College Football Handicapping Articles

Utah Utes Odds to win the Pac-12 with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/25/2017

There are some things that just don't make any sense in the world of college football coaching. Total mysteries. For the longest time the biggest mystery was why Chris Petersen stayed at Boise State for as long as he did. Or why Gary Patterson has never left TCU. The biggest current question, though, is why someone hasn't emptied a sizable bank account to lure Kyle Whittingham out of Utah. The guy has been a coaching machine there for 13 years now, consistently overperforming against expectations even as a poor cousin in the Pac-12.

UCLA Bruins Odds to win the Pac-12 with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

I grew up where I still live - western Canada. College football isn't particularly big here. Not much outside of hockey is. I landed on my Michigan fandom early and randomly. At my first real job I met one of the few other college football fans in Calgary. We remain friends, bonded by that connection. The problem, though, is that the poor bugger landed on being a random UCLA fan as randomly as I landed on Michigan. And he is as loyal to his adopted team than I am. Poor bastard.

College Football First Week Lines with Expert Analysis and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

The college football season gets underway on Aug. 26 with four games, but don't be fooled - nothing actually matters until the next week. As I sit and write this we are a week away from the first games and nine days away from the best games. It's early enough, then, that the public isn't paying a lot of attention yet. It's a good time, then, to look at the numbers that are posted for any interesting value (odds are from BetOnline, and all games take place on Saturday, Sept. 2 with the exception of the last one, which is on Sunday, Sept. 3):

2017 NCAA Football Season Win Totals Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

We looked at college football win totals soon after they came out in the spring. As we sit here on the dawn of the season, though, we know more, and we can at least theoretically make a more accurate search for value. That's the theory, anyway. We'll draw from the numbers posted at BetOnline as we look for the few to consider and the many to avoid:

NCAA Football Betting Advice: Off-the-Radar Quarterbacks to Bet On
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

Every year in college football there are quarterbacks that no one is talking about at the start of the season that define the season, and the betting success, of their team by the end of the year. Josh Allen of Wyoming, for example, was an unknown guy who had played one drive before missing the rest of 2015 with an injury at the start of last year, and now he goes into this season as a prospective first overall pick in the next year's draft - and would likely have been a Top 10 pick last year if he had opted for the draft. He's far from alone - Johnny Manziel went from a three-star recruit that Texas, his dream school, didn't want to Heisman winner as a redshirt freshman. And on and on. The more of these types of guys we can pick out before the season starts, the better the chances we have of finding solid betting success.

Michigan State Spartans Odds to win the Big Ten with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

As a Michigan fan, I obviously don't love Michigan State. I like to hate them. Lately, though, I feel myself pitying them more, and it's tough to hate someone you pity. I'll find a way, but it won't be easy. Last year they started the season ranked, climbed as high as eighth, and wound up 3-9. It really takes something for any major conference team to go 3-9, never mind one that goes into the season seen as a viable contender.

Colorado Buffaloes Odds to win the Pac-12 with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/24/2017

It was a dream regular season for the Buffaloes last year. Coming off a 4-9 season in 2015, including 1-8 in the Pac-12, no one expected too much of the program. Few would have seen them getting even close to .500 in the conference, never mind the division winning 8-1 record they did amass. It was a heck of a season. And now some big changes - in both personnel and coaching - face the team. Now coach Mike MacIntyre, a very good coach in his fifth year with the program, has to prove that he can keep the program moving forward despite those changes.

Wyoming Cowboys Odds to win the Mountain West Conference with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/23/2017

Sports are weird sometimes. Josh Allen, Wyoming's quarterback, could likely have been a Top 10 pick in the draft last year - probably the second QB off the board after Mitch Trubisky - if he had opted to go into the draft. Instead, he chose to stay for one more year in Wyoming. He has a prototypical NFL QB build but far from the prototypical path to the top of the draft. He had no interest in high school so headed to Junior College.

College Football Betting: Handicapping Advice for Neutral-Site Games
by Trevor Whenham - 8/18/2017

The first couple weeks of the college football season are glorious, above all else, because they exist after a long time without the greatest of sports. Beyond that, though, what makes them somewhat unique is that they are littered with neutral-site games - a phenomenon much more rare later in the season. Most of the neutral-site games are cash grabs and gimmicks, but they exist, and they are usually pretty good matchups that we need and want to pay attention to as bettors.

TCU Horned Frogs Odds to win the Big 12 with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/10/2017

Gary Patterson had the misfortune of taking over as TCU head coach the year after hall-of-famer LaDainian Tomlinson left town. Even worse, he had been the team's defensive coordinator up to that point, so he had been charged with the impossible task of trying to figure out how to stop LT in practice. Despite that, Patterson has had a remarkable career at TCU, amassing an incredible 149-54 record, twice winning National Coach of the Year, and finishing second overall after a Rose Bowl win propelled his 2010 team to 13-0.

Iowa Hawkeyes Odds to win the Big Ten with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/10/2017

With Bob Stoops retiring unexpectedly in June, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is now just one of two coaches who was hired by his current team in the previous century. Bill Snyder is the other, but Ferentz has one up on him because Snyder retired in 2005 before returning in 2009. Ferentz is 147-113 since starting in 1999, with two Big Ten titles and an appearance in the Big Ten title game in 2015. He isn't consistently good, but every so often he gets things lined up and his teams compete. So is this going to be one of those competitive years? Short answer - probably not. Longer answer:

Northwestern Wildcats Odds to win the Big Ten with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/10/2017

Pat Fitzgerald, entering his 12th season at Northwestern, is widely praised and respected. I'm not entirely sure I understand it. I get that Northwestern isn't a top-tier school on par with Michigan or Ohio State in the Big Ten, but they are on the outskirts of one of the great cities of the world, they have a fancy new practice facility under construction, and they should just plain be better than they are. And Fitzgerald should have more success, too - he has won seven or fewer games in seven of his 11 seasons, including last year.

Houston Cougars Odds to win the American Athletic Conference with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/10/2017

It's amazing how one thing can change a program so dramatically. After a 13-1 season in 2015, Houston opened last year by beating Oklahoma and then rolling through four other mismatched opponents. It seemed like the world was their oyster. At the same time the Big 12 was seriously pondering expansion, and it seemed all but certain that the Cougars would be making the move. Ultimately, though, the teams in that conference were concerned more about how including Houston