After a pair of high-drama endings and a duo of duds, the College Football Playoff narrowed its field to eight, with the defending champs still favored to repeat. With four teams down, Ohio State’s +200 mark leads all title hopefuls, a small move from when the bracket was set.
The Buckeyes will now face Miami, whose odds improved to +2000 after they managed to be the last team standing in a gruesome defensive brawl with Texas A&M. The Hurricanes entered the playoff with +2200 odds to win the national title, but given their path goes through Ohio State and the winner of Ole Miss and Georgia, it’s unsurprising their fortunes only took a modest leap.
Indiana remains the next-most-likely winner behind the Buckeyes at +300, slipping from its +275 opening mark now that the Hoosiers draw Alabama in their first game.
For their part, the Crimson Tide earned a solid bump to their chances after a stunning comeback in Round 1. The Tide’s 27-point blitz stunned the Sooners, who led 17-0, and got Bama through to the next round. Alabama now sits at +1500 to hoist the trophy. The Tide joins Miami as the biggest risers, coming in at +2000 after a loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs get a rematch with Ole Miss in Round 2, and the SEC champs’ odds moved from +600 to +450 now that the field is down to eight and they draw a team they beat 43-35 once already this season. That Week 8 game was the Rebels’ only loss, and their second crack at Georgia will be at a neutral site instead of in Athens. There’s still uncertainty around what this team is without Lane Kiffin, though, at least in games where the Rebels aren’t three-score favorites like they were against Tulane.
Ole Miss has the longest title odds in the field at +2500, showing that the same questions that made them +2500 contenders at the outset still linger. Oddsmakers believe the Rebels’ win over Tulane in Round 1 didn’t prove much more than Ole Miss could beat the same overmatched team twice in a season.
Oregon slipped ahead of Texas Tech with a convincing win over James Madison, moving to +800 after sharing +900 odds with the Red Raiders two weeks ago. Tech’s odds stayed put, joining Ole Miss as the only two teams that saw no change.
The next round will follow the same 1-3 format, with the Buckeyes and Canes playing on New Year’s Eve, and the other three matchups spread out on New Year’s Day.
