College Football Update

The announcement of an impending 12-team playoff coming in 2026 already has college football fans and analysts in a divided frenzy, but with a four-team field still in place this year, every week is do or die for title hopefuls 😬

• The first couple weeks of the season have not been kind to several dark-horse contenders; four teams in the preseason Top-10 have already suffered at least one loss (No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Utah and No. 10 Baylor)

But while Week 3's fresh batch of rankings may look a bit different than expected, at the very top it's been business as usual for the nation's true favorites 💪

As always, Vegas reacts to wins and losses, so check out the updated odds to bring home a national title this season 👇

Odds to win NCCAF FBS Championship (subject to change)

• Georgia: +180 (bet $100, win $180)

• Alabama: +200

• Ohio State: +300

• Clemson: +1000

• USC: +1400

• Michigan: +2000

Notably, the reigning champs have leap-fogged rival Alabama to become the consensus title favorite, and after a dominant start to their season its easy to understand why 

• Georgia opened play with a 49-3 rout over No. 11 Oregon, and through two games, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 82-3

• Quarterback Stetson Bennett was viewed as nothing more than a game manager during Georgia's championship run last season, but he's looked like a star so far this year, completing over 74% of his passes for 668 yards to go along with five total TDs

The hot start has Bennett emerging as a legitimate Heisman candidate, and unsurprisingly, he's joined on the odds board by a few other quarterbacks with title aspirations. Here's an updated look at the award frontrunners 👇

2022-23 Heisman Trophy Odds (subject to change) 

• C.J. Stroud, Ohio State QB: +300

• Bryce Young, Alabama QB: +350

• Caleb Williams, USC QB: +400

• Stetson Bennett, Georgia QB: +1600

Stroud and Young are both living up to their preseason hype, but don't sleep on the surging stock of Caleb Williams. With USC's relatively light schedule, he won't have as many signature win opportunities as the others, but the Oklahoma transfer has been nearly perfect to start the season 📈

Quick Hits

Georgia's dominance isn't the only emerging storyline from the first couple weeks of the college football season — here are some other early trends around the nation worth keeping an eye on 👇

😬 What's Going On In South Bend? 

I mentioned that a handful of preseason Top-10 teams have already registered a loss, but only one of them is yet to enter the win column — the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 

• An 11-point loss to Ohio State in their season opener is defensible, but Notre Dame followed that up with a clunker against Marshall this past weekend

We're just two weeks into the season, and the Irish playoff hopes are already on life support. But hey, at least they aren't alone in their misery ⬇️

〽️ Has Harbaugh Found His Man?

It's rare you see a title contender with so many question marks at the game's most important position, but uncertainty at quarterback has seemingly become the Michigan way recently. Until now, perhaps?

• A battle for the QB1 spot between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy remained unsettled even after the start of the season, but after two weeks Jim Harbaugh is ready to give the nod to McCarthy moving forward

The decision was reportedly based on merit, and with numbers like this so far, there's hope McCarthy can finally stabilize the position for good in Ann Arbor ⬇️

🔷 Is Kentucky A Football School?

Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops made headlines this offseason for a feud with his counterpart on the hardwood, John Calipari, over Kentucky's basketball-first mindset. Now it's fair to wonder if Stoops may have been on to something...

• No. 9 Kentucky has shot up 11 spots in the rankings after a hot start to their season, including Saturday's 26-16 win over No. 11 Florida. It's the Wildcats first time in the Top-10 since 2007

This past weekend's victory was also a historic one for Stoops; can he further add to his legacy by leading Kentucky to their first every SEC East crown this year? Not if Georgia has anything to say about it, but the Wildcats look ready to give them a fight

Week 3 is just around the corner, and here are some of the games I've got my eye on 👁

• No. 12 BYU @ No. 25 Oregon, spread is Oregon -3.5

• No. 22 Penn State @ Auburn, spread is PSU -3

• No. 11 Michigan State @ Washington, spread is Washington -3.5

• No. 13 Miami @ No. 24 Texas A&M, spread is A&M -5.5

For My Parlay Gurus

There's plenty of must-watch action going down in this week's slate of college football, but unfortunately we'll have to wait until Friday for the first kickoff. For today's parlay fix, I'm heading over to the MLB; check it out 👇

• U 0.5 First Inning Braves (Morton) vs. Giants (Rodon): -142

• Yankees ML vs. Red Sox: -130

$100 on this bet would win you $202 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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