Next year’s college football championship odds released

The LSU Tigers have been crowned at college football’s best team, now we’re all on to the 2020 season. Opening odds for the national title next year have already been released, and the Tennessee Volunteers are among the top 20 teams with the best odds to take it all down.

Tennessee checks in at 66-1, good for 17th best in the country, according to SportsBetting.ag. That’s a far cry from the much longer odds that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

The Volunteers will only lose a handful of starters from last year’s team. They’ll likely be able to add former five-star recruit Cade Mays to an already improved offensive line, while bringing back key starters Trey Smith, Bryce Thompson and Henry To’o To’o. Seniors that missed the 2019 season due to injury — Emmit Gooden and Baylen Buchanan — could also give Tennessee a boost.

Most of the pieces are in place for Tennessee to be a top 20 team in 2020. What they can do beyond that will come down to the quarterback position. Jarrett Guarantano has one season left in Knoxville, but he’ll have more competition than ever this offseason. Sophomore Brian Maurer will get another offseason in Jim Chaney’s offense, while freshman Harrison Bailey is already in town with the team.

If Tennessee is going to do anything big in 2020, they’ll have to go through four of the top eight teams, according to the below odds. It still isn’t realistic to expect them to do that, but Tennessee showed us enough in the second half of the season to expect them to at least compete with these teams and perhaps come away with a couple of big wins next year.

Full 2020 College Football Championship Odds

Clemson 9/4

Alabama 7/2

Ohio State 9/2

LSU 6/1

Georgia 8/1

Florida 14/1

Auburn 20/1

Oklahoma 20/1

Notre Dame 25/1

Texas 25/1

Michigan 33/1

Penn State 33/1

Texas A&M 40/1

Florida State 50/1

Oregon 50/1

Wisconsin 50/1

Tennessee 66/1

Iowa State 100/1

Kentucky 100/1

Miami (FL) 100/1

Minnesota 100/1

Nebraska 100/1

USC 100/1

Utah 100/1

Washington 100/1

Iowa 150/1

Oklahoma State 150/1

BYU 500/1