The expanded College Football Playoff changed just about everything.
Not only did it open the door for more teams to get into the dance, but it also expanded the margin for error among the elite programs.
Gone are the days when a second loss eliminates a Power 4 team from the playoff picture.
By opening up the race for the playoff and, therefore, the national championship, the 12-team tournament has also made it a lot more appealing to take some shots on bigger prices to win the natty.
While it’s more likely than not that one of the heavyweights lifts the trophy come January, we did see a couple of dark horses get close last year.
Notre Dame, the runner-up, was 20/1 before Week 1 (and hit 100/1 after losing to Northern Illinois in September), while Penn State entered the season at 20/1 odds and stayed in that range for most of the campaign.
With that in mind, we’ve highlighted three teams that have the potential to give bettors a real run for their money in the 2025 college football season.
The Crimson Tide checks into the season with plenty of skeptics after an inconsistent showing in Year 1 of the Kalen DeBoer era.
Most oddsmakers have the Tide as the sixth or seventh-best team in the country, and third-choice in the SEC, while the Associated Press ranked Alabama No. 8 in the preseason Top 25.
None of that should be surprising. And none of it should scare bettors away from backing Alabama to have a massive season.
While DeBoer will be under pressure until he puts some silverware on the mantle, everything in his resume points to him being a success, especially with Year 1 out of the way.
If you’re a believer in DeBoer, you should be excited about this number because his ability to handle the pressure in Tuscaloosa is the biggest question mark with this team.
The Tide ranks No. 2 (behind Ohio State) in Bill Connelly’s SP+ power rankings, and should be hell-bent on getting back to the College Football Playoff after missing out in 2024.
Like Alabama, Texas A&M just couldn’t stabilize enough in Year 1 under a new head coach.
Mike Elko seemingly had the Aggies on the right path in the early going, but an ugly loss to South Carolina caused them to come unglued.
The Aggies lost their final three SEC games to cost themselves a chance at anything noteworthy.
The silver lining is that Texas A&M should improve in Year 2 under Elko, who uncharacteristically struggled to get his team to dominate in the trenches in 2024.
An improvement up front, and a step forward from quarterback Marcel Reed after a superb freshman campaign, should have the Aggies among the best teams in the SEC, especially since they’ve got a workable conference schedule.
There are a couple of triple-digit long shots who could outrun their odds because they have a path to the CFP (Boise State, for instance), but Kansas State stands out as the best of the bunch.
The Wildcats have a game-winner with Avery Johnson at quarterback, and he’s got plenty of playmakers around him.
As long as the Wildcats can get the offensive line and defense up to speed, they’ve got the potential to run away with the Big 12 and be “the team nobody wants to face” come tournament time.
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.