chrisfallica) July 15, 2019