College Football: Playoff Schools Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama & Florida State Among Power 5 Conference Favorites 15 Jun 2015 05:56 PM EST -by Daniel Mogollon, Staff Writer; Image: Ezekiel Elliott scores touchdown against Oregon in Championship Game. (Image Source: Getty Images) OG Technology, a sportsbook operator that runs the books at the Cosmopolitan, Palms and M Resort, as well as the Venetian casinos in Las Vegas put out their odds to win the Power 5 Conferences in college football on Monday. The biggest favorite by far is the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are starting as 1-2 favorites to win the Big Ten this upcoming season. OSU is not only the defending Big Ten and College Football Playoff Champion, but they return much of their team from a year ago, are expected to be even better in 2015 and they play in what many consider a down Big Ten. The two other teams that are given a puncher’s chance to win the conference are Michigan State (13-4) and Wisconsin (8-1), followed by traditional powers Michigan (12-1), Nebraska (12-1) and Penn State (15-1). Minnesota is not far behind at 18-1 and then we begin to enter the realm of the real long shots with Iowa (25-1). Here is the rest of the Big Ten: Rutgers is 40-1, Maryland is 50-1, Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern are all 60-1, while Purdue brings up the rear (100-1). The SEC features what Las Vegas predicts will be one of the tighter races in college football. Alabama is the choice at 5-2 but there is no shortage of challengers. Auburn (15-4) and Georgia (5-1) are fairly close according to the odds makers, with LSU (8-1), Ole Miss (8-1), Tennessee (8-1), Arkansas (10-1), Missouri (12-1) and Mississippi State (12-1) making it nine teams within the 12-1 range. Texas A&M (15-1) and Florida (18-1) are next, followed by South Carolina (25-1), Kentucky (75-1) and Vanderbilt (100-1). The second-biggest favorite is in the Big 12, where TCU is 17-10. Vegas views the Big 12 as a two-horse race (Baylor is 5-2), with Oklahoma (4-1) and Oklahoma State (5-1) viable challengers, and Texas (7-1) and Kansas State (10-1) potential contenders. The bottom four of the conference is made up of West Virginia (15-1), Texas Tech (20-1), Iowa State (25-1) and Kansas (100-1). In the Pac-12, the inaugural College Football Playoffs runner-up Oregon paces the field at 9-4. California schools USC (11-4), Stanford (5-1) and UCLA (5-1) are also in the running. Among the top seven only Stanford is a challenger to the Ducks in the North. Other schools in the South division given a shot are Arizona State (6-1), Arizona (7-1) and Utah (10-1). Cal is 18-1 while the odds makers aren’t really giving Washington (30-1), Washington State (40-1), Colorado (50-1) or Oregon State (50-1) much of a chance to compete. Just as in the other Power 5 conferences (TCU and Baylor tied for the Big 12 title in 2014), defending champion Florida State (5-2) is considered the team to beat in the ACC. …
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