As LSU Visits White House, Clemson Posted As 2021 College Football Favorite

On Friday, the LSU Tigers visited the White House to celebrate their championship. While that puts the final seal on the 2020 season, the betting odds have been released for 2021 where the Clemson Tigers are the top favorite to win the national championship. Let’s take an early look at next year’s odds and see who is at the top of the board:

CLEMSON TIGERS
2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: +225

The gap between Clemson and the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference is likely to be as big in 2020 as it was in 2019. That means they’re still the safest bet to return to the College Football Playoff and national championship game. Whereas the Southeastern Conference champion will face multiple stiff tests – especially with Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin joining the conference as head coaches – it is uncertain if Clemson will get a huge test over the course of its regular season. They threatened only one time in 2019 before the playoff, by North Carolina. With Trevor Lawrence back under center and the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Clemson will be a force to be reckoned with.

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: +350

The Crimson Tide should bounce back for a number of reasons in the SEC next season, the main one being that Joe Burrow will be in the NFL. Burrow was an extraordinary quarterback who arguably turned in the best single season by an individual player in college football history. The 2019 LSU team is being regarded by a number of analysts as the best team in college football history, with Burrow being at the center of the action. Now Alabama doesn’t have to deal with Burrow’s brilliance and LSU will lose a bunch of other players to the NFL Draft too. The Tigers also watched defensive coordinator Dave Aranda take the open head coaching job at Baylor after Matt Rhule went to the Carolina Panthers and saw offensive coordinator Joe Brady leave for the Carolina Panthers. We know that Alabama reloads on the fly; can LSU do the same?

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS ODDS: +450

The Buckeyes will still be very good, largely because they will still have Justin Fields at quarterback after a 2019 regular season in which he was a Heisman Trophy candidate (he threw only one interception). However, they will lose some key players like pass rusher Chase Young will leave an enormous void, given how devastating he was for the Buckeyes this past season. OSU’s defense will be a lot weaker without him. Running back J.K. Dobbins will also be gone. His mixture of speed and power will not be easy to reproduce. Ohio State still has a lot of elite athletes, but not having two high-end performers will still leave a mark. They’ll win the Big Ten, but it might not match up as favorably with Clemson or the SEC champion next season.

LSU TIGERS
2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: +600

The Tigers have a lot of good young talent, especially sophomore cornerback Derek Stingley, easily the best returning cornerback in the whole country. Their recruiting will be good enough to keep the Tigers in contention in the SEC West but for all the elite players LSU returns, the Tigers won’t have Joe Burrow or a number of their fantastic receivers from this past season. Their historically great offense won’t have its most important players next season, which should limit what the Tigers can achieve.

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