College football teams with the potential to overachieve in 2023
The TCU Horned Frogs weren’t supposed to make it to the College Football Playoff National Championship last year. Depending on where you looked, Sonny Dykes’ team was listed as high as +23000 to win the national title before the season. But the Horned Frogs ended up going 12-0 during the regular season, which was good enough to book them a spot in the College Football Playoff despite losing to the Kansas State Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship Game.
From there, TCU beat the second-ranked Michigan Wolverines, 51-45, in a thriller in the College Football Playoff Semifinal. And the magical run ultimately ended with a blowout loss at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, who rolled to a 65-7 victory to win the national title.
A lot of things had to break right for TCU to do what it did last season. It started with Max Duggan turning into a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in Garrett Riley’s first year running the Horned Frogs offense. TCU also got some solid play out of its defense, which allowed only 25.0 points per game on the year. That was just good enough to support the ninth-best scoring offense in the country. The Horned Frogs also had some good luck in close games throughout the regular season.
Will there be another TCU in 2023? Probably not. But there are surely some bettors out there that are hoping to find the next one, or something similar. So, here’s a list of some teams with the potential to overachieve and sneak into the College Football Playoff this season. None of these odds will be as outrageous as what the Horned Frogs were going for last year, but these are all very enticing payouts.