Buy Cincinnati National Championship Futures Ahead of Notre Dame Game
By Reed Wallach
The No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats face arguably the biggest game in program history, traveling to No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon.
With a win, Cincy will have two road wins over Power 5 teams, including a top 10 on its résumé.
Given the uncertainty around the rest of the college football landscape, what started as a fantasy is quickly becoming a reality for the Bearcats.
First, let’s look at the National Championship odds at WynnBET and assess where Cincinnati stacks up.
National Championship Odds
Alabama: +150
Georgia: +200
Ohio State: +1500
Oklahoma: +1500
Oregon: +2000
Field: +2500
Cincinnati: +4000
Penn State: +4000
Michigan: +5000
Ole Miss: +5000
Notre Dame: +5000
Arkansas: +8000
Alabama and Georgia are the rightful favorites to win it all, a clear cut above the competition this season.
However, the College Football Playoff consists of four teams. While the odds remain long of beating one, or likely two, of the aforementioned SEC teams, there's value down the board considering the top two team's are also far from perfect.
Alabama’s defense can be had on the right night; the team struggled to handle Florida’s rush heavy attack two weeks ago. As well, Georgia’s offense is not as good as its hyped up to be, ranking just 41st in offensive success rate.
While Ohio State and Oklahoma are favorites of the selection committee, both have proven to be vulnerable this season. OSU already has a loss to Oregon, while the Sooners offense is struggling with Spencer Rattler at quarterback. The team has played close with the likes of Tulane and Nebraska already with the tough competition on the way in Texas, Iowa State and Oklahoma State on the schedule.
Oregon has a signature win on the schedule, but plays in the volatile PAC-12, its odds are now out of the range where I’d want to bet on the Ducks given there is so much season left.
That brings me to Cincinnati. If the chaos continues this season, the Bearcats are a win away from being on path to qualify for the CFP. A win on the road against the Irish will give them as legitimate a win as any team in the country outside of Oregon to date.
While they may not win it all, simply not in the same class as Alabama and Georgia, these odds to will crash following a win on Saturday, which I previewed here.
I’m getting ahead of the market and backing the Bearcats now.