No. 1 Tennessee opens CWS as title favorites

Top-ranked Tennessee will open the College World Series as the favorite to win the national title despite being taken the distance by unranked Evanston in the Super Regionals.

The Volunteers will open their CWS on Friday against Florida State, which swept UConn in its Super Regional.

Tennessee is the +275 favorite to win the title at BetMGM, where Florida State has the fifth-shortest odds at +750. The Vols are a -160 favorite in Friday's second game, with the Seminoles +125 to pull an early upset.

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES TITLE ODDS

No. 1 Tennessee (+275)

No. 3 Texas A&M (+350)

No. 2 Kentucky (+450)

No. 4 North Carolina (+700)

No. 8 Florida State (+750)

No. 12 Virginia (+1000)

NC State (+1000)

Florida (+1400)

The ACC and SEC made history, with both conferences seeing four teams advance to the CWS. It's the first time the final eight teams have all come from just two conferences.

The book reported Thursday that Tennessee is its biggest title liability, with the Vols backed by 12.6 percent of the total bets and 21.9 percent of the money. Next is NC State, which has drawn 5.6 percent of the money since opening at +5000.

Tennessee is 55-12 on the season and racked up 64 total runs in six games through its regional and Super Regional.

The CWS in Omaha, Neb. will kick off its double-elimination format with ACC rivals North Carolina and Virginia playing at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by the Tennessee-Florida St. game.

The winners of each group will advance to a best-of-three finals beginning on Saturday, June 22.

BRACKET 1: North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida St.

BRACKET 2: Kentucky, NC State, Texas A&M, Florida

SCHEDULE

Friday, June 14

Virginia vs. North Carolina, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Florida State vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, June 15

NC State vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Florida vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, June 16

Game 5, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 6, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, June 17

Game 7, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 8, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Tuesday, June 18

Game 9, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 10, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Wednesday, June 19

Game 11, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 12, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, June 20

Bracket 1, if necessary (TBD)

Bracket 2, if necessary (TBD)

Saturday, June 22

Finals, Game 1, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, June 23

Finals, Game 2, 2 p.m. (ABC/fubo)

Monday, June 20

Finals, Game 3, if necessary, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

--Field Level Media