2023-24 College football odds, picks, predictions: Georgia opens as favorite

We are officially less than a month out from the start of the college football season! 

With teams all vying for a chance at the playoffs and the CFP championship, bettors everywhere are getting an itch to determine which squads will most likely provide a strong return on investment this season.

Can Georgia three-peat? Will Michigan finally get over the hump? Now that football is around the corner let’s dive into the upcoming season’s title futures.

Let’s look at the college football title odds and get some insight from Geoff Schwartz on which teams are worth a sprinkle.

RELATED: Oddsmaker’s early look at win totals

2023-24 COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS

Georgia: +215 (bet $10 to win $31.50 total)
Alabama: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Ohio State: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total)
Michigan: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
LSU: +1100 (bet $10 to win $120 total) 
USC: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Florida State: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total) 
Clemson: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Texas: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Penn State: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Notre Dame: +2800 (bet $10 to win $290 total)
Tennessee: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Oregon: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Washington: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Texas A&M: +6000 (bet $10 to win $610 total) 
Oklahoma: +6000 (bet $10 to win $610 total) 
Wisconsin: +7000 (bet $10 to win $710 total) 
Utah: +7000 (bet $10 to win $710 total)
Ole Miss: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
North Carolina: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
UCLA: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total) 

* odds as of 7/19/2023

Insights via FOX Sports Betting Analyst Geoff Schwartz:

College football has over 130 teams with 69 of those team in the Power Five conferences. With the wide array of options for winning a college football title it should be difficult to pick winners each season. Quite the opposite is true. 

Thanks to Bud Elliott of 247Sports, we know only 16 teams have a chance to win the title this season. Bud developed the Blue-Chip ratio, a formula that looks at the number of blue chip prospects on each team. “Put simply, to win the national championship, college football teams need to sign more four- and five-star recruits (AKA “Blue Chips”) than two- and three-star players over the previous four recruiting classes.”  

Since 2011, every national champion has over 50% blue chips on the roster, with most exceeding 60%. 

With that in mind I’ll give you my favorites to win the title. 

Georgia   

There has not been a team that has won three straight college football championships since the players could fold their leather helmets into their back pockets after a game. 

After two championships the only thing holding back Georgia from winning a third straight would be apathy, which I doubt happens with new players all over the field, and a slight talent drain. Georgia’s defense was historically good in 2021 and slightly worse in 2022, and now they’ve lost most of those players to the NFL. 

Are the new crop of Georgia defenders as good? I’d guess they are, and we will see the same Georgia defense. 

On offense, they must replace Todd Monkin at offensive coordinator and Stenson Bennett at quarterback. On paper new QB Carson Beck is more talented than Bennett which could provide them an upgrade at the position after two straight titles. Georgia’s schedule is a cakewalk and their toughest game is likely to be in the SEC championship game. 

If they get there undefeated they are in the playoff regardless of the result in that contest. As we saw in 2021, an SEC championship loss doesn’t mean much for the title run. 

Georgia is the best team in the country 

Clemson 

The Tigers have a 73% Blue-Chip ratio to go along with some new identities on offense and defense. 

The Tigers’ offense has been stagnant and declining since Trevor Lawrence left for the NFL. Dabo Swinney, who often feels too stubborn to change, hired TCU’s offensive coordinator Garrett Riley to revamp the offense. I love this hire. It will open up the field for quarterback Cade Klubnik who flashed potential when he got on the field last season. He’s got a full offseason to grow into this offense. Clemson has plenty of weapons and a decent enough offensive line to win the ACC. 

We know the Clemson defense has continued to be outstanding, and I expect nothing different this season. They were top five in yards per play for the four seasons prior to 2022 (excluding the COVID year) and finished last season 17th. With a better offense this season the defense will be back to finishing in the top five. 

I feel comfortable wagering on Clemson here. 

Michigan  

I could easily pick Alabama here and would feel awesome with that selection. However, I’m going to take the Wolverines and pray they figure out how to win a game once the new year begins. Michigan’s Blue-Chip ratio is well below that of Georgia, Clemson or even Alabama, but they have a formula that wins games. They beat people up at the line of scrimmage and mostly do not make mistakes.

JJ McCarthy is talented at quarterback, Blake Corum returns at running back, and the offensive line is loaded with talent. 

While the veteran defense still needs to find that consistent pass rush they saw with Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, the talent is there to be excellent again. I’m fine with sprinkling some on a team that made the playoff two years in a row.

Download the FOX Super 6 app for your chance to win thousands of dollars on the biggest sporting events each and every week! Just make your picks and you could win the grand prize. Download and play today!

Get more from College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more