Updated College Football national title odds, Week 9: Wisconsin nosedives

With the Wisconsin Badgers losing to the Illinois Fighting Illini, this has crushed their national title odds. Here are the updated title odds for Week 9.

After a week where the then-No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs lost at home to the South Carolina Gamecocks in double overtime, the then-No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers would succumb to a worse defeat just seven days later. Wisconsin lost on the road to the sub-.500 Illinois Fighting Illini on a last-second field goal, falling seven spots to No. 13 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll.

Wisconsin was surely on pace to be the team coming out of the Big Ten West this year to play in Indianapolis. However, the Badgers still have to face the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Minnesota Golden Gophers this season. Who’s to say Wisconsin will even win its division this year, let alone reach the College Football Playoff for the first time?

So it’s only natural that the Badgers would get dinged entering Week 9 when it comes to their national championship odds. Wisconsin nosedived from 12/1 entering Week 8 to 50/1 entering Week 9’s road game versus Ohio State.

Those odds have the Badgers coming in with the eighth-best odds to win the national championship. Here is how the top-10 shakes out this week. All odds are provided by The Action Network.

College football national title odds entering Week 9

1. Alabama Crimson Tide: 9/4
2. Clemson Tigers: 5/2
3. Ohio State Buckeyes: 9/2
4. LSU Tigers: 13/2
5. Oklahoma Sooners: 8/1
6. Georgia Bulldogs: 14/1
7. Penn State Nittany Lions: 30/1
8. Wisconsin Badgers: 50/1
9. Florida Gators: 80/1
10. Utah Utes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oregon Ducks, Auburn Tigers: 100/1

Five undefeated Power 5 teams have the best odds to win the national championship this year. Despite being No. 4 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the Clemson Tigers have the best odds heading into Week 9 at 5/2. This is because Clemson’s schedule is incredibly soft. The Tigers won’t face a legitimate challenge until they reach the College Football Playoff after winning the ACC at 13-0.

The Oklahoma Sooners have the second-best odds to win it all at 8/1. As with Clemson, the Sooners have great odds to win it all because they are clearly the best team in the Big 12. Until the Sooners get challenged by the Baylor Bears or somebody, their odds will be fantastic, despite being the No. 5 team in the land.

No. 3 Ohio State has the third-best odds at winning a national title this year at 9/2. While the Buckeyes might be one of the three best teams in college football, their pathway to the College Football Playoff is certainly more treacherous in the Big Ten than in the ACC for Clemson or in the Big 12 for Oklahoma. Ohio State still has to play Wisconsin and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Even though they are the No. 1 team in the nation, the Alabama Crimson Tide have the fourth-best odds to win a national championship at 9/4. This is because the SEC is incredibly deep with five teams ranked in the top 10 of the latest AP Poll. The Crimson Tide still have to play the LSU Tigers, the Auburn Tigers and the winner of the SEC East, assuming they even get to Atlanta.

Coming in with the fifth-best odds is LSU at 13/2. Given that the Tigers are in the same boat as the other SEC contenders, their pathway to the College Football Playoff isn’t even as clear as Ohio State’s in the Big Ten.

Rounding out the top 10 best odds to win it all is Georgia at 14/1, Penn State at 30/1, Wisconsin at 50/1, the Florida Gators at 80/1 and four teams at 100/1, which are the Utah Utes, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Oregon Ducks and Auburn.

So at a little bit past the halfway point of the college football season, there are roughly a dozen teams that have realistic chances to win a national championship. But after falling on the road to Illinois in Champaign, it comes as no surprise that Wisconsin would fall as catastrophically as the Badgers did in the latest national title odds.

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