College football odds: Ole Miss, Illinois present opportunity as undervalued conference championship threats

The 2025 college football season is nearly upon us, and as fall camps ramp up across the country it’s time to settle in on predictions for the year. 

While the chase for the 12 playoff spots dominates the conversation these days, winning the conference championship remains the first goal for teams with playoff aspirations. In the Power Four conferences, making it to the title game is harder than ever. Conference expansion has gotten rid of divisions and deepened the pool of threats to make it to Atlanta, Indianapolis, Charlotte and Dallas at the end of the season. 

Every year we come into the season with expectations of seeing a few favorites doing battle in those conference title games, but there are always a few shocking participants — and sometimes title winners — that remind us part of the joy of watching college football is the chaos that inevitably ensues. 

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Chip Patterson

Last year we saw Arizona State win the Big 12 after being projected as the worst team in the conference, SMU run to the ACC title game with an undefeated regular season in its first year in the conference and Indiana shock the Big Ten by crashing the party in Indy in Curt Cignetti’s first season in charge. 

With that in mind, we wanted to highlight a sleeper team in each…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-odds-ole-miss-illinois-present-opportunity-as-undervalued-conference-championship-threats/

Author : Robby Kalland

Publish date : 2025-08-05 17:28:00

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