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Early Look at College Football Title Contenders

When the college football season came to an end, Georgia rolled to a perfect season and a second straight national title and predictably, sat atop the final national polls.

In the era of the transfer portal, there can be quite a bit of movement. However, it could be many of the usual suspects when looking at the top title contenders.

Early Look at College Football Title Contenders
Xavier Truss #73 of the Georgia Bulldogs | Ronald martinez/getty images/afp

Georgia (+225) leads the national title odds followed by Alabama and Ohio State at +600 and Michigan at +900. Southern California, featuring reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams (+1400), Louisiana State (+1600), and Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Clemson and Florida State are priced at +1800.

Colorado, coached by Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders, Auburn, Louisiana State, Southern California, and Florida State have put together the best classes of incoming transfers according to the 247sports.com database. As for the incoming freshmen, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio State have the top five classes.

Get ready for the kickoff of the season with the latest college football odds

Getting Passing Grades?

The top three teams in the championship odds have one thing in common: losing the starting quarterback to the NFL.

Georgia has to replace Stetson Bennett, Alabama is looking for the successor to former Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young while C.J. Stroud‘s two-year run as Ohio State’s starting quarterback is over.

With the way the teams recruit, there won’t be a lack of talented options.

However, the questions at the quarterback position could impact where the three powerhouse programs sit in the polls when the season begins.

Georgia’s Carson Beck (+1800), Ohio State’s Kyle McCord (+2000) and Alabama’s Tyler Buchner (+5000) are all showing up in the Heisman Trophy odds.

Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia have been showing up in the top three in most of the projected national polls.

Crashing the Party

Michigan, Louisiana State, Texas, and Southern California all bring back their top quarterbacks from a season ago and that makes them pretty dangerous heading into the 2023 college football season.

Michigan is the only one of those teams in the college football playoffs. The Wolverines fell to Texas Christian in the semifinals. That might not have been the worst result considering the way that Georgia crushed TCU in the national title game.

All four of those teams should be in the top 10 and two of them in the top five when the first polls get released.

Conference Bragging Rights

Part of the challenges for poll voters is figuring out which team is the best choice in some of the Power-5 conferences.

That is an annual event in the SEC with Alabama and Georgia vying for not just conference bragging rights, but for national supremacy as well.

The story is the same in the Big Ten when the regular-season finale between the Buckeyes and Wolverines typically determines which team is the top national title contender.

The ACC will be interesting with Florida State picked by some to unseat Clemson. USC is favored in the Pac-12 with Texas the top contender coming out of the Big 12. The Big 12 added Houston, Cincinnati, Brigham Young, and Central Florida and that could cause some uncertainty to see how competitive those four programs are in 2023.

What About the Horned Frogs?

The last images of Texas Christian‘s football team were not pretty, with the Horned Frogs falling 65-7 in the national title game.

There are 18 teams ahead of TCU in the current national title odds with Texas and Oklahoma the Big 12 teams viewed as being more dangerous on the national scene in 2023.

That was pretty much how things were going into the 2022 season and it is hard to forget how that played out.

Best of the Rest

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Notre Dame and Penn State are showing up as potential top-10 teams with Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Oregon not far behind.

Notre Dame doesn’t figure to be tested early on with the first two games coming against Navy and Tennessee State. Penn State opens up with West Virginia.

Ole Miss, Utah, and Texas A&M are among the other teams to keep an eye on heading into the season.

Let’s Look at the Openers college football odds

With Utah facing a Florida team that figures to appear in the top 20 in some national polls in Week 1, that is just one of the games in the first week of the season that could shake up the polls. The LSU-Florida State matchup is another one that could bring some clarity to poll voters.

Tennessee is a 29-point favorite against Virginia, Oklahoma is favored by 33 points against Arkansas State, Texas (-35½) versus Rice and Ohio State (-27½) against Indiana so don’t expect too many upsets in Week 1.

Explore the latest college football lines and NCAA football odds at BetUS! Get in on the action and bet on your favorite college football teams.

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