Ohio State Buckeyes Most Popular Pick to Win National Championship?

Over 41 percent of betting money placed on teams to win the College Football National Championship has been placed on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day sings Carmen Ohio / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

A rarely consulted statistic has the Ohio State Buckeyes as the most popular pick to win the National Championship this upcoming season.

Hundreds of thousands of sports fans have already placed bets on which team will win this season's College Football Playoff (CFP). Of all the teams in the nation, a majority of money has been placed on one squad: the Buckeyes.

The race is not even close. According to College Football Report (citing figures from BetMGM's John Ewing), over 41 percent of betting money has been placed on Ohio State.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day leads warm-ups prior to / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

By comparison, the team with the next-highest percentage is the Georgia Bulldogs at 16 percent who have the best odds to win it per BetMGM. The Texas Longhorns (6.7 percent), Colorado Buffalos (5.1 percent), and Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4 percent) round out the top five on CFR's list.

The Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State's archrivals and the defending national champions are in eighth place with just 2.3 percent of money bet on the national title game.

Three teams represent the Big Ten on CFR's list, including the Buckeyes and Wolverines. The Oregon Ducks (one of the four newcomers to the conference along with the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, and Washington Huskies) sit eleventh on the list of 14 teams with two percent.

At the end of the day, groupthink will not win the Buckeyes their first national championship since 2015. Ohio State will have to do that on its own.

However, the common conclusion of so many people is not something to simply disregard. Only time will tell if those who bet on the Buckeyes will be reaping the benefits of their wager or mourning the loss of their funds in February.