Posted on 01/11/2022 9:55:08 AM PST by blam
The 2021-22 college football season came to a close on Monday night when Georgia beat Alabama 33-18 in the College Football Playoff finale to win its first national title in more than 40 years.
Now, the Bulldogs are facing another question as they revel in their glory: Can they do it again next season? Sportsbooks apparently like their chances, as Georgia (+200) opened as co-favorites to win a national title in 2022, per odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.
The Bulldogs may need to rebuild their stellar defense a bit, as many of their starters will be heading to the 2022 NFL Draft, but the team has recruited well in recent years and will have plenty of depth to trust during the upcoming season. On offense, they’ll have to replace quarterback Stetson Bennett IV, but they will retain most of their crop of young, talented receivers and tight ends. That will give them a chance to be a more potent scoring unit as players like Brock Bowers develop.
Georgia isn’t the only SEC team expected to compete for a national title. Alabama (+200) matches Georgia’s early season odds despite losing to them in the 2022 national championship game. Why? Because Heisman-winner Bryce Young is returning at quarterback, so that should keep Alabama’s offense humming. Stud pass rusher Will Anderson is also not draft-eligible, so his return should make the defense a fearsome unit again.
There are two other teams with better than 10-1 odds to win a championship. They are Ohio State (+800) and Clemson (+1000). Ohio State played very well after a slow start to the 2021 college football season and C.J. Stroud has the makings of the best quarterback in college football. Meanwhile, Clemson is coming off a down year, but Dabo Swinney’s squad is still talented. They just have to adjust to having new coordinators on both sides of the ball after Brent Venables (Oklahoma) and Tony Elliott (Virginia) left to become head coaches.
Michigan (+4000) and Cincinnati (+20000), who made the CFP last season, are longer shots to make it this year. The Wolverines are among a group of five teams with the fifth-best odds to win a championship, but they are clearly behind Ohio State in the opinion of bookmakers. As for the Bearcats, they will probably have to go undefeated to make the College Football Playoff again, and sportsbooks aren’t bullish on that happening as quarterback Desmond Ridder moves on to the NFL.
Below is a look at FanDuel’s odds to win a national title in the 2022 season. Only schools with 200-1 odds or better are listed.
College football championship odds 2022
Team Odds
Georgia +200
Alabama +200
Ohio State +800
Clemson +1000
Oregon +4000
Texas A&M +4000
Oklahoma +4000
Florida +4000
Michigan +4000
Miami (FL) +6000
Penn State +6000
Tennessee +8000
North Carolina +8000
USC +8000
Wisconsin +8000
Notre Dame +8000
Kentucky +10000
Texas +10000
Washington +10000
South Carolina +15000
Arkansas +15000
Michigan State 15000
LSU +15000
Auburn +15000
Arizona State +17000
Purdue +17000
Stanford +17000
Wake Forest +17000
Oklahoma State +17000
TCU +17000
Maryland +17000
UCLA +17000
Baylor +17000
Minnesota +17000
Mississippi State +17000
Utah +20000
Iowa +20000
Cincinnati +20000
Almost the entire defense for UGA, which carried the team in 2021, is about to be wiped out as at least 10 defenders will make themselves available for the NFL draft.
Clemson has average talent returning and lost both their coordinators who got HC jobs.
Oregon has a new HC and will also lose a bunch of talent on defense.
Oklahoma may end up shopping for a QB and will also lose at least a half dozen starters on defense.
This is exactly why pre-season polls are meaningless
Should add- South Carolina is the sleeper here. Don’t think they win the national title but they could be in the SEC title game. They have kicked butt in the transfer portal.
And the Detroit Lions will win the Superbowl!...............You heard it here first!................
“This is exactly why pre-season polls are meaningless”
Not an Alabama fan, but it appears that it’s safe to say:
1 - Alabama
2-120 Anyone else
College football is difficult to predict because of the volatility of youth and the system. This is what has made Alabama’s run so impressive. Consistency is the hardest thing to maintain because of the rapid player turn-over and now the transfer portal has made it even worse.
A team like Georgia is full of NFL caliber talent in the 2-deep but sometimes the very highly rated recruiting classes simply don’t gel or fail to perform as expected. Other times we see teams click and surprise everyone.
I have been an SEC fan for a long time and this Georgia team was certainly one of the most talented I have seen. It is rare to hold that over for a year. They have a lot of players who may (even should) declare for the draft and a great senior class that will be gone.
They will be good but odds are that they will not approach the magic of this years squad. That is the reality of college ball for everyone not named Alabama. Look no further than Clemson or LSU or Oklahoma.
Saban is worth every penny the Tide pays him. He is the best college coach of his generation hands down because of the consistency.
10 Highest-Paid College Football Coaches (Updated 2021)
When they were updasting Bryant-Denny stadium, Saban donated $1 million to the effort.
I am a Tide fan but overall love the SEC.
It’s great to be in a league full of contenders when the NFL has gone so damn woke.
I hope to see some other SEC schools get back in the saddle, including Auburn, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Anyway, despite the loss last night, I’m busting with pride over Alabama!
Alabama goes every year, but they lose more than they win these days. Plus they get ghastly injuries at key times. They lost Waddle last year and won it anyway.
Georgia is losing everybody. It took them forty years and an Alabama MASH unit to win this time. If you are betting, I’d take someone else. The experts are lazy and always pick the champion to repeat. Nobody does.
I think Georgia is losing more players than Bama. This should be a pretty stout Bama team next season.
Watch out for Clemson, though, they probably were one of the best teams in the country by the end of the season, once they found a little more offense to go along with their defense, which was still pretty darn good this year. We’ll see how much losing Venables will hurt them, though.
You should be happy. Saban squeezed all he could out of that team. Probably this year’s Bama team was in the bottom half of all the Bama teams Saban has had, and yet, they were still a quarter away from winning another Natty.
SEC East is starting ramp up. You’ve got Kentucky as well.
Watch out for Tennessee next year if they can keep Hooker healthy. They finally got a good one in Heupel.
As for the Gators, there will be some growing pains next year with Napier, but I think he will get it turned around.
It is hard to lose when you can get an recruit in the country to play there. More so Alabama than Georgia.
Why didn’t they lose most of their bowl games? Covid and combine hold-outs? Other teams had just as many. The rest of the SEC is on par with the Big 12 and Big 10. The ACC and Pac whatever they are called need some help.
Nobody else but Saban could have won even a division with this team. Alabama suddenly is having trouble developing its young players. But Alabama has also lost three of its last five championship appearances.
Kind of like the Yankees’ 1950’s dynasty. They were invincible at the beginning, but lost three of their final five World Series. But nobody trashes those teams.
But it’s also Bama’s turnover in players and coaches. This year, they got caught with a lot of younger, inexperienced players, but next year, they should have a lot more experience, and why as of now I’d put them as overwhelming favorites to win the Natty next season.
Roll Tide
I’m fine with Thee Buckeyes at the #3 spot.
New D.C should help the Defense as the 2022 season progresses.
The Offense will be just fine.
Teams that take advantage of the evolution in college football (NIL & Transfer Portal) will do for the most part have better success.
Of course the Teams with name recognition, and big $$ donors will probably do better.
Teams such as Michigan whom do not want to evolve.... will die as football programs.
It’s a brave new world in college ball.
Will be an interesting year watching it develop to be sure.
One comment I have not seen yet from the title game:
The game was closer than the score.
The word on Georgia in the SEC championship game is that Georgia’s players were tired. In the rematch, UGA was fresh and overwhelmed Bama during the 2nd half. UGA May be better next season on offence if the new starting QB is a future superstar.
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