College Football Movers & Shakers: Week 3

South Carolina is one of the teams making positive movement on this week’s college football futures.

Online sportsbook Bovada released its latest round of college football futures on Tuesday, serving up an insight into how Las Vegas currently sees the footballing landscape.

Things remains tight at the top, with Florida State (5/1) holding on to a slim lead over Oregon and Alabama (both 7/1) as well as Oklahoma (15/2) and Auburn (9/1).

After Week 3 of the season, there’s plenty of movement outside of the top five though, and Betting Sports has sifted through to find three teams on the rise and three facing a long drop out of championship contention.

Moving On Up

Penn State

After two years in the postseason wilderness, Penn State (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) is once more eligible to play during Bowl Season. Following a win over conference newcomers Rutgers over the weekend, the Nittany Lions – one of only two undefeated teams in the Big Ten – have been assigned 75/1 odds of winning a national championship. Sure nobody expects the side to be successful, but at least there’s something to look forward to now.

Current Odds: 75/1

South Carolina

South Carolina (2-1, 1-1 SEC) went some way to making amends for a Week 1 loss by handing higher-ranked Georgia a three-point defeat on Saturday. The victory saw odds of the Gamecocks winning the national championship drop from 66/1 to 40/1, and while the side is still a longshot, the opportunity for success is there once more.

Current Odds: 40/1

BYU

After putting a hurting on Texas last weekend, BYU (3-0) saw its odds of winning a championship plummet from 300/1 to 100/1. This past Thursday’s game against Houston – a much closer affair – resulted in those odds dropping further, as the undefeated Cougars moved to 66/1. Could the side from Provo, Utah, be about to do what Notre Dame did in 2012?

Current Odds: 66/1

The Downward Spiral

Southern California

Just one week ago, Southern California (2-1, 1-0 Pac-12) was a team on the rise thanks to a hard fought victory over Pac-12 rivals Stanford. We suggested ahead of the weekend that a trip to Boston College could be a tricky encounter and sure enough the Trojans came up short against the Eagles. In the process, 12/1 odds of winning a national championship plummeted to 40/1. A bounce back win against Oregon State next Saturday is now essential for Steve Sarkisian’s side.

Current Odds: 40/1

Texas

The Charlie Strong era at Texas (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) took another gut punch on Saturday as the Longhorns were narrowly defeated by UCLA at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The defeat, which was much more respectable than last week’s drubbing at the hands of BYU, saw odds of the Longhorns winning a national championship slip rom 150/1 to 500/1. That’s now a drop of 434 points in two weeks. Texas now needs to run the schedule if it’s to finish anywhere close to College Football Playoff contention.

Current Odds: 500/1

Louisville

A week ago we pointed out that Louisville (2-1, 1-1 ACC) had seen its odds of winning a title fall from 250/1 to 75/1 over the course of the opening weeks of the season. This positive movement on the futures list came to an abrupt end over the weekend as the Cardinals fell 23-21 to Virginia, and now the school is looking down the barrel of 300/1 odds. It was fun while it lasted for the conference newcomers.

Current Odds: 300/1

Check out the latest college football futures odds

*****

For a comprehensive list of college football odds, click here.

A selection of team prop bets can be found here.

A selection of player prop bets can be found here.