First Look at CFP National Championship Odds

On Sunday, the Selection Committee picked the schools to play in this season’s College Football Playoff: Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State. These four programs will vie for the title, starting with semifinal games at the end of December. Although the contests remain just less than a month away, sportsbooks published their initial CFP National Championship odds with the field set over the weekend. 

The game action for this year’s College Football Playoff kicks off on New Years’ Eve. 2-seed Michigan faces 3-seed TCU at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. 1-seed Georgia takes on 4-seed Ohio State at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Winners of those contests will then face off for the CFP National Championship at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on January 9th.

Here’s a look at the best opening CFP National Championship odds among New York sportsbooks.

Georgia enters this year’s College Football Playoff as the defending champs and the team to beat. The Bulldogs beat top-10 teams Oregon and Tennessee this season, then trounced LSU for their first SEC championship since 2017. In doing so, they became just the fourth school to grab in the No. 1 seed in the field, joining Alabama, Clemson, and LSU.

The Bulldogs see the shortest odds of the four schools and hope to become the first repeat champs in the CFP era. 2022 marks just the first time in the CFP era that both Alabama and Clemson have failed to reach the playoff. 

The Big 10 landed two teams in the field, with Michigan winning the conference title and Ohio State entering thanks in large part to its 11-0 start this season. This marks just the second time in the CFP era that a conference sees two squads make the field, something the SEC has done twice before. The Wolverines sit at 13-0 and look to win the title for the first time since 1997. The Buckeyes won the first CFP championship (2014), but have gone just 1-3 in playoff games since then. 

TCU remains the longshot outlier in this group. The Horned Frogs made the field despite losing the Big 12 championship. TCU became just the second school in make the CFP field after starting the season unranked, joining last season’s Michigan squad. TCU last won a national title in 1938. The Horned Frogs didn’t see CFP National Championship odds this season until early October and started at +10000 to win it all. 

The CFP National Semifinal games provide New York bettors with a bevy of compelling odds to consider. Georgia and Ohio State have only played once, with that lone meeting coming way back in 1993. Michigan and TCU have never played against one another. 

Georgia’s reward for grabbing the 1-seed in this playoff field is staying close to home for their semifinal matchup with the Buckeyes. The Bulldogs have been set a 6.5-point favorites across the board, thanks in large part to their dominant play in big games this season. Georgia started the season with a 49-3 win over then-No. 11 Oregon, topped then-No. 1 Tennessee 27-13, and won the SEC title with a 50-30 rout of then-No. 14 LSU. Ohio State snuck into the CFP field following USC’s Pac 12 title game loss to Utah. 

The matchup between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeded teams is normally the more competitive game. This year, however, Michigan stands as a clear favorite over TCU in their national semifinal. The Wolverines dispatched Ohio State on the road, and TCU dropped their conference title game. Thus, these teams see spreads between 8.5 and 9.5 points at sportsbooks. Michigan holds the experience advantage here, and sports a dominant rushing attack which should allow them to control this contest.