Prime-Time First TD Bets — Sunday Night Football, Week 16
Alex Christenson
There are two categories of futures wagers in my mind. The first one involves the favorites and taking a team that you truly believe will win a championship or a division. The other involves the sleeper, who may be further down the board but will be quite the payoff if it hits.
I’ll be taking a look at both categories as it pertains to champions in college football next season. 2024 will be the first year of the 12-team playoff, so there will certainly be more opportunities for payoffs, but let’s take a look at the top of the board and assess the favorites. Make sure to use our website’s prop shop to get the best price though, because every bit of juice matters in this situation.
2024 College Football National Championship Top Contenders
Georgia
(+425, DraftKings Sportsbook)
The Bulldogs were snubbed in 2023, so there will be extra motivation from the team to make the 12-team playoff. The offense got a boost when quarterback Carson Beck announced he will be back for his senior season. He is losing a lot of his weapons including TE Brock Bowers, but the running back room improved with the addition of Florida transfer Trevor Etienne. The defense will need to reload a bit as well, but it seems like that is never an issue with this program. The schedule will be very tough with road games at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss as well as taking on Clemson down in Atlanta. They aren’t going to miss the playoffs again, but the road to another title will be a lot harder.
Ohio State
(8/1, BetMGM)
The Buckeyes offense is going to have a different look with the departure of Kyle McCord, who transferred to Syracuse, and Marvin Harrison Jr., who is headed to the NFL. Coming over to replace the signal caller is Kansas State transfer Will Howard, who was very solid for the Wildcats over his career. Getting Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss will be a huge help to the running back room while the WR group should still be strong with Emeka Egbuka leading the way. The defense has a lot of their key players back with some of them still yet to announce a decision on if they will return. The schedule has Ohio State hosting Iowa and Michigan while traveling to Oregon and Penn State.
Texas
(10/1, BetRivers)
Quinn Ewers has announced he’s coming back to school, which is important, although now we wonder what Arch Manning’s status is. He figures to be moving to the backup role with Maalik Murphy at Duke.. Houston transfer Matthew Golden helps out the WR corps especially if both Adonai Mitchell and Xavier Worthy depart. We’ll see how the team replaces T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy in the middle of a stout defensive line. They did augment the outside of that line with UTSA transfer Trey Moore. The secondary got a boost with Clemson’s Andrew Mukuba stepping in at safety. The schedule features a trip to Michigan in week two and then consecutive games vs. Oklahoma and Georgia in October. The SEC road games are manageable with an intriguing matchup at Texas A&M to close out the regular season.
Alabama
(10/1, FanDuel Sportsbook)
This will be a fascinating thing to watch the next few weeks, as Nick Saban announced his retirement Wednesday. The roster is going to experience a lot of turnover potentially as the transfer portal is open for them the next 30 days. Already we saw a five-star WR announce his decommitment from the school and who knows who else will leave for another team or the NFL Draft. If you really want to speculate on a solid coach hire that manages to keep the talent in Tuscaloosa, then wait after a few more negative news stories come out and get the Crimson Tide at a higher price. Jalen Milroe will be better on offense and the defense has some solid players, assuming they all stay.
