The 2024-25 college football season is in the books and the odds for the 2025-26 National Championship are now up at DraftKings Sportsbook.
National Championship Odds
Ohio State (+450) just secured a historic National Championship victory in the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff. It was an amazing season of college football with the expanded playoff offering a bigger spotlight on different programs. The National Championship Game also featured two teams that would not have made the playoff it was still a four-team format. Ohio State was the eight-seed and Notre Dame (+1600) was the seven-seed, but both each won three games to make the title game. There is speculation that there could be some changes to the format in the near future, mainly eliminating the automatic bye format and just giving byes to the top four seeds. That could have some impact on which teams have the clearest path to next year’s national title game.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, Ohio State is listed as the favorite to repeat as national champions. They will lose a lot of talent from this past year’s roster, but they also keep players like Jeremiah Smith and always reload with new talent. Other teams from this year’s playoff are also at the top of the list including Texas (+500), Georgia (+550), Oregon (+750) and Penn State (+900). These teams are always loaded with talent and have some of the best rosters in the country. That gives them a huge edge to at least get into the CFP and, as Ohio State just proved, you only have to get in and then get hot at the right time.
Alabama (+1200) has the best odds to win the National Championship of teams that missed this year’s playoff. After one year of their new head coach, Kalen DeBoer, they should be able to get some positive momentum and compete in the SEC once again. The national runner-up, Notre Dame, is listed at +1600 to win it all next year. They are losing a lot of talent, including QB Riley Leonard, but Marcus Freeman has proven that he is among the elite coaches in college football. He should be able to rebuild a great team and compete with Notre Dame once again. There are some interesting teams with more value that are looking to bounce back after disappointing seasons, as well. Ole Miss (+2500) and Michigan (+3000) both missed out on the playoff after having high expectations entering the season.
One of the biggest things to look at when placing a national title future is quarterback and head coaching consistency. Both teams that played in this year’s National Championship game had experienced transfer quarterbacks. In the new world of college football, the experienced transfer quarterback who is ready to join a championship-level roster could be the way to go over a young talent with no big-game experience. That makes Miami (+2500) an interesting prospect for next season. They just missed out on the College Football Playoff last season and now they can improve their offense after adding former Georgia QB Carson Beck in the transfer portal. However, there are also teams like LSU (+2000) and South Carolina (+4000) that were close to making this year’s playoff with a quarterback who will be returning next season and they could make the jump to the next level.
In this modern age of college football, there is still a lot to figure out in the national landscape due to the transfer portal and coaching changes. These odds could shift a lot over the next few months as players and coaches move around. Even the format of the CFP could change before next season, so it is hard to make a prediction right now. However, if I were to place one future bet today, it would be on Miami at +2500. They just added a proven quarterback who is capable of being one of the best signal-callers in college football. They have a ton of talent on offense and they have the money and appeal to attract a lot of defensive talent to try to improve on that side of the ball. They are also in a very vulnerable ACC conference that doesn’t feature any real powerhouse programs, so it is very winnable for the Hurricanes.
