College Football Odds: Indiana's Journey From Long Shot to Shoo-In

Fans and pundits might not be sure how they did it, but they did it — the Hoosiers won the College Football playoff. 

Just how remarkable was the feat? Consider this: Entering the 2024-25 season — Curt Cignetti's first with the program — Indiana was at +100000 to win the national title at BetMGM. 

The Hoosiers went 11-1 and made it to the Playoff field as the 10-seed. They lost to No. 7 Notre Dame in the first round, and the Irish ended up making it to the CFP title game, falling to Ohio State, the only other team to beat Indiana that season. 

This season, Indiana entered the season ranked No. 20, with +10000 odds to win the national championship at BetMGM. However, those odds continued to shift as the Hoosiers kept on winning. 

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They beat No. 9 Illinois 63-10. They then went to Oregon and beat the No. 3 Ducks 30-20. They then ended the regular season with a Big Ten title game win over No. 1 Ohio State, 13-10, earning the top-seed in the College Football Playoff. 

Entering the CFP, Indiana was at +275 to win the title. Then, after blasting Alabama 38-3 in the quarterfinals, the Hoosiers were at +130 entering the semifinals. 

They then made easy work of Oregon in the semis, winning 56-22, and sat at -325 to win the title entering the championship game against Miami. 

We all know what happened next. 

Looking Ahead

Now that Indiana has been crowned national champion, it sits fifth on the BetMGM oddsboard to win the whole thing next year, at +800. Ahead of the Hoosiers are Ohio State (+600), Notre Dame (+700), Oregon (+700) and Texas (+700). 

However, so far, the Hoosiers have the highest ticket percentage (17.7%) to win next year's national title, followed by the Irish (13.1%) and Ohio State (12.6%). The Buckeyes have the highest handle percentage (51.4%), followed by Notre Dame (16.1%) and LSU (8.4%). Ohio State is also the largest liability for BetMGM. 

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