Are Arkansas’ 2025 National Title Odds A Slap to Eli Drinkwitz’s Face?

Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri football, Arkansas football, Arkansas vs Missouri

Rosters across the country are still in flux and the national championship game for the 2024 season is still a week away, but it’s never too early to look ahead to 2025 — especially for sportsbooks.

Sure enough, BetOnline.ag has already posted opening lines for 78 teams to win the 2026 College Football Playoff Championship, installing Texas as a 9-to-2 favorite to get over the hump.

Arkansas’ arch nemesis is coming off back-to-back appearances in the national semifinals and came agonizingly close to potentially taking Ohio State to overtime in the game that ended their most recent campaign. Of course, those odds could change if Steve Sarkisian is lured away by the NFL. Indeed, there’s already been talk of Jerry Jones nabbing him for the Cowboys.

Closely behind Texas are perennial powers Georgia and Ohio State at 11-to-2. Notre Dame — which faces the Buckeyes in this year’s national championship next Monday in Atlanta — is tied with Alabama for the sixth-best odds.

As for the Razorbacks, you have to scroll past 35 other programs to find them at 200-to-1 to not only improve on this year’s 7-6 record, but get to the College Football Playoffs and win it all.

Here are the odds for all SEC football teams:

  • Texas: 9/2
  • Georgia 11/2
  • Alabama: 16/1
  • Tennessee: 18/1
  • LSU: 22/1
  • Ole Miss: 25/1
  • Texas A&M: 33/1
  • South Carolina: 40/1
  • Florida: 50/1
  • Oklahoma: 66/1
  • Auburn: 75/1
  • Arkansas: 200/1
  • Missouri: 200/1
  • Kentucky: 300/1
  • Mississippi State: 500/1
  • Vanderbilt: 500/1

Slap in Drinkwitz’s Face?

At first glance, those odds seem pretty fair. Texas, Georgia and Tennessee are coming off College Football Playoff appearances, while Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, LSU and Texas A&M were in the conversation for the 12-team field at various points of the season.

Florida ended the year on a four-game winning streak, including upsets that effectively eliminated LSU and Ole Miss from playoff contention. Oklahoma is a blue blood program that will always have better odds than you’d expect and Auburn has a top-10 recruiting class and top-10 transfer portal class.

If any team has a legitimate gripe, though, it may be Missouri.

After three straight years with a .500 regular-season record, Arkansas native Eli Drinkwitz has led the Tigers to 21 wins over the past two seasons. They beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl to cap an 11-win 2023 campaign and then won their 10th game of 2024 by beating Iowa in the Music City Bowl.

Despite an SEC schedule that looms as relatively easy, at least by SEC standards, Missouri has the exact same odds as an Arkansas football program it has owned since joining the conference.

Of course, Vanderbilt might not like still being at the bottom of the league, either, especially after quarterback Diego Pavia took the NCAA to court and got an extra year of eligibility following the Commodores’ 7-6 campaign.

Closer Look at Arkansas vs Missouri

It’s worth getting out of the way early that neither Arkansas nor Missouri are likely to compete for a national title in 2025, hence the 200-to-1 odds. (For the non-gamblers, that means a $1 bet would yield $200 in winnings if it hit.)

It’s also probably fair to say the Tigers should have better odds than the Razorbacks, given all the context laid out above. However, a closer look at Missouri’s situation shows the equally long odds might be more reasonable than originally thought.

Most notably, Eli Drinkwitz has to replace a lot.

Quarterback Brady Cook is a Missouri legend, but is now off to the NFL Draft after exhausting his eligibility. The same is true for the Tigers’ top two receivers (Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr.) and top two running backs (Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll).

On the other side of the ball, leading tackler Corey Flagg Jr. and top pass rusher Johnny Walker Jr. are also gone.

Just like Arkansas, Missouri has hit the transfer portal for immediate help. According to 247Sports’ rankings, its portal haul – which includes Jalen Catalon – is only slightly better than the Razorbacks’ so far, checking in at No. 12. Arkansas sits at No. 15.

Missouri’s 2025 signing class is ranked 10 spots higher than Arkansas (No. 19 vs. No. 29), according to the 247Sports Composite, but it’s become increasingly rare for freshmen – outside of the elite recruits – to make an immediate impact.

The Tigers also had a top-20 recruiting class last year, but they’ve already lost their two top-100 signees – Williams Nwaneri to Nebraska and Courtney Crutchfield to Arkansas – and four of their top six signees to the transfer portal.

Even with 2024 seemingly being a down year for the conference, life isn’t easy in the SEC, so at least a slight regression to the mean – as the title odds appear to indicate – might be reasonable for Drinkwitz’s program.

National Championship Odds for 2025 Season

Here are the odds for all 78 teams posted by BetOnline.ag:

Texas9/2 (+450)
Georgia11/2 (+550)
Ohio State11/2 (+550)
Oregon7/1
Penn State10/1
Alabama16/1
Notre Dame16/1
Miami Florida18/1
Tennessee18/1
Clemson20/1
LSU22/1
Ole Miss25/1
Texas A&M33/1
Michigan40/1
South Carolina40/1
Florida50/1
Kansas State66/1
Oklahoma66/1
USC66/1
Arizona State75/1
Auburn75/1
SMU75/1
Boise State100/1
BYU100/1
Colorado100/1
Florida State100/1
Illinois100/1
Iowa State100/1
Louisville100/1
North Carolina100/1
Utah100/1
Baylor150/1
Indiana150/1
Nebraska150/1
Virginia Tech150/1
Arkansas200/1
Iowa200/1
Missouri200/1
Georgia Tech250/1
Kansas250/1
NC State250/1
Syracuse250/1
TCU250/1
Wisconsin250/1
Kentucky300/1
Michigan State300/1
Pittsburgh300/1
Texas Tech300/1
UCF300/1
UNLV300/1
Washington300/1
West Virginia300/1
California500/1
Minnesota500/1
Mississippi State500/1
Oklahoma State500/1
UCLA500/1
Vanderbilt500/1
Arizona1000/1
Army1000/1
Boston College1000/1
Cincinnati1000/1
Colorado State1000/1
Duke1000/1
James Madison1000/1
Liberty1000/1
Louisiana1000/1
Maryland1000/1
Memphis1000/1
Navy1000/1
Northwestern1000/1
Oregon State1000/1
Purdue1000/1
Rutgers1000/1
Stanford1000/1
Virginia1000/1
Wake Forest1000/1
Washington State1000/1

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