2024 SEC championship odds, picks: Georgia an overwhelming favorite but Alabama, Missouri provide value

The SEC will look drastically different in 2024, with Texas and Oklahoma ready to join and divisions disappearing to accommodate the growing ranks. Still, a familiar face has emerged as the preseason heavy favorite. Oddsmakers like Georgia to get back to the top of the mountain after Alabama knocked off the Bulldogs a year ago.

Georgia has won back-to-back SEC titles and 2021-22 College Football Playoff national championships, and has lost the SEC championship game just twice under head coach Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs are built to remain near the top no matter what the SEC looks like.

Texas enters its first year as an SEC program with the second-best odds to win the conference. It makes sense, given that the Longhorns just made their first College Football Playoff appearance in program history and have become a recruiting juggernaut under head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Georgia and Texas are two of four SEC teams with less than 10-1 odds to win the league championship, as the SEC looks pretty top-heavy. Alabama, in the midst of an intense internal transition, narrowly avoided falling into the top four.

Here are the SEC title odds for all 16 teams and some individual picks for bettors to consider.

Best bet – Georgia (+185): The work Kirby Smart puts in building his roster, both in high school recruiting and in the transfer portal, means Georgia will always be a safe bet to win the SEC. While we’re used to elite defenses winning in Athens, the other side of the ball could steal the headlines this season. Quarterback Carson Beck is back after an outstanding performance in his first year as a starter. He may have the best arm in a weak quarterback class and could hear his name called in the first round of next year’s draft.

The Bulldogs have a great supporting cast. Georgia has a Joe Moore Award-caliber offensive line, an explosive wide receiver room with insane depth, and a lightning combo at running back with Florida transfers Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson. The defense should also be excellent, but that’s just the standard Smart has set during his tenure.

Worst Bet – LSU (+1000): A team with 10-to-1 odds inherently seems like a long shot, but considering how top-heavy the SEC is, LSU still has the fifth-best outlook among the 16 teams in the conference. While Brian Kelly has done a good job establishing LSU as a consistent double-digit winning team, there are too many question marks to confidently predict the Tigers will be in title contention. LSU has to replace a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Jayden Daniels. His successor, Garrett Nussmeier, showed some enticing potential in his limited playing time, but never spent a full season in the SEC.

It’s LSU’s defense that concerns us. The Tigers were rotten on that side of the ball and didn’t do much to improve their outlook (from a talent standpoint) this offseason. New coordinator Blake Baker, who was great at Missouri, will be very busy revitalizing a defense that returns just two defensive tackles with real game experience and two players — linebacker Harold Perkins and edge rusher Sai’vion Jones — who have more than five sacks. in his Tigers career.

Value Pick – Alabama (+950): It’s odd that Alabama would be a value pick given the program’s dominance under Nick Saban, who emerged victorious after leading the Crimson Tide to the SEC title for the ninth time in his tenure. Certainly, some people aren’t as optimistic about Alabama now that Saban is out and former Washington boss Kalen DeBoer is in. A transfer window that saw Alabama lose stalwarts like safety Caleb Downs and leading receiver Isaiah Bond likely sank the stock a bit more. But DeBoer isn’t inheriting an empty closet. Alabama’s roster still has more talent and top-tier prospects than most teams at the FBS level could hope for.

And DeBoer is no stranger to hitting the ground running. He never won fewer than nine games in a full season as a head coach. In his first year at Washington, the Huskies tied for second in the Pac-12 with an 11-2 overall record. He followed it up in 2023 with a 12-0 regular season, a Pac-12 title and a runner-up finish in the College football Pay. With quarterback Jalen Milroe leading his team, the ceiling for DeBoer is high. It’s certainly worth investing a few dollars in such an attractive line.

Long Shot – Missouri (+1500): Missouri should once again field one of the most potent passing attacks in the country, led by an elite duo of quarterback Brady Cook and wide receiver Luther Burden. The first can compete in the first round of the NFL Draft, while the latter looks like a virtual lock for the top 15. These two alone give the Tigers many offensive advantages, but other weapons can also carry water. The defense must replace five draft picks, including three quarterbacks, while also hiring new coordinator Corey Batoon. That means new additions like 2024 five-star forward Williams Nwaneri will have to step up quickly to compensate, but Eli Drinkwitz has done a good job building Missouri’s roster and turning it into an SEC underdog.