Florida State 2023-24 College Football Playoff title odds: Seminoles taking most action of any team at sportsbook to win national title

Thursday marked 100 days until the start of the 2023 college football regular season, with eight FBS games scheduled for Week Zero on Saturday, Aug. 26. Sportsbooks put out some interesting futures odds updates with the countdown clock starting, and one that caught my eye was at PointsBet is that the team taking the most action to win the 2023-24 College Football Playoff is not usual suspects Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State or Clemson, but Florida State at +1400.

FSU coach Mike Norvell entered the 2022 season on a fairly hot seat after the Seminoles went 3-6 and 5-7 in his first two seasons since being lured from Memphis to replace Willie Taggart. However, FSU broke out last year with a 10-3 record, with the three losses coming at the hands of ranked teams Wake Forest, NC State and Clemson by a combined 18 points. The season was capped by a 35-32 win over Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. FSU's No. 11 AP ranking to end the season was its highest since 2016, which was also the last time the Seminoles won 10 games.

We have a few months until the preseason polls are out, but Florida State is likely going to be a top-10 team with essentially all the notable players back from last year, led by quarterback Jordan Travis, leading rusher Trey Benson and pass-rusher Jared Verse.

Travis is +1200 to win the Heisman Trophy at Caesars. He was Pro Football Focus' highest-graded FBS quarterback and offensive player in the ACC last year (91.7), completing 226 of his 353 passes for 3,214 yards with 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions. Travis rushed for 417 yards and seven touchdowns on 82 attempts and even caught a two-yard TD pass. His 32 total TDs were the third-most in school history. Travis became the only player at FSU with at least 20 touchdown passes and seven rushing touchdowns in a season.

Travis recently got a new weapon in former Michigan State wideout Keon Coleman, who is transferring in. He led the Spartans in receptions (58), receiving yards (798) and receiving touchdowns (seven) in 2022. Coleman will pair with Johnny Wilson, an Arizona State transfer who led FSU with 897 receiving yards and five touchdowns receptions last season.

Verse spent his first two college seasons at the FCS level with Albany, but the move up last year to the FBS was seamless. He was FSU's defensive MVP and named first-team All-ACC after recording 48 tackles, including 17.0 for losses with nine sacks, three quarterback hurries, one fumble recovery and one blocked field goal. Verse was one of two Power 5 defenders nationally with four games of 2.5 tackles for losses in 2022. He would have been a first-round pick in this year's draft but surprisingly returned to Tallahassee. He could be a top-10 pick in 2024.

FSU has a difficult schedule because it didn't fill its non-conference slate with cupcakes (like Michigan did, for example) but instead opted to play SEC teams LSU (which also may be a top-10 preseason team) and annual rival Florida. The Seminoles are currently 1-point underdogs against the Tigers on Sept. 3 in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando. Florida State edged LSU 24-23 last year in New Orleans by blocking a PAT with no time remaining.

The only other game where FSU looks like an underdog right now would be Sept. 23 at Clemson. Miami visits Tallahassee this year, and the Seminoles avoid North Carolina and superstar QB Drake Maye. DraftKings slightly favors FSU at +165 to win the ACC title over Clemson (+175). There are no divisions any longer, and the teams with the two best league records meet in the conference title game.

With Florida State expected to be favored in 10 of its 12 games, it's no surprise the Seminoles are set at over/under 10 wins, with the Under a slight favorite. 

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