Tramel: OSU at 100-to-1 to win the national title is a good bet

I generally don’t endorse betting. Well, that’s not exactly true. I never endorse betting. I think betting is for losers. People whose passions are rather dormant and need some kind of jumper-cable jolt to get them interested in something.

But I’m willing to make exceptions, and here’s the latest offer. Seems like betting on OSU to win the national championship is a solid move.

SportsBetting.ag has come out with its latest odds to win the championship, and the Cowboys are 100-to-1.

Is OSU going to win the title? I doubt it. Will OSU even make the four-team playoff? Maybe not. But 100-to-1 is hard to turn down.

The Cowboys are the Big 12’s lone unbeaten team. They’ve got the best chance among Big 12 teams to make the playoff. Once you get to the playoff, anything can happen. Well, not anything can happen. The playoff almost always goes to order. But this is 2020. You never know.

Put down $10 on the Cowboys, and it could turn into $1,000. 

The other 100-to-1 teams in college football are Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Minnesota, North Carolina and Central Florida.

Seems like OSU’s chances of making the playoff are far greater than those teams. The 3-0 Cowboys are ranked 10th. I don’t know if OSU is the class of the Big 12, but it’s got a chance to be. 

The Big 12 odds are:

OU 66-to-1: Way too low. Seems like 66-to-1 is about what the odds should be for making the playoff. 

Texas 80-to-1: No offense, but the Longhorns have a better chance than the Sooners. UT has only one loss. OU has two. Big difference. 

Oklahoma State 100-to-1: It’s not that 100-to-1 is too high. If the Cowboys make the playoff, they still would be something like 12-to-1, 15-to-1 to win it all.

Kansas State 200-to-1: Where would the Wildcats be if they had beaten Arkansas State?

Iowa State 250-to-1: I saw both KSU and ISU live. The Cyclones look to be the better team.

TCU 250-to-1: The Horned Frogs are better than we thought. That’s usually the case.

Baylor 250-to-1: Baylor having the same odds as TCU is a sign that the betting public doesn’t pay a lot of attention.

West Virginia 250-to-1: It seems that 250-to-1 is the fallback position for teams that have no chance but aren’t Kansas.

Texas Tech 750-to-1: Ouch. The Red Raiders didn’t even fall into the previously-mentioned category.

Kansas 1,000-to-1: Way too low. If the odds were a million-to-one, you’d be better off making a paper airplane out of your $1 bill and flying it out your upstairs window.

Here are the 10 best odds to win the national title:

Clemson 2-to-1: Seems about right. The Tigers are something like 1-to-3 to make the playoff, then they’re at least 50-50 to win each game.

Ohio State 5-to-2: Seems way too good. We don’t know for sure how the Big Ten will react to getting the season off the ground. If the Buckeyes can get to the playoff, sure, they’ve got a good shot. If the Buckeyes can play close to an eight-game schedule, sure, they’ve got a good chance to make the playoff. But can Ohio State play close to an eight-game schedule?

Alabama 3-to-1: I think these odds are about right. The Crimson Tide seems to have remastered the art of football.

Florida 14-to-1: The Gators are about right. This looks like a good squad.

Georgia 14-to-1: The Bulldogs seem to have righted their quarterback situation, so yes, Georgia is right there.

Penn State 28-to-1: Oh, I suppose. I don’t know what’s going on in Happy Valley.

Oregon 33-to-1: We finally hear from the Pac-12. Nice.

Michigan 40-to-1: Hmm. Quite a bit of optimism for the Wolverines. Has to be a betting thing.

Wisconsin 40-to-1: This is madness. Clearly, the Badgers have a better chance of reaching the Big Ten title game than does Michigan. So why are their odds the same?

Notre Dame 40-to-1: These odds seem low. Same as Michigan? Are you kidding? Notre Dame potentially has two shots at Clemson; win either one, and the Irish could be in the playoff.

Here are the rest of the odds, by conference:

Pac-12: Southern Cal 50-1, Washington 80-1, Utah 125-1, Arizona State 150-1, California 150-1, Stanford 250-1, UCLA 250-1, Washington State 250-1, Arizona 500-1, Colorado 500-1, Oregon State 500-1.

ACC: Miami 60-1, North Carolina 100-1, Virginia Tech 150-1, Pittsburgh 200-1, Louisville 250-1, Boston College 300-1, North Carolina State 300-1, Virginia 300-1, Wake Forest 300-1, Florida State 500-1, Duke 1000-1, Georgia Tech 1000-1, Syracuse 1000-1.

SEC: Auburn 100-1, LSU 100-1, Mississippi State 100-1, Tennessee 100-1, Texas A&M 100-1, Kentucky 250-1, Ole Miss 250-1, South Carolina 500-1, Arkansas 750-1, Missouri 750-1, Vanderbilt 1000-1.

Big Ten: Minnesota 100-1, Iowa 150-1, Nebraska 150-1, Indiana 250-1, Michigan State 250-1, Northwestern 250-1, Purdue 250-1, Maryland 500-1, Rutgers 1000-1, Illinois 1000-1.

American: Central Florida 100-1, Memphis 150-1, Cincinnati 200-1, Houston 250-1, Temple 250-1, SMU 300-1, East Carolina 500-1, Navy 500-1, Tulane 1000-1, Tulsa 1000-1, South Florida 1000-1.

Independents: Brigham Young 200-1, Army 500-1, Liberty 1000-1.

Sun Belt: Appalachian State 500-1, Louisiana-Lafayette 500-1, Arkansas State 1000-1, Coastal Carolina 1000-1, Georgia State 1000-1, Georgia Southern 1000-1, South Alabama 1000-1, Troy 1000-1, Louisiana-Monroe 1000-1. 

Conference USA: Florida Atlantic 500-1, Florida International 500-1, North Texas 500-1, Charlotte 1000-1, Middle Tennessee 1000-1, Rice 1000-1, Southern Mississippi 1000-1, Texas State 1000-1, Alabama-Birmingham 1000-1, Louisiana Tech 1000-1, Texas-El Paso 1000-1, Texas-San Antonio 1000-1, Western Kentucky 1000-1.

Mountain West: Air Force 5000-1.