The Florida State Seminoles look to have the odds in their favor to repeat as national champions in the 2014 season. According to Las Vegas Sports Book, Florida State is opening with 4/1 odds to win the national championship.
The Oregon Ducks are also were given good odds at 5/1. Alabama has opened at 6/1. The Ducks could be the Pac-12 favorite with Marcus Mariota back for another season and looking to make up for a season that fell a tad shy of expectations in Eugene in the first year of the post-Chip Kelly era. Alabama always seems to have the betting line sin their favor and despite sending eight more players through the NFL Draft it looks as though Vegas is feeling pretty confident Nick Saban will once again be able to reload instead of rebuild in the fall.
Some other notable betting odds, courtesy of David Purdum via Twitter...College football national title odds @LVSuperBook: FSU 4/1 Oregon 5/1 Alabama 6/1 Ohio St 10/1 Auburn 12/1 Okla 12/1 UCLA 18/1
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) May 12, 2014
Notable NCAAF national title odds @LVSuperBook: Mich St 20/1 LSU 20/1 UGA 30/1 USC 50/1 Notre Dame 50/1 Texas 60/1 Florida 60/1
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) May 12, 2014
The championship stage will be different this season with four teams being selected by a selection committee to participate in a four-team playoff. How this affects the betting odds is over my head, but it is still a good litmus test for which teams could be the trendy picks in the new season. Some schools tend to have more money bet on them than others (Notre Dame will always bring in a little more money than Oklahoma State, for example), and the betting lines are a reflection of that in some ways.
One team that might be worth keeping an eye on might be UCLA. The Bruins have a talented roster coming back in 2014 and a very favorable schedule with home games against Oregon, USC and Stanford in conference play and they play a game against Texas early in Arlington, Texas. At those odds, UCLA might be a good-value bet.