College Football Handicapping Articles

2012 Texas Longhorns Football Predictions and Big 12 Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 8/1/2012

The last two-plus years have been very hard to take for Longhorns’ fans. In 2009 they played in the National Championship game. They were in tough against Alabama no matter what, but the game ended almost before it started when Colt McCoy was hurt. That loss sent the program into a shocking spiral.

2012 Oklahoma State Cowboys Football Predictions and Big 12 Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 8/1/2012

Last year Oklahoma State lifted their program to a new level. The Cowboys won the Big 12 for the first time, they won the Fiesta Bowl, and they wound up ranked third in the country in the final polls. The trick now, though, is to prove that they can sustain their position as an elite program — and demonstrate that it wasn’t just a product of the talent they had at the time.

2012 TCU Horned Frogs Football Predictions and Big 12 Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 8/1/2012

For years now TCU has been begging for a chance to play with the big boys. They have made a good case that they deserve it as well with two BCS bowl appearances and a convincing Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. Now they are playing with the big boys, though, so they can no longer complain that they aren’t getting any respect. They also can’t enjoy feasting on conference weaklings — the Big 12 is small but fairly mighty.

2012 Stanford Cardinal Football Predictions and Pac-12 Betting Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 8/1/2012

Losing a long-time starting quarterback is almost always a big concern for a team. When that quarterback is a once-in-a-few-generations mega talent who practically walks on water, though, his absence is terrifying for everyone involved — fans, players, coaches and bettors.

2012 Arizona Wildcats Football Predictions and Pac-12 Futures Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 8/1/2012

As a die-hard Michigan fan I know all too well the highs and lows that Arizona fans are destined for over the next few years. Their new head coach, Rich Rodriguez, is unquestionably an offensive genius. When they get glimpses of what can happen with Rich Rod as puppet master it will have them believing anything is possible. But then they’ll face lows that are so unbelievably low that they seem impossible.

2012 Northwestern Wildcats Football Predictions Big 10 Odds
by Adam Richard - 8/1/2012

Northwestern has made it to four consecutive bowl games, but its win total has dropped by a game each year since its nine-win 2008 season. This year, the Wildcats bowl streak will come to an end and their dropping win total will continue.

2012 Big 12 Football Predictions and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 7/31/2012

The Big 12, both collectively and individually, is having a bit of an identity crisis. Oklahoma is trying to keep from becoming the August National Champions for about the fifth year in a row. (In the NFL we call this the San Diego Chargers Effect.) Texas is trying to avoid the 8-4 record that would officially relegate them to also-ran status.

2012 BYU Cougars Football Predictions and Futures Odds
by Alan Matthews - 7/31/2012

Brigham Young’s first season as a football independent was pretty successful in 2011. The Cougars finished 10-3 – their fifth 10-win season in the past six – capped by a victory over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. But in reality, BYU didn’t beat anyone of note. In fact, they only played really three quality opponents in Texas, Utah and TCU and lost all three.

2012 Arkansas Razorbacks Football Predictions and Odds to Win SEC
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 7/30/2012

The 2011 Arkansas team has the rare distinction of being able to say the only two teams it lost to played for the National Championship. Last season Arkansas posted its first 11-win season since 1977 when Lou Holtz was head coach. But its two losses came to its SEC West rivals, Alabama and LSU, and neither game was close; the Razorbacks lost both games by 24 points.

2012 Mid-Major Betting Report: Ohio Bobcats Football Predictions
by Aaron Smith - 7/30/2012

The Ohio Bobcats will be getting plenty of attention at Doc’s Sports this year. The Bobcats have been selected as the team I’ll be following for my mid-major betting report in 2012. All season I’ll be following Ohio beat writers, Twitter feeds, and press conferences from the football program.

