For the first time since 2019, a college football season is set to begin without the defending national champions coming out of the Southeastern Conference. Yet that has not stopped the league from producing the preseason favorite to win it all in 2024.
What do the latest SEC betting odds tell us about the conference this fall?
Updated 2024 SEC Betting Odds
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Georgia Bulldogs will enter the 2024 season as the favorite to win the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff (+300). Unsurprisingly, the latest SEC betting odds are even shorter in favor of Kirby Smart’s team.
The Bulldogs have reached the conference title game in six of the past seven seasons, including a pair of victories in 2022 and 2017.
Shortest Odds To Win the SEC This Season
1) Georgia +190
2) Texas +320
2) Ole Miss +650
4) Alabama +750
5) LSU +1000
6) Texas A&M +1400
7) Tennessee +1600
8) Missouri +1800
None of the other eight teams has preseason odds shorter than 30-1. Only one SEC team — 2013 Auburn — has collected a conference title over the past 20 seasons with longer preseason odds than that (more on this team later).
The Tigers were a 100-1 longshot to win the SEC in Gus Malzahn’s first season at the helm before shocking the conference — and the rest of the college football world — by going 12-2 and reaching the BCS title game.
Coming off their first appearance in the College Football Playoff and their first conference title since 2009, albeit a different conference, Texas (+320) looks to be the main challenger to Georgia’s hopes of a conference crown according to the latest SEC betting odds.
The Longhorns and Bulldogs will face each other head-to-head in Austin on Oct. 19.
Ole Miss has the third-shortest SEC betting odds at +650, the program’s shortest preseason odds to win the league on record. The Rebels have not won an SEC title since 1963 which was even before the grandfather of Texas’ Arch Manning, Archie, was playing quarterback for the school.
Lane Kiffin and company are coming off their first 11-win season in the 123-year history of the Ole Miss football program. They also return some high-end talent on offense to surround their Heisman hopeful quarterback, Jaxson Dart, including CFN’s Preseason Second-Team All-American WR Tre Harris.
Winners of seven SEC titles in the past decade — including 2023 — Alabama (+750) should not be overlooked as a league championship contender. In fact, 39% of the money bet on an SEC title winner is on Alabama.
This would be the Crimson Tide’s longest preseason odds to win the SEC since 2007, Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa.
Despite it being Kalen DeBoer’s opening act as Alabama’s head coach, the preseason expectations aren’t any lower than they were under Saban. With that being said, only three teams in SEC history have won a conference title with a head coach in their first season at the school.
The last one? Remember I said, “More on this team later”? The answer is Auburn in 2013 with Gus Malzahn. Ole Miss in 1947 with John Vaught and LSU in 1935 with Bernie Moore are the others, in case you were curious.
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