Odds for national title, win totals, Harbaugh’s future, more

I get it, it’s a long, three-day, holiday weekend, and you have absolutely nothing to do. You need to find a rush to get the blood pumping, or you just might die from boredom. Well, friends, even though sports gambling isn’t yet legal in Ohio — or more than half of our country’s other states — there is plenty of time for you to get to a state of your choice that does have a full-service sports book and put some money down on a handful of interesting college football lines.

While the specific odds will obviously vary depending on in which book you make your bet, but our friends at SportsBettingDime.com have supplied some lines to get your juices flowing.

Let’s start with the big one, the national title. Unsurprisingly, the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide opens things up as the favorites to repeat with 4/1 odds. Blabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers are in second at 6/1, and the Ohio State Buckeyes are in third at 15/2.

So, what that means is that if you place a $100 bet on the Bucks to win the title, and they do indeed win their second College Football Playoff championship, then you would win $750 (in addition to getting your initial $100 back).

Georgia (10/1) and Oklahoma (25/2) round out the top five. Five other Big Ten teams find themselves with title odds in the top 25: Penn State (65/1), Wisconsin (92/1), Michigan (95/1), Indiana (125/1), and Iowa (200/1). Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats clock in at 190/1 odds to win the championship.

If the national championship odds are a little too tame for your betting desires, you can start to dip your big toe into the more exotic gambling waters with regular season win totals. Ohio State, of course, leads the Big Ten with an over/under mark set at 10.5 wins. If you are new to o/us, since you can’t have half of a win in college sports, many predictions will have the “.5” (also called a “hook”) to ensure that there is no push or draw if a team hits their number exactly.

So, with OSU being projected at 10.5 wins, SBD is telling bettors that they have to either bet on Ohio State winning 10 or fewer games or 11 or 12 regular season games. I don’t know about you, but that one seems like easy money for me. Hell, I might have taken the over even if the number was 11.5.

Moving from the B1G to the rest of the Power Five, there are three teams with o/u numbers higher than Ohio State. Clemson — who plays absolutely nobody in the ACC — leads the way with 11.5. Their only game in which they could be tested is their season opener as they host Georgia (who is projected with 9.5 wins).

‘Bama and Oklahoma both have an 11-win number, and Iowa State is the only other P5 team in double-digits. Below, check out the other major conference squads with o/us at 8.5 or higher.

Next we have odds on the biggest individual college football award, the Heisman Trophy. You can see who the favorites are, but you’ll notice that there aren’t any Buckeyes at the top of the list, but there are three Ohio State players in the top 20, and two of them are quarterbacks.

C.J. Stroud — OSU’s presumed starter at the position — comes in 12th with 55/1 odds. His likely No. 1 target wide receiver Chris Olave is in 18th at 87/1, but one of the other players that Stroud is competing with for the starting job is just behind Olave at 19th. Jack Miller III currently has 90/1 odds, but isn’t even favored to start.

There is one other Buckeye in the top 50 as Master Teague has 130/1 odds, which is good enough for 32nd place.

Alright, now it’s time to have some fun as the remaining set of odds have all to do with coaches and what they will be doing in 2022. The first set is about whether or not individual coaches will be with their same teams in the season after this season.

Now, keep in mind, this does not necessarily mean that you are betting on whether or not the coach in question gets fired, as there are other ways to leave a program. The coach could leave his current team to take a job in the NFL or at another college, he could resign or retire, or he could give up coaching all together and decide to backpack through Machu Picchu... but in most cases, you’re betting on the dude getting fired.

Peep who’s coming in with really strong 3/1 odds.

Ok, now it’s time to get serious, because folks, this is actually the set of odds that I feel was made specifically for us here at Land-Grant Holy Land. What will the head coach of the Mitten State Weasels Jimbo Harbaugh be doing in 2022.

Fam, we all know that the best outcome for all involved — Ohio State, college football, and especially the Corn and Blue — is for Screech Powers’ cousin to sign a lifetime contract with his alma mater. I pray to Woody for this to happen every night.

But what’s so great about my feelings about J. Hibblze is that they are flexible. If he was to get fired, I would find that to be incredibly humorous. You know you have a good relationship when you can feel joy whether things go well or poorly.