2012 Oregon Ducks Football Predictions and Odds to Win Pac-12
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 7/28/2012

The Pac-12 North race appears to be a formality with Oregon head and shoulders ahead of other programs. The Pac-12 South race appears to be the same with nobody expected to challenge USC. Everyone expects the Pac-12 regular season to come to a head on Nov. 3 when the Ducks visit USC. A rematch will be expected in the Pac-12 Championship Game, meaning the November game is likely to decide who will host the conference championship game.

2012 South Carolina Gamecocks Football Predictions and SEC Odds
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 7/28/2012

South Carolina football reached its high-water mark last season not only under Steve Spurrier but, arguably, in program history as the Gamecocks went 11-2 overall, including a 6-2 mark in the SEC and a Capital One Bowl thumping of Nebraska, 30-13.

2012 Utah Utes Football Predictions and Odds to Win Pac-12
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 7/28/2012

Utah more than held its own last season in its first year in a BCS conference. Now in its second season as part of the Pac-12 the Utes are looking to do more than just compete; the team has the talent to become a dark horse contender for the Pac-12 crown.

2012 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Predictions
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 7/26/2012

Notre Dame Football has not enjoyed very much of the “Luck of the Irish” over the past five seasons. The Fighting Irish are looking to change that as they change scenery for their Sept. 1 season opener in Dublin, Ireland, against the Naval Academy.

2012 Louisville Cardinals Football Predictions and Big East Odds
by Aaron Smith - 7/25/2012

Louisville shocked everyone by going 5-2 in the Big East last season. All the preseason magazines had them pegged as a team that would be down at the bottom of the conference. Now, the role for the Cardinals is completely reversed. The preseason prognostications are calling for Louisville to finish at the top of the Big East.

2012 Florida State Seminoles Football Predictions and ACC Betting Odds
by Alan Matthews - 7/24/2012

For the second year in a row, Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State Seminoles are the overwhelming favorites to win the ACC Championship – something the school has done just once since switching the league switched to divisions – as well as the Atlantic Division (FSU has only won that twice). And many believe this club very much could play for the BCS Championship, which no ACC school has done since FSU lost to Oklahoma following the 2000 season.

2012 Kansas State Wildcats Football Predictions and Big 12 Odds
by Aaron Smith - 7/23/2012

In 1989, “Sports Illustrated” labeled Kansas State as “Futility U.” Later that year the Bill Snyder era began. In the span of 10 years, Snyder turned a team that hadn’t won a game for three straight seasons into a team that went 11-0 in 1998. He retired from coaching in 2005, but he came back to the program at the beginning of the 2009 season. In 2011, the team returned to national prominence with a 10-3 record. Bill Snyder was named 2011 National Coach of the Year by several publications.

2012 Ohio State Buckeyes Football Predictions and Big 10 Betting Odds
by Alan Matthews - 7/21/2012

“The” Ohio State University football program is coming off quite a season, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The Buckeyes were a program in disarray heading into 2011 in the wake of the Jim Tressel/Terrelle Pryor mess and with a few key players suspended for the first handful of games. So perhaps it wasn’t a huge surprise that the Buckeyes finished 6-7 (3-5 in Big Ten), their first losing season since 1988, and saw their streak of six straight Big Ten titles end.

2012 Virginia Tech Hokies Football Predictions and Odds to Win ACC
by Aaron Smith - 7/21/2012

Virginia Tech has won the ACC Coastal Division five out of the last seven years. The Hokies have been a model of consistency over the last decade. Since 2004, Virginia Tech has a record of 65-16. The Hokies hold the nation’s longest streak of 10-plus win seasons at eight years. Clearly, this is a program that is doing a whole lot of things right.

2012 Michigan State Spartans Football Predictions and Odds to Win Big Ten
by Aaron Smith - 7/21/2012

Mark Dantonio has done a lot to rebuild the Michigan State football program in his first five years in East Lansing. The Spartans are 44-22 in his time at the helm. Twenty two of those wins have come in the last two seasons. Michigan State football is back on the map, but Dantonio isn’t letting anyone feel like now is a time to relax and feel comfortable.