What 12-Team College Football Playoff Brackets Look Like With National Title Odds

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Written By Brett Gibbons | Last Updated
cfp brackets

Welcome to the era of two Selection Sundays. This season ushers in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. While this postseason format may not be for long, as the leaders of today’s college football deliberate over what to change next, we’re guaranteed to have these brackets for the next two seasons. Sportsbooks released CFB futures before the National Championship between Michigan and Washington. So, looking at those, what might this year’s 12-team CFP field look like?

For this exercise, we’re using College Football Playoff odds from FanDuel Sportsbook. When betting CFB futures, always compare numbers at the best college football betting sites. Click on the odds to bet now.

2024-25 College Football Futures

12-Team Playoff Bracket Field Using CFB Futures

Later in the offseason, sportsbooks will offer “To Make The Playoff” props. For now, we’re only going to look at odds to win the National Championship.

Bids to the CFP this year include the five highest-ranked conference champions, according to the CFP Selection Committee, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. Including five conference champions in the field guarantees a Group of Five berth since Pac-12 football has dissolved. Plus, the four highest-ranked seeds receive a first-round bye.

See the complete CFP format here for the brackets.

According to futures odds, this would be our 12-team CFP bracket:

CFB Futures Don’t Exactly Lay Out Top Four Seeds

Browsing national title odds boards takes a bit of re-calibration this year. The Texas Longhorns () have the third-shortest odds to win the title, which, for the last 30 years, would have made them the No. 3 seed. However, Texas makes the move from the Big 12 to the SEC this season and falls to the top non-conference champion spot in the brackets.

The Big 12 representative Kansas State Wildcats () fall much further down the board. FanDuel actually lines Utah as a slight Big 12 favorite (+340), but K-State holds shorter odds to win the national championship.

It’s a similar story for the Florida State Seminoles (), who fall behind a handful of SEC and Big Ten teams. They trade for the same price as Clemson in the ACC (+280), but the Noles edge out the Tigers in National Championship futures at time of writing.

The Georgia Bulldogs () and Ohio State Buckeyes () do reflect the top two national favorites.

Boise State Leads Group Of Five

It took a few scrolls to find the top implied Group of Five team. The Boise State Broncos () tie with Memphis and Liberty on FanDuel’s oddsboards. However, comparative conference strength nudges the Mountain West over the AAC or Conference USA, and Boise plays a slightly tougher non-conference slate. Other books tend to price Boise State shorter, as well.

The addition of five-star USC transfer Malachi Moore helps the Broncos’ case. They play both Pac-2 additions in Oregon State and Washington State and face Oregon outside of league play.

Will There Be Value In Betting CFB Futures?

The wide-open nature of a 12-team brackets strips plenty of value out of betting favorites to win the National Title. However, a quick glance at the bracket suggests there will be some value in betting on the ACC and Big 12 berths. As it stands today, conference winner futures stand in for “To Make The Playoff” props given each Power Four champion gets a bid; granted, you miss out on the benefit of multiple bids in each conference.

Teams with the shortest National Championship odds to not have landed in this bracket include LSU (), Notre Dame (), and Tennessee ().

Comparing conference futures for the Power Four – and more specifically, the Big Ten and SEC – can shed light on some value for underseeded teams like Texas and Michigan listed above.

Betting CFB Futures Vs. Rolling Parlays

For most of the four-team CFP era, betting rolling parlays was a savvy way for bettors to increase their total odds on a team to make the Playoff. A rolling parlay is the practice of betting on a team’s moneyline and rolling the winnings from each game into betting on their moneyline the next game.

With an increase in postseason games, could this strategy replace betting on their National Championship future? Let’s take a look at Texas’ odds using preseason power ratings. We’ll start with a $100 bet:

Proj. OpponentEst. SpreadEst. MoneylineTotal InTotal Out
Boise State*-21-1100$100$109.09
Kansas State-14.5-625$109.09$126.54
Georgia+6+200$126.54$379.62
Ohio State+3+130$379.62$873.13

*First-round playoff games are played on the higher seed’s campus. Home Field Advantage is baked into this line.

  • Total pay out if betting rolling parlay: $873.13
  • Total pay out if bet on CFB Future (+700): $800.00

In this case, it would be only slightly more beneficial to bet a rolling parlay on Texas (or another first-round team). However, with a team like Georgia – who would be favored heavily in each game and get the first-round bye – that would not be as fruitful an effort.

Want more brackets coverage? Happy March!

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