As Week 5 has arrived the national championship picture has become a case of the obvious. There is the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide followed by a second tier of excellent teams with some potential bargain values down the line. While Alabama is the prohibitive favorite to hoist the crystal trophy next January smart gamblers realize that it’s a long season and all it takes is a key injury or a bad bounce to completely flip the script. Yet it is totally undeniable that the Crimson Tide looks unbeatable at the present time. In fact, Alabama has a new dynamic element that has been missing from their past championship editions. What is scary to contemplate is that this may be the greatest Crimson Tide team of All Time.
Week five offers the most attractive lineup of games so far for 2018 with national championship implications. Be sure to be ready for live and halftime betting at Bookmaker as action will be nonstop from morning to past midnight!
Odds to Win the National Championship: Alabama even money, Clemson 9/2, Ohio State 5/1, Georgia 7/1, Notre Dame 16/1, Oklahoma 16/1, Washington 20/1, LSU 25/1, Michigan 25/1, Penn State 25/1, Auburn 33/1, Stanford 33/1, West Virginia 33/1, Wisconsin 33/1, Miami 40/1, Texas 40/1, Michigan State 50/1
Alabama Crimson Tide
Of course, head coach Nick Saban as built a powerful machine that reloads every year. And as expected the Crimson Tide defense is stout as ever. What makes this Alabama team so terrifying is an element that they have never had before. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has proven to be the real deal. Tua has a 230.5 quarterback rating with a 12/0 touchdown to interception ratio to go with a 12.91 yards per attempt average. There has never been an Alabama quarterback this dynamic or spectacular.
Clemson Tigers
Speaking of dynamic quarterbacks, head coach Dabo Swinney believes he now has one in true freshman Trevor Lawrence. First of all, in the 2018 national recruiting class rankings Lawrence was the second ranked overall pick in the country. Beyond that he arrived locked and loaded for an immediate challenge to original starter Kelly Bryant. Lawrence has a 191.8 quarterback rating with a 65% completion rate and 9/2 touchdown to interception ratio. Clemson’s playoff failure last year was based in large part to an offense that stalled. Lawrence figures to change that and will only get better as the season progresses.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Without a doubt the Buckeyes also have a top tier All American candidate at quarterback with Dwayne Haskins. In fact, Haskins may be the best quarterback that head coach Urban Meyer has had during his time at Columbus. Haskins has his own eye-popping numbers starting with a quarterback rating of 207 to go with a sensational 16/1 touchdown to interception ratio. His completion rate is 75.7% with an average of 10.38 yards per attempt. However, danger looms this Saturday as the Buckeyes face a dangerous Penn State team hosting a “white out” in which 100,000 fans will be rocking all white. Ohio State left State College in defeat their last visit on a white out.
Georgia Bulldogs
Keep in mind that Georgia easily could have if not should have won the national championship last January. What should worry Alabama fans is that the Bulldogs are better in 2018. Head coach Kirby Smart has quickly elevated the UGA program to the Super Power status that fans have long demanded. The Junk Yard Dawg Defense ranks seventh in the country for points allowed. Smart has dramatically improved the quality depth on his roster.
Dangerous Value Dark Horse
The Michigan Wolverines were touted as national championship material in the preseason but were written off after their bad opening loss at Notre Dame. Since then Michigan has improved dramatically and could quickly get back in the conversation with a rock-ribbed defense and the best quarterback in the Jim Harbaugh era with Shea Patterson.
Free ATS Pick
Alabama is the obvious choice that brings no real wagering value. Michigan makes for a realistic quality value choice that brings a good price.
College Football Odds: Michigan 25/1 to win the national championship
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