College football bettors picking USC to win the national championship
There are lots of ways to predict which college football teams will win the national championship, but one reliable method has been to watch where the money goes.
Sure, betting on sports was never exactly a science, but when the big-timers put their money down, it's not without reason.
While most bettors are sticking with reliable picks like Ohio State and Alabama, one new contender has emerged at Caesars Sportsbook: the new-look USC Trojans.
Since first appearing on the College Football Playoff board this offseason with 45/1 odds, USC has come down since, and is now listed at 25/1 to win it all.
That's still good for just sixth overall among title contenders, but represents by far the biggest jump among college football teams with bettors at Caesars.
Perhaps no other big-time program got as much hype as USC this offseason, and with good reason.
USC is moving up the board among college football bettors
USA Today Images
The program hired Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma as head coach and he went to work luring some major blue-chip talent to the team via the transfer portal.
Not least among them, 5-star quarterback Caleb Williams, who showed major flashes in six starts at OU under Riley and who was the No. 1 ranked passer in the 2021 recruiting class.
Wide receiver Mario Williams (from Oklahoma) and running back Travis Dye (from Oregon) highlighted USC's early transfer haul.
And the school struck again late in the offseason when former Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison transferred to the Trojans after leading college football with 17 receiving touchdowns last season and winning the Biletnikoff Award.
College Football HQ ranked USC at No. 1 in our football transfer portal team rankings.
But while USC should be vastly improved offensively, there are still major questions about how Riley and his staff can repair a defense that ranked 89th nationally.
"If they go out and roll a couple of teams early, the public will be all over them every week," Caesars oddsmaker Ed Salmons said, via ESPN.
"Sometimes when you put all these guys from different teams, it just takes a while. But if they happen to click from day one, absolutely, the public will be on them."
(h/t ESPN)
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