2024 college football conference championship spread picks, trends, odds: Vegas expert reveals predictions

Legendary Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall has studied the trends and found the best betting values for Championship Week in college football

By CBS Sports Staff

Dec 3, 2024 at 10:11 am ET • 3 min read

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Championship Week is here in college football as all nine FBS conferences are set to host their championship games. At least five of them will directly impact who makes the College Football Playoff field, and in what order. The Big 12 Championship Game and the ACC Championship Game both have the feel of a play-in game. The latest Championship Week college football odds via SportsLine consensus list Arizona State as a 2-point favorite over Iowa State in the Big 12, while SMU is -2.5 against Clemson in the ACC.

Texas vs. Georgia (+2.5) and Oregon vs. Penn State (+3.5) will determine the byes for the SEC and Big Ten, respectively, while Boise State has a great chance at the No. 4 seed if it can handle UNLV (+4) in the Mountain West title game. The updated College Football Playoff rankings come out Tuesday evening. Before locking in any college football picks on those conference championship games or others, be sure to see the college football betting guide from legendary Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall.

For years Vegas-based Marshall was synonymous with The Gold Sheet, the famed sports betting newsletter. With a background in play-by-play work and sports information while in college, Marshall joined TGS in 1981 when hired by the legendary Mort Olshan and served as executive editor for many years.

An in-demand guest on numerous sports talk radio and TV shows across the country, Bruce's vast array of editorial work has been featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the New York Post and many other outlets. He has won various handicapping titles and also is working on several book projects. Bruce also enters the Week 14 college football schedule on a 43-20 roll (+2088) on his official SportsLine college football spread betting picks.

Now, using his Tech Corner technique that evaluates all the trends and the latest college football odds, Marshall has turned his attention to college football betting for championship games and revealed picks for each matchup. Head to SportsLine to see every pick.

Top college football predictions for Championship Week

One of the top college football picks Marshall is recommending: He likes Arizona State (-2) to cover against Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game at noon ET on Saturday. He also likes the Over (51) in this matchup.

ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in college football this season, taking the Sun Devils from 3-9 to 10-2 in just his second season. Now they are on the brink of a CFP berth and Marshall loves the trends ASU has working in its favor against an Iowa State squad that hasn't covered at a high rate recently.

"The teams didn't meet in regular season, but the Sun Devils were 'this year's Arizona' at 10-2 straight up and against the spread," Marshall told SportsLine. "They won and covered in their last five, and were also 4-1 to the Over in last five. The Cyclones were 2-4 ATS in the last six this campaign." See which other picks to make here.

How to make college football conference championship games

Marshall has evaluated every other matchup and he's found a key 10-1 spread trend. Find out who it is and get betting analysis for each matchup at SportsLine.

So what college football picks can you make with confidence, and what key betting trend do you need to know about? Check out the latest college football odds below, then visit SportsLine to see which teams to back, all from the legendary Vegas expert who has won multiple handicapping titles, and find out.