I think it is beginning to sound like a broken record, but we are not making this up: the Clemson Tigers fell in the rankings again but still retain the best odds to win the College Football Playoff Championship in January.
Last week, the Tigers fell to #3 in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll. But instead of remaining behind the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship odds, Clemson jumped to the favored position with +175 chances.
Even now, ranked at #4 in the polls, the Clemson Tigers are still the championship favorites with +210 odds.
NCAA College Football Championship odds
- Clemson (#4) +210
- Alabama (#1) +245
- Ohio State (#3) +425
- LSU (#2) +450
- Oklahoma (#5) +660
- Georgia (#10) +1600
- Penn State (#6) +2800
- Wisconsin (#13) +4200
- Auburn (#9) +5000
- Florida (#7) +6600
- Oregon (#11) +7500
- Notre Dame (#8) +8000
- Texas (#15) +10000
- Utah (#12) +12500
- Baylor (#14) +15000
- Michigan (#19) +15000
- Minnesota (#17) +15000
- Arizona State (#24) +20000
- Iowa (#20) +20000
- Oklahoma State +20000
- Washington +25000
- Texas A&M +30000
- Boise State (#22) +50000
- Central Florida +50000
Upon the release of the latest AP Poll on Sunday, the Ohio State Buckeyes took the #3 spot from Clemson, pushing the Tigers down another spot.
Of the three teams ranked ahead of Clemson, Alabama (+245) is the closest in terms of title odds. Bama’s odds dropped a tad from last week when the Crimson Tide had +240 odds of winning the school’s 18th football national championship.
The second-ranked LSU Tigers have +450 chances of winning the national title while the #3 Buckeyes have +425 odds.
For the second consecutive week, Clemson was able to put up 45 points on an ACC rival, holding the Louisville Cardinals to just 10 points on Saturday.
Speaking about the team’s continual drop in the rankings despite their 7-0 record this season, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says he is “not surprised at all.”
“We are winning by an average of 28 points and last year this time we were winning by 28.7 points,” Swinney told Clemson reporters on Sunday. “But we’ll keep working. I don’t worry about any of that stuff. Everyone can have whatever opinions they want. We want to work our tails off to get better, that’s what matters to us.”
Based on the team’s last two wins, the Tigers are doing just that.