Ohio State, Alabama early favorites to make College Football Playoff
The SEC has been in contention for each of the last nine national titles with at least one team in the last eight BCS title games and Alabama making the four-team playoff last year. The SEC will likely continue that trend with a playoff team this year, but the question is which team will emerge?
Alabama is the biggest favorite in the SEC to make the postseason at +170 to earn a playoff berth, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. However, there are a slew of other teams considered to be legitimate contenders in Auburn (+300), Georgia (+400) and LSU (+500).
While Alabama and Auburn are the most popular picks to survive the SEC gauntlet, Georgia and LSU are being picked by some experts as well. Both are led on offense by Heisman caliber backs in Georgia's Nick Chubb and LSU's Leonard Fournette. In a year where the SEC really beats itself up with its schedule, Ole Miss (+900) or Arkansas (+1000) could even get in the mix.
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Could two teams from the same conference make the College Football Playoff? “Yes” is a +300 underdog to “No” at -500 on that prop bet at the sportsbooks. If Mississippi State had not lost its final regular season game at Mississippi many believe the playoff would have included Mississippi State and Alabama last year.
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The Ohio State Buckeyes are the biggest favorite to advance to the postseason at -350 and a +225 underdog not to make the playoff. Other teams strongly favored to make the playoff are TCU (+170) and Florida State (+250).
While Florida State deserves to be respected on the heels of a 46–4 SU run over its last 50 games, this could be the year Clemson (+500) breaks through in the ACC. Clemson is led by an excellent quarterback in Deshaun Watson and gets its three toughest opponents this season at home against Florida State, Notre Dame (+500) and Georgia Tech (+1400).
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Other teams that could push for a playoff spot include USC (+300), Baylor (+400), Oregon (+400), Michigan State (+500), UCLA (+600), Oklahoma (+900) and Stanford (+1000).
