College football: Six betting storylines ahead of 2024 season - ESPN

The betting public has been increasingly risky ahead of the first season with a 12-team College Football Playoff. For months, it has been firing on long shots to not only make the expanded field but also, in some cases, to win the national championship.

On July 24, a bettor in North Carolina with Caesars Sportsbook placed a $200 wager on Army to win the national championship at 5,000-1 odds, a bet that would net $1 million.

DraftKings reported taking a $100 wager on Kent State to win the national title at 10,000-1, another bet that would net $1 million, but may be better served as a gag gift. The Golden Flashes, who went 1-11 last season, are picked to finish last in the MAC again.

NC State, South Florida, Boise State, Kansas and Colorado are among the underdogs that also have received increased support from the always-savvy betting public this offseason.

«You would never get a bet like that in years past. It's a bunch of teams that you'd never get money on,» veteran Las Vegas bookmaker Ed Salmons of the SuperBook said. «We got 200 bucks on South Florida.»

The five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will qualify for the College Football Playoff. Six teams are odds-on favorites to make the playoff, according to ESPN BET: Ohio State (-650), Georgia (-600), Oregon (-300), Texas (-240), Penn State (-150) and Alabama (-105).

«The handle and the amount of tickets that we're writing has definitely been way better than I thought,» Salmons said. «I think the new format has really opened people's eyes. And the public right now believes that a lot more teams can win given there's more teams in the playoff. With the two teams and four teams, it had kind of grown stale. This year definitely