This is not your father’s college football landscape. Heck, before this year, it wasn’t your college football landscape.
With the demise of the late, very lamented Pac-12, the Power 5 has shrunk into the Power 4, Meanwhile, the college football playoff has grown from four teams to 12, opening up wagering opportunities, championship opportunities and closing (at least temporarily) the whining opportunities for teams that couldn’t find their way into the cartel for whatever reason.
As the late George Carlin aptly put it, “It’s a club. And you and I aren’t in it.”
Regardless of what the New World looks like, it always looks like opportunity. Opportunity to find some tasty future wagers that give you a reason to pay attention on numerous fronts throughout the season.
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What’s a Ute? The Big 12 Champion
One of these days, what remains of the big-time, East Coast media will discover how truly gifted Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is. It’s hard to be underrated when you’ve won two of the last three Pac-12 titles in a conference where you had to go through Washington, Oregon and USC to do so. Whittingham is one of three coaches to go 13-0 and stay at the same school for more than a decade. The other two: Bob Stoops and Nick Saban.
The Utes failed to three-peat last year due to a spate of injuries that caused Utah to miss the most snaps and starts of any Pac-12 team. Included in that carnage was QB Cam Rising, who missed the entire 2023 season after suffering a knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl, and TE Brant Kuithe, a three-time All-Pac-12 selection who hasn’t played since September 24, 2022 courtesy of a torn ACL and complications. Both return for a seventh season.
The Utes return eight starters to what was an injury-ravaged defense. Their schedule in their Big 12 return season sets up perfectly for a cruise into the conference title game, avoiding Kansas State. A back-to-back gantlet going to Oklahoma State and hosting Arizona is likely the only thing keeping the Utes from running the table.
No worries. They’ll rectify that oversight in the Big 12 title game and cash you a ticket.
Best Bet: Utah to win the Big 12 (+300 at Caesars)
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Their Bark is as Good as Their Bite
OK, this is like bathing in chalk. But chalk looks really good on you here.
Last year, Georgia lost one game at the wrong time—the SEC Championship to Alabama. The Bulldogs took out their frustration at being left out of the playoff party, bludgeoning an offensively neutered Florida State, 63-3, in the Orange Bowl.
This year, they return 10 starters, including preseason All-American QB Carson Beck and standout safety Malaki Starks. Beck is already being discussed as a Heisman Trophy hopeful and No. 1 overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.
Yes, the schedule is tricky in spots, with away games at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. But Georgia’s depth is equaled only by its talent. You’re getting 3-1 odds on a team that is a mortal lock to make the playoffs, 3-1 on a team that’s won two of the last three national titles, and 3-1 on a team atop a very short list of realistic national title contenders.
Make the bet now. Thank us later.
Best Bet: Georgia to win the College Football Playoff (+300 at BetMGM)
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Crimson Tide in Clover
You would have thought the earth spun off its axis, such was the collective psychic seizure that gripped the state of Alabama and college football when iconic coach Nick Saban announced his retirement earlier this year.
It’s not in your DNA, but relax, Crimson Tide faithful. Your administration chose wisely, poaching Kalen DeBoer from Washington. When last we saw DeBoer wearing purple, it was in January’s national title game against Michigan. The Huskies lost that game—and would lose DeBoer shortly thereafter.
In two seasons at Washington, he cleaned up the mess that was the Huskies’ program, winning a Pac-12 title in that conference’s swan song season. Before that, he turned around Fresno State and won three national titles at NAIA Sioux Falls. At Fresno State and Washington, DeBoer is 12-2 against Top-25 teams and 24-6 in one-score games, boasting a 104-12 overall record.
His bona fides established, DeBoer did a yeoman job keeping Alabama’s roster relatively intact, while bringing in several of his own players. The Tide’s schedule sets up nicely for a return trip to the SEC title game, with only road games at LSU and Tennessee and home games against Georgia and Missouri as potential stumbling blocks. Win two of those and take care of the rest and you’re looking at another 10-win season.
The Tide’s win total is 9.5, which pays +135 to the over. That’s certainly a juicy bet. So is +100 (even money) to make the College Football Playoff. But we’re hunting bigger value here, because there’s more talent here floating under the radar.
Best Bet: Alabama to win the SEC (+700 at BetMGM)
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Other bets we like
- UCLA Under 5.5 wins (-165)
- SMU Over 8.5 wins (+120)
- Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel to win the Heisman (+700). Get this early; he was +1,000 in February and the odds continue falling.
- Our sleeper Heisman pick: Cam Rising to win the Heisman (+4,000). It’s worth it to take a flier on one of the longshots. Since 2010, six of the 14 Heisman winners had preseason odds of +2,500 or longer. This includes three (Cam Newton, 2010; Johnny Manziel, 2012 and Jameis Winston, 2013) who were off the board.
