The cleanup is probably still going on in Miami, but the focus now shifts to the 2026-27 college football season. The expanded 12-team College Football Playoff may be expanding again at some point, but the one really fascinating thing from the first two years is that getting into the field absolutely gives every major-conference team a chance to win it all. In two years with the 12-team CFP, we’ve had only one of the top four seeds make it to the National Championship, while the others have been No. 10, No. 7, and No. 8. Something to keep in mind as we start looking at National Championship odds for the upcoming season, even if it was No. 1 Indiana who won it this past season.
A lot of the dust has settled with the new head coaches and the transfer portal, but there will be more movement and we’re not that far away from spring games to get more insights on the teams and the position battles. As is always the case, teams that had successful seasons the prior year get a lot of attention in the futures market for the next season, even if there is a ton of roster turnover.
Let’s examine the odds for next year’s National Champion as of Tuesday, January 20 per DraftKings Sportsbook.
2026-27 CFP National Championship Odds
- Indiana (+700)
- Ohio State (+700)
- Texas (+750)
- Notre Dame (+750)
- Oregon (+850)
- Georgia (+900)
- LSU (+1200)
- Texas Tech (+1400)
- Texas A&M (+1600)
- Alabama (+1800)
- Miami FL (+2000)
- USC (+3500)
- Oklahoma (+3500)
- Ole Miss (+4000)
- Michigan (+4000)
- Florida (+5000)
- Utah (+6000)
- Tennessee (+6000)
- Auburn (+6500)
- BYU (+7000)
- Penn State (+7000)
- Clemson (+8000)
- South Carolina (+10000)
- SMU (+10000)
- Missouri (+10000)
- Iowa (+12000)
- Florida State (+12000)
- Washington (+12000)
- Arizona State (+12000)
- Virginia Tech (+15000)
- Louisville (+15000)
- Vanderbilt (+18000)
- Kansas State (+20000)
- Illinois (+20000)
- Houston (+20000)
- Baylor (+20000)
- Arizona (+20000)
- Nebraska (+20000)
- Georgia Tech (+25000)
- Virginia (+25000)
- TCU (+25000)
- Pittsburgh (+25000)
- Duke (+30000)
- Cincinnati (+30000)
- Boise State (+30000)
- Tulane (+30000)
- North Carolina (+30000)
- Kentucky (+40000)
- Kansas (+50000)
- Iowa State (+50000)
- Wisconsin (+50000)
- Wake Forest (+50000)
- Colorado (+50000)
- UNLV (+50000)
- Arkansas (+50000)
- South Florida (+50000)
- NC State (+50000)
- Mississippi State (+50000)
- California (+60000)
- UCLA (+60000)
- UCF (+60000)
- San Diego State (+60000)
- Navy (+60000)
- Michigan State (+60000)
- Memphis (+60000)
- Hawaii (+80000)
- West Virginia (+80000)
- Washington State (+80000)
- East Carolina (+80000)
- Syracuse (+80000)
- Oklahoma State (+80000)
- Northwestern (+80000)
- Minnesota (+80000)
- Maryland (+80000)
- James Madison (+100000)
- Fresno State (+100000)
- Western Michigan (+100000)
- Western Kentucky (+100000)
- Boston College (+100000)
- Toledo (+100000)
- Army (+100000)
- Texas State (+100000)
- Air Force (+100000)
- Stanford (+100000)
- Southern Miss (+100000)
- Purdue (+100000)
- Old Dominion (+100000)
- Ohio (+100000)
- New Mexico (+100000)
- Liberty (+200000)
- Kennesaw State (+200000)
- Jacksonville State (+200000)
- Georgia Southern (+200000)
- Delaware (+200000)
- UTSA (+200000)
- Utah State (+200000)
- Troy (+200000)
- Oregon State (+200000)
- North Texas (+200000)
- Miami OH (+200000)
- Louisiana (+200000)
- UConn (+300000)
- Buffalo (+300000)
- Tulsa (+300000)
- Arkansas State (+300000)
- Appalachian State (+300000)
- Temple (+300000)
- South Alabama (+300000)
- Marshall (+300000)
- Louisiana Tech (+300000)
- Wyoming (+500000)
- Florida Atlantic (+500000)
- FIU (+500000)
- Colorado State (+500000)
- Coastal Carolina (+500000)
- Central Michigan (+500000)
- Bowling Green (+500000)
- San Jose State (+500000)
- Rice (+500000)
- Northern Illinois (+500000)
- Nevada (+500000)
- Missouri State (+500000)
