College Football Playoff Betting
Kentuckians who are looking to legally bet on College Football Playoff games will be able to do so soon at legal and regulated online sportsbooks in the Bluegrass State.
Several reputable sports betting operators have already been approved for licensing in Kentucky, including BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and PointsBet. These operators offer a wide variety of betting options for CFP games, including point spreads, moneylines and over/unders.
To place bets on College Football Playoff games or the College Football Playoff National Championship, Kentucky residents and visitors must be at least 18 years of age and physically located within the state’s borders. They can create an account with a licensed sportsbook online or through a mobile app and fund their account using a variety of safe and secure payment methods.
Below, we look at betting on the College Football Playoff and the most up-to-date odds at all the legal and regulated Kentucky online sportsbooks.
College Football Playoff game odds
Below are the current CFP game odds available at legal and regulated mobile sportsbooks in the Bluegrass State. If you see CFP odds you like, click them to visit the corresponding sportsbook.
College Football Playoff National Championship odds
The National Championship is the most coveted prize in all of college football. See CFP National Championship odds that pique your interest? Select them to visit the corresponding sportsbook. There, you can open an account and place your bets.
What is the College Football Playoff?
Two of the “New Year’s Six” bowl games serve as semifinals for the College Football Playoff (CFP), which determines the national champion.
The NY6 games include:
- Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One (Pasadena, CA)
- Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA)
- PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, AZ)
- Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA)
- Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (Arlington, TX)
- Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, FL)
These six games are among the most prestigious bowl games in college football, and they are typically reserved for the top-ranked teams in the country. Starting in the 2024-25 season, the New Year’s Six will expand to host the quarterfinal round when the CFP grows to 12 teams.
Currently, the CFP Selection Committee seeds and pairs the top four teams for the CFP and determines the other four non-playoff bowl games, which are also called Selection Committee bowl games. The NY6 requires champions from the Power Five conferences and the highest-ranked champion from the Group of Five conferences if their top team is not in the playoff.
Upcoming CFP semifinal bowl games include:
- 2023-24 season: Rose Bowl (January 1) and Sugar Bowl (January 1)
- 2024-25 season: Cotton Bowl (January 11) and Orange Bowl (January 11)
- 2025-26 season: Fiesta Bowl (January 10) and Peach Bowl (January 10)
What is the College Football Playoff National Championship?
The College Football Playoff National Championship is the final game of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football season. In short, it determines the best team in college football. The game is played annually on a Monday in early January at a neutral site, and it features the winners of the two CFP semifinal games.
The CFP National Championship began in 2014 as part of the new playoff system that replaced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The CFP consists of four teams selected by a committee of experts, based on factors such as team performance, strength of schedule, and head-to-head results. In the pre-expansion CFP semifinal round, the No. 1 seed plays the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed plays the No. 3 seed. The winners of these games advance to the championship game.
The CFP National Championship is one of the most watched and heavily bet-on sporting events in the United States, with millions of viewers tuning in each year. The game is also a major event for the host city. It brings in large crowds and generates significant economic activity. The winner of the CFP National Championship is widely regarded as the best college football team in the country and is awarded the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.
The upcoming championship games are as follows:
- 2023-24: Jan. 8 in Houston, Texas
- 2024-25: Jan. 20 in Atlanta, Georgia
- 2025-26: Jan. 19 in Miami, Florida
What bets can I make on the CFP?
When it comes to legal and regulated sports betting in Kentucky, College Football Playoff games are quite popular. Here are the different types of college football bets that sports bettors can place on these games.
- Moneyline bets involve predicting the outright winner of the game. The odds for moneyline bets can vary depending on the teams’ strengths, making them a potentially profitable choice if a bettor believes an underdog has a good chance of winning.
- Point spread bets require bettors to predict whether a team will win or lose by a certain number of points. While sportsbooks attempt to create balanced odds, knowledgeable bettors may find value in point spread bets if they can accurately predict a team’s performance.
- Over/under bets, also known as totals, require bettors to predict whether the combined score of both teams will be higher or lower than a number set by the sportsbook. Bettors with a strong understanding of the teams’ scoring tendencies may find appealing odds with this bet type.
- Prop bets focus on specific events or occurrences within a game, such as the number of touchdowns scored by a player or the total number of field goals in the entire game. While prop bets can be more challenging to predict, they may offer better odds if a bettor has in-depth knowledge of the teams or players involved.
- Parlay bets involve combining multiple bets into a single wager, with each bet needing to be correct for the parlay to win. While parlays offer potentially higher payouts due to their increased risk, the chances of winning a parlay bet are generally lower than for individual bets.
Kentucky online sportsbooks offer all these types of bets for College Football Playoff bowl games. Still, yet another popular option at legal Kentucky online sportsbooks is futures bets.
Futures bets hinge on events that will occur in the future, such as predicting the National Champion before the season even begins. These bets typically offer higher payouts than other bet types but also carry more risk, as the outcome of the event may be uncertain for a long time. Futures bets can also be placed on conference champions, individual player awards, and more.
Which teams have played in the College Football Playoff?
Below are the teams that qualified for the CFP since its 2014-15 inception.
- 2014-15: Oregon over Florida State, 59-20 (Rose Bowl), and Ohio State over Alabama, 42-35 (Sugar Bowl)
- 2015-16: Clemson over Oklahoma, 37-17 (Orange Bowl), and Alabama over Michigan State, 38-0 (Cotton Bowl)
- 2016-17: Alabama over Washington, 24-7 (Peach Bowl), and Clemson over Ohio State, 31-0 (Fiesta Bowl)
- 2017-18: Georgia over Oklahoma, 54-48 (2OT) (Rose Bowl), and Alabama over Clemson, 24-6 (Sugar Bowl)
- 2018-19: Clemson over Notre Dame, 30-3 (Cotton Bowl), and Alabama over Oklahoma, 45-34 (Orange Bowl)
- 2019-2020: LSU over Oklahoma, 63-28 (Peach Bowl), and Clemson over Ohio State, 29-23 (Fiesta Bowl)
- 2020-21: Alabama over Notre Dame, 31-14 (Rose Bowl), and Ohio State over Clemson, 49-28 (Sugar Bowl)
- 2021-22: Alabama over Cincinnati, 27-6 (Cotton Bowl), and Georgia over Michigan, 34-11 (Orange Bowl)
- 2022-23: TCU over Michigan, 51-45 (Fiesta Bowl), and Georgia over Ohio State, 42-41 (Peach Bowl)
Which teams have won the CFP National Championship?
The College Football Playoff National Championship has been played since 2015. Here are the past winners of the CFP National Championship.
- 2014-15 season: Ohio State Buckeyes
- 2015-16 season: Alabama Crimson Tide
- 2016-17 season: Clemson Tigers
- 2017-18 season: Alabama Crimson Tide
- 2018-19 season: Clemson Tigers
- 2019-20 season: LSU Tigers
- 2020-21 season: Alabama Crimson Tide
- 2021-22 season: Georgia Bulldogs
- 2022-23 season: Georgia Bulldogs