Here in the 2019 edition of NCAA college football, we’ve now approached the fifth week of the season, and to no surprise, the Clemson Tigers (+175) and Alabama Clemson Tigers (+260) are still first and second in the odds over at the top football betting sites, and have a good distance over the rest of the pack at that. In the No. 3 position come the Georgia Bulldogs well behind at +850 odds, with the Ohio State Buckeyes in the fourth spot at +900 and the LSU Tigers to round out the top five for us in fifth place at +1000. Up next are the Oklahoma Sooners at +1400.
Last week, we would see major developments within the world of college football, mainly with the teams of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Michigan Wolverines. For Notre Dame, a win against Georgia was the only way they were going to keep their name in the discussion for who’s going to be in the College Football Playoff (at least for right now). After they suffered a 23-17 loss to the Bulldogs, it seems that dream is over with them shooting all the way down to +8000 odds to win the national title.
For Michigan, the school that I happened to get my education from and remain a huge fan of, would get flat-out embarrassed to the Wisconsin Badgers. (And yes, it hurt.) The thrashing would result at the end of the Wolverines’ season, with no chance of glory in the College Football Playoff. The only way they could have gotten into the CFP is if they would have gone undefeated in the Big Ten, as well as defeating rival Ohio State for the first time in what seems like forever. With a loss in just the third game of the season, it’s a wrap for Michigan.
I mean, look at Michigan Wolverines odds: They’ve dropped all the way down to +5000 with a very uncertain future.
Not just as a Michigan fan, but as just a fan of college football, you have to be disappointed with what you’re seeing with the Wolverines and this legendary program. Before the season started, most pundits (including myself) had this year being the year that Michigan would run the table and finally take out an Urban Meyer-less Buckeyes team. But nope, those thoughts would quickly evaporate here in the early season, and it truly is sad. Unfortunately, and as much as I hate to say it, people like Stephen A. Smith are right when they say that “we” are overrated. (Can you feel my pain? It’s coming out.)
I mean, seriously, this team would go undefeated the entire season last year to ultimately get stomped by both Ohio State and Florida in their bowl game, but that success in 2018 would lead to the high expectations again for this year. But no, head coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Don Brown prove once again that they can’t win big games on the road. It’s just the same product, and with five years of the same product, it might be time to start taking the “Fire Harbaugh” conversations seriously — he’s just not delivering results that are expected of Michigan. I love Harbaugh, but it may time for him and the Wolverines to part ways, which is disappointing considering Michigan is Harbaugh’s alma mater and Harbaugh is a pretty big brand name in terms of coaching. I guess we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out and how the university responds — a very uncertain future in Ann Arbor, indeed.
But let me stop venting though and get back to being focused. (Sorry, I just had to let it out to somebody, I hope you didn’t mind.) With that being said, let’s go over the current favorites to win the 2019-20 NCAA college football national championship, review their odds and I’ll also be giving you my updated prediction for who I see with the title at the end of the season. Do I still have Alabama holding up the trophy? Do I still have Notre Dame as my long shot? Let’s go!
The Clemson Tigers have been what they are to start out the season: Dominant, the No. 1 team in the land and the defending ACC and national champions. What was it that Dennis Green said? “They are who we thought they were!” Yeah, that about sums up Clemson’s play this year. To kick off the campaign, they would get right into conference play with a 52-14 annihilation of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In their next game, it wouldn’t be a “blowout” per say, but it would be a distant victory with a 24-10 topping of the Texas A&M Aggies — a pretty impressive team who was ranked No. 23 in the nation at the time. After that, however, that’s when the Tigers would be back to destroying opposition. They would next be tasked with the Syracuse Orange on the road, and delivered a win with no problem, 41-6. Last weekend, their most recent game, they would play a small school in the Charlotte 49ers and would hammer them by a 52-10 score. What can I say, man? They literally are who we thought they were.
For Alabama, it’s been the exact same story as Clemson. I’ll let Dennis tell you: “Alabama is who we thought they were!” Thanks, coach. The defending SEC champions and national title runner-up would begin their campaign against the Duke Blue Devils, and would bash them for a 42-3 victory. The very next week, it would get even worse against a small school in the New Mexico State Aggies, where it would be an absolute slaughter in favor of the Crimson Tide, 62-10. After their 2-0 start, Alabama would then start out SEC conference play against a pretty quality opponent in the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road, and they would get a great (and distant) victory by a 47-23 score. In their most recent contest last Saturday, they would take it easy to gear up for the grind of the full-out conference schedule, which starts after this weekend. That tune-up opponent: Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and what would you know, the Crimson Tide did Crimson Tide things winning by a thrilling (sarcastic) 49-7 score. Coach Green, go ahead and hit me with that soundbite again: “Alabama is who we thought they were!”
I feel like the Georgia Bulldogs are one of those programs that eventually are going to be up there with the Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide, they just need to get past Alabama first. Once they do, they’ll win their first national championship and join Clemson and Alabama in the national title cycle — it’s only a matter of time for this program, keep an eye on Georgia. As far as this season is concerned, they’ve been pretty dominant, and it started with a convincing 30-6 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores. The next week, they would absolutely destroy a small-school opponent in the Murray State Racers by a 63-17 score, and then would follow that up with a shutout thrashing over the Arkansas State Red Wolves, 55-0. In their last game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, a team who was ranked No. 7 in the country at the time, they wouldn’t get a dominating victory like some pundits were thinking, but it was still a solid 23-17 win over Notre Dame — at the end of the day, they’re still a top 10 team. And they’re Notre Dame. Georgia, for sure, is going to have a successful season, again, as you can tell. But my question for them still remains: When will they finally get over Alabama?
For the Ohio State Buckeyes, you could say that they’ve been massively dominant this season. On the other hand, you could also say that their competition has been massively weak. In their first game, it wouldn’t be the most flashy of scores, but it would still be a distant victory taking out the Florida Atlantic Owls. 45-21. After that, the Buckeyes would really get rolling, starting with a game against the in-state rival Cincinnati Bearcats. In that contest, they would grab a victory against the Bearcats where they would keep them scoreless, 42-0. The next week, Ohio State would hit the 50 mark to open up Big Ten Play, hammering the Indiana Hoosiers for a 51-10 victory. Last weekend, the Buckeyes would raise the bar even higher, hitting the 70 mark against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks in a 76-5 beating. Honestly, it doesn’t even look like Urban Meyer left the program, you can’t even tell. With that being said, things get a bit tougher when the full grind of conference play begins next week against Nebraska on the road, so we’ll see if Ohio State can keep that kind of level up with head coach Ryan Day.
To be honest with you, me personally, I’m a bit surprised that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have dropped so far in the odds. I understand they may have lost last weekend and that’s the reasoning, but are people not giving them the benefit of the doubt of losing on to the road to the Georgia Bulldogs out of all teams, who are ranked No. 3 in the nation? On top of that, it wasn’t that bad of a loss at 23-17. It just doesn’t make sense. Also consider this: Notre Dame has a very realistic opportunity at running the table when you look at the rest of their opposition. Check out their remaining schedule: vs. No. 18 Virginia, vs. Bowling Green, vs. No. 21 USC, at No. 20 Michigan, vs. Virginia Tech, at Duke, vs. Navy, vs. Boston College, at Stanford (They would blow out Louisville, 35-17, and New Mexico, 66-14, in prior games.) .. Literally all of those games are quite winnable. On the road against Michigan could become problematic, but we’ve seen how the Wolverines have been this year — even Army nearly beat them at “The Big House”. With that being said, I have to take them to run the table to be able to get into the College Football Playoff, and still place them as a long shot to win the national championship.
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