- Kent State (+1000000)
- Georgia State (+1000000)
- Eastern Michigan (+1000000)
- UTEP (+1000000)
- Charlotte (+1000000)
- UMass (+1000000)
- ULM (+1000000)
- UAB (+1000000)
- Ball State (+1000000)
- Akron (+1000000)
- Sam Houston (+1000000)
- New Mexico State (+1000000)
- Middle Tennessee (+1000000)
Obviously there’s a cut-off point to this list to be made, but DraftKings has all the teams lined, so I’ve included them for S&G. Not surprisingly, the nation’s powerhouses are all 20/1 or lower and the other hopefuls are in the mid-range, while there are a few triple-digit shots that are intriguing.
It is hard to tie your money up for such a long period of time on a bet like this, especially since the National Championship Game isn’t until January 25, 2027, the latest it has ever been.
Are there any long shots worth considering? There are a couple that I’m thinking about right now. These odds will probably be available for a while, so there’s time to chew on what teams have added and what they will subtract heading into next season.
Houston Cougars (200/1)
The Cougars finished last season ranked 21st in the CFP Rankings and finished with 10 wins after beating LSU in the Texas Bowl. Obviously LSU had a lot going on, but it was a nice send-off to the season for Houston.
Now Willie Fritz has reunited with RB Makhi Hughes, who he originally recruited to Tulane, and he should add some more explosiveness to an offense in Year 2 with OC Slade Nagle and QB Conner Weigman. Weigman had a 25/9 TD/INT ratio with a 65.2% completion rate and over 3,400 yards of total offense. The loss of top target TE Tanner Koziol is a tough pill to swallow, but leading yardage man Amare Thomas is back and Fritz pulled Patrick Overmyer from UTSA to fill Koziol’s big 6-foot-7 shoes.
While the portal haul for Houston doesn’t grade as well as others in the Big 12, the Cougars focused on rebuilding the offensive line and picked up some additional edge rushers to be more active in now second-year DC Austin Armstrong’s defense.
Houston should be favored in every home game and would probably have to split road games at Kansas State, Texas Tech, Utah, and West Virginia to be in the running for the conference title game. They certainly have the opportunity to do that in my opinion, as they avoid Arizona, Arizona State, and BYU.
Louisville Cardinals (150/1)
Admittedly, I fall for this team every year because of Jeff Brohm’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer and he seems to find an interesting and exciting one in the transfer portal pretty much every time. This cycle, it’s former Ohio State QB Lincoln Kienholz, who never got a chance to really play in Columbus, but many who covered the program were big fans of him. We’ll see what Brohm can turn him into after a known commodity in Miller Moss underperformed a bit last season.
The Cardinals play Ole Miss right out of the chute in Nashville, so that’s a huge game in terms of their margin for error. Even if they lose that game, though, the ACC could be there for the taking. Remember, this past season’s ACC Championship Game was Virginia vs. Duke.
Louisville doesn’t have Duke, Virginia, Clemson, Miami, or what should be a much improved Virginia Tech team on the schedule. They get Florida State, Pitt, and SMU at home, while avoiding any road trips outside of the Eastern Time Zone in conference play. All of their conference road games are winnable – Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Syracuse – and they get five home games with the nine-game ACC schedule.
The Cardinals still have the services of leading rusher Isaac Brown, though Kienholz will have to find some new WR to throw to and that was a position of focus in the portal. This was also a top-15 defense by yards per play last season, although Brohm needs to find a new DC for 2026.
