2024 College Football Preseason Coaches Poll Compared to Betting Odds: Where Did the Coaches Get It Right?

Reed Wallach | Aug 5, 2024

Kirby Smart speaks to the media on the first day of practice on Thursday, Aug 1, 2024. / Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

With the college football season right around the corner, the preseason polls are starting to drop.

On Monday, college football coaches across the nation weighed in on their respective preseason polls for the 2024 season. While coaches registered their respective opinions with a top 25 poll, it skews quite a bit from the betting market.

Let's see who coaches are higher and lower on relative to betting markets after the top 25 was released.

2024 College Football Coaches Poll with Betting Odds

1. Georgia: +280
2. Ohio State: +400
3. Oregon: +650
4. Texas: +850
5. Alabama: +1400
6. Ole Miss: +1400
7. Notre Dame: +1800
8. Michigan: +3000
9. Penn State: +2000
10. Florida State: +3000
11. Missouri: +4000
12. LSU: +1800
13. Utah: +6000
14. Clemson: +6000
15. Tennessee: +3500
16. Oklahoma: +8000
17. Kansas State: +8000
18. Oklahoma State: +25000
19. Miami (Florida): +6000
20. Texas A&M: +4000
21. Arizona: +30000
22. North Carolina State: +10000
23. USC: +10000
24. Kansas: +25000
25. Iowa: +25000

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Coaches Poll Highlights College Football Betting Favorites at Top of Odds Board

For the most part, the coaches poll is in the range of tiers that the betting markets have set for the likely winners of the 2024 National Championship, the first of the expanded playoff era that includes 12 teams. 

Georgia is the favorite and the overwhelming choice to be the top team in the nation with Ohio State, Oregon, and Texas close behind. After that, there’s a drop-off where most of the next group is ranked appropriately, but a team like LSU is further down than the betting odds would indicate. 

The team is ranked 12th in the preseason coaches poll but is viewed as the seventh most likely team to win the National Championship.

LSU may be a bit underrated relative to the market, and the same can be said for another SEC team that wants to overcome a down year in 2023 in Texas A&M, which is ranked No. 20 in the country, but the betting odds would indicate this team is closer to a top 10 unit (tied for the 13th lowest odds in the country).

Meanwhile, Michigan is ranked ahead of Penn State by a spot, the defending National Champion Wolverines are viewed by the coaches as the higher-ranked squad, but betting odds have the Nittany Lions as the more likely champ this season. 

Elsewhere, the likes of Oklahoma State and Arizona, in a crowded Big 12 this season after two impressive seasons in their own right, are overrated in the polls relative to betting odds as the two schools are viewed as longshots to contend for the ultimate price in 2024, but are ranked like a team that can appear in the postseason. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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