ALTOONA, Pa. -- How good will Penn State be next season? Well, we can look at early polls, or you can try and take the word of media schlubs like me.
But when it comes to predictions and expectations, it's always smart to see what Vegas thinks. Because, you know, those folks get by on putting their money where their mouth is.
As Georgia gets set to play TCU tonight for the national title, these are the early odds to win the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship, from BetOnline.ag.
• Georgia: 3/1
• Alabama: 15/4
• Ohio State: 6/1
• Michigan: 12/1
• Notre Dame: 14/1
• Penn State: 18/1
• Texas: 18/1
• Clemson: 25/1
• TCU: 25/1
• Utah: 28/1
• USC: 33/1
• Kansas State: 40/1
• LSU: 40/1
• Oklahoma: 40/1
What's interesting here -- although not surprising -- is that the Nittany Lions are tied for the sixth-best odds to win the national championsip, yet have just the third-best odds among teams in their own division, behind Ohio State and Michigan.
Penn State went 11-2 this year and won the Rose Bowl, but lost to both the Buckeyes and Wolverines. The team they beat in the Rose Bowl, Utah, also has good odds to win the title next year and received some good news Monday as standout quarterback Cameron Rising announced he will return to the Utes next season.
“It has never been easy doing look-ahead Championship Odds for College Football, but in today’s college football landscape with the transfer portal and NIL it has become a tremendous challenge to predict how these teams will look at the start of next season," Adam Burns, BetOnline.ag SportsBook manager said, per Jimmy Shapiro, president of Stuff Media Group.
"The usual suspects ... Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State top the list. Michigan is a distant fourth, and mostly because we have to account for the possibility of Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL.
"I expect a lot of odds movement in the next few weeks and would not be surprised if these odds for many teams move dramatically. One other note, due to the current climate mentioned above, we have less teams than usual in our opening lines. More longshots will be added as the season gets closer.”
All told, 41 teams have early odds to win the national title next year, with Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota at 200/1 to round out the list.
Pitt does not have any odds at this time.
