It’s time for rivalry week, which not only means that there’s Thanksgiving football, but it also signals that the end of the college football regular season. The playoff picture is narrowing down and there’s only 10 teams left on the futures betting odds. Here’s how they rank by order:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
This week: 2/1 odds to win the national championship
The Crimson Tide have arrived at the game they’ve been waiting 52 weeks to play – their Iron Bowl reunion with Auburn. Alabama was in this same basic situation a year ago against Auburn. The Crimson Tide just had to beat the Tigers in order to win the SEC West and play in the SEC Championship Game, most likely against Missouri.
Again this year, the Tide could very easily play Missouri in the SEC title game and they would make the College Football Playoff if they defeat Missouri. They could also very well play Florida State for the national championship in one and a half months. All of this depends on beating Auburn, though. If the Crimson Tide can’t do that, they won’t get an opportunity to do anything else. The game is at home, so Alabama should be able to do what it hopes it can do. So cheer up, Nick.
2. Oregon Ducks
This week: 9/2
The Ducks are just trying to take care of business. They handled Colorado easily and now they have to deal with a rivalry game against Oregon State. Last year, Oregon very nearly lost to the Beavers, but they had a lot less to play for at the time. Stanford had already secured the Pac-12 North Division championship and had locked the Ducks out of the Rose Bowl. This year, Oregon is the team in charge of the North. It is assured of a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
The Ducks are so close to the College Football Playoff that they can taste it, but if Oregon State plays spoiler, Oregon’s dreams will once again be ruined. The Ducks have played in the national championship game only once. They have to stay focused if they want to get a second shot this season.
3. Florida State Seminoles
This week: 6/1
The Seminoles are nothing different than what you already knew about them. This team, so limited by injuries and by an inconsistent defense found just enough to once again win a very tough and close ballgame this past weekend. The Seminoles survived a spirited fight from Boston College, winning by a 20-17 score on a 26-yard field goal with seven seconds left.
Florida State should be able to beat Florida easily, but nothing the Seminoles have done this season has come easy. We’ll see how this next game goes.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
This week: 7/1
The Buckeyes are happy that Minnesota, a team they recently beat on the road, was able to win in Nebraska against the Cornhuskers. This helps Ohio State’s strength of schedule. However, the Buckeyes also watched Virginia Tech, the team that beat them in Columbus, lose to Wake Forest in an ugly 6-3 double-overtime game.
The Buckeyes did not look all that great against Indiana, either, even though they sped away in the fourth quarter for what became a comfortable scoreboard margin. Ohio State was locked in a dogfight through the first three and a half quarters at home. The Buckeyes probably lost ground, all things considered, to the Big 12’s competitors – TCU and Baylor – in the race for a College Football Playoff spot.
Tie, 5. TCU Horned Frogs
This week: 8/1
The Horned Frogs liked what happened to Ohio State, and they might still be chosen over Baylor as the Big 12’s representative in the College Football Playoff. However, nobody really knows that right now. What everyone does know is that TCU has a very tough road game at Texas on Thursday, a game in which the Horned Frogs are probably going to have to be at their best to survive.
Texas has played really well the past three weeks as head coach Charlie Strong has begun to turn things around for a program that was in shambles at the beginning of the season. TCU will need to contain the Longhorns’ improving offense and find ways to spring its receivers against the Longhorns’ quality defense, which has always been a strong point for Texas during the regular season. If TCU can get past Texas, it will have cleared the final hurdle to an 11-1 record. It will have a reasonable chance of winning the Big 12 title, and it will have knocked Kansas State out of Big 12 title contention…should it win in Texas.
Tie, 5. Mississippi State Bulldogs
This week: 8/1
The Bulldogs are hoping for Alabama to lose to Auburn Saturday night. First, though, they face Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon, which will determine whether Alabama needs to beat Auburn to win the SEC West. If Ole Miss upsets Mississippi State, Alabama will clinch the West before its game even starts.
If MSU wins and Alabama loses, Mississippi State would make the SEC Championship Game for the second time in school history, the other time being 1998. This is a huge weekend also because the Mississippi State-Ole Miss game is on national network television, marking a chance for the Bulldogs to send a message to the rest of the country.
Tie, 5. Baylor Bears
This week: 8/1
The Bears are hoping that Texas will beat TCU. If that doesn’t happen, though, the Bears still know that if they win the rest of their games, they will win the Big 12 championship and will have a very real chance of making the College Football Playoff.
8. UCLA Bruins
This week: 25/1
The Bruins crushed USC, and still have a shot at the playoff. If they win out, which would include a win over Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game, it is certainly possible the Bruins could get in. It’s not certain or even probable, but it is possible, and that’s good enough for UCLA right now.
9. Georgia Bulldogs
This week: 33/1
The Bulldogs have to beat Georgia Tech this Saturday to retain an outside chance of getting into the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs will also hope that Arkansas beats Missouri on Friday, which would give Georgia the SEC East title and a spot in the SEC Championship Game. Both events – a Georgia win over Georgia Tech and an Arkansas win over Missouri – need to happen for Georgia to remain alive in the playoff race.
10. Missouri Tigers
This week: 50/1
The Tigers need a miracle, but miracles happen every now and then in college football. Beating Arkansas is just the first of several dominoes the Tigers need to fall in their favor.
