Like many conferences, the Sun Belt has a totally different look in 2013. Florida International, Florida Atlantic, MTSU, and North Texas left the conference after last season. Texas State and Georgia State were added to the Sun Belt, so the team now has eight teams.
Conference USA is getting bigger. The conference picked up some new teams and has now gone to an East and West division format. There are 14 teams in the conference as a whole, and each division will have seven teams.
The Mid-American Conference is one of the best “mid-major” football conferences in the nation. Northern Illinois from the MAC went to a BCS bowl last year, and this conference has a history of pulling off upsets against the major conference schools.
The dog days of summer can be a grind for sports bettors. Major League Baseball offers a full card most days, but breaking down a similar looking board day after day can get old fast.
Future bets are a good way to shake things up. We’ve already taken a look at college football win totals, but there are still plenty of lines up on the board.
Here are another 10 win totals worthy of a closer look. Lines courtesy of Bovada.lv
The Razorbacks put up four wins all of last season as they battled through the whole Bobby Petrino/John L. Smith debacle. Brett Bielema solidifying the coaching position should be worth at least two wins. The team shouldn’t have too much trouble getting to 4-0 with an easy slate out of the gate.
The play: Over 5.5 (-140)
Louisville won 11 games a season ago, and this year they face a schedule that’s as soft as a cloud. They won’t meet any resistance whatsoever until their regular season finale at Cincinnati, and even that is a game they’ll be favored to win. Teddy Bridgewater will keep the offense rolling, and the team’s defense returns 11 starters.
The play: Over 10.5 (-140)
The Midshipmen won seven of their final eight regular season games in 2012, with an early season switch to Keenan Reynolds at quarterback paying huge dividends. Reynolds will be manning the controls once again this season, and another eight-win season isn’t out of the question.
The play: Over 6.5 (-115)
The Gamecocks have posted 11 wins in each of the last two seasons, and this year they avoid both Alabama and LSU. The toughest game on their schedule comes against a Georgia team that they’ve beaten each of the past three years. Jadeveon Clowney should put together a Heisman-caliber season.
The play: Over 9.5 (-115)
You don’t have to look hard to find a book that offers Texas as a favorite in each of their 12 contests. 19 starters return from a year ago, and the return of Jordan Hicks and Jackson Jeffcoat should help shore up a defense that struggled last season. The first month of their schedule will be tough, but after that the wins should flow with ease. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The play: Over 9.5 (-135)
The Hoosiers return 19 starters from a team that finished 4-8 a year ago. Kevin Wilson has done a lot of good in his time with the program, but the team’s defense would have to get a lot better in a hurry if they’re going to finish 6-6 or better.
The play: Under 5.5 (+150)
Kansas went 1-11 in Charlie Weis’s first season at the helm a year ago. During his Big 12 Media Day appearance on Monday, Weis called his team a “pile of crap.” I’m not one to argue.
The play: Under 3.5 (-115)
The Spartans finished 6-6 a year ago, and struggled to score points. Now the offense will have to try to function without Le’Veon Bell or Dion Sims. The defense will be good because it always is, but nine wins is asking a lot.
The play: Under 8.5 (-115)
This is certainly the last recommendation a good Catholic boy wants to make, but there’s no denying that the Irish face a tough uphill battle this season. A lot of good fortune befell the Irish last season on their run to 12-0. This season, they’ll do battle without their number 5’s against a much tougher schedule.
The play: Under 8.5 (-115)
The Utes won only five games last season. This year, Oregon and Stanford appear on their schedule, which has been tabbed as one of the toughest in the nation. Kyle Whittingham has done a great job since arriving in Utah, but with only 12 returning starters and a tough schedule, a six-win season just isn’t in the cards for the Utes.
The play: Under 5.5 (-165)
As we continue the agonizingly slow crawl through the summer months toward the start of football season, it’s important to remember that there’s more on the board each day than just baseball. College football win totals offer value to the informed bettor who keeps an eye on the sport during the offseason.
With the NBA and NHL seasons complete, we’ve entered the slow portion of the betting calendar. College football is still nearly two months from getting underway, but lines have been posted, and the alert bettor is always on the lookout for value, no matter the time of year.
There is no conference that has had as much movement of teams as the American Athletic Conference, formerly the Big East. This year the league still has its hooks in last year’s winner, Louisville, while welcoming a host of newcomers from Conference USA.
It has been a bit of a revolving door in the Mountain West in light of all the recent realignment of teams in the conference.
This season, Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawaii will begin play in the MWC after leaving the Western Athletic Conference, but last season’s defending champion, TCU has moved onto the Big 12.
The face of Conference-USA will change dramatically heading into the 2013 football season, with a number of teams rotating in-and-out of the lineup, but for this year things remain the same for the 12-team mid-major.
The Southeastern Conference has won the last six BCS national titles and this year should be no exception with three teams in Bovada’s top-seven favorites to win this season’s championship. The following is a look at the top contenders in the conference along with their current odds to take home this year’s SEC title.
The PAC-10 grew into the PAC-12 last season with the addition of Utah and Colorado. The 12-team conference realigned itself into two divisions, South and North, which added a title game at the end of the season. Oregon took the crown last year by defeating UCLA 49-31 in the first ever PAC-12 Championship.
The Big 12 enters the 2012 football season with the same number of teams it ended last year with, but the entire face of the conference has changed. The perennial Big 12 powers remain intact, but both Missouri and Texas A&M have jumped-ship for the SEC.
The Big Ten expanded to 12 teams in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. This finally allowed the conference to form two separate divisions; the Legends and Leaders.
As the landscape in college football continues to move from six majors to just four power conferences, the Big East is clearly one of the two that finds itself on the outside looking in.
The ACC has not sent a team to the national championship game since Miami made it all the way there in 2002 as still a member of the Big East, but there is at least one school that has a legitimate chance to go that far this season.
The Sun Belt may be the most appropriately named conference in college football. When I hear the words “Sun Belt,” I think of a relaxing, warm sun and happy, carefree times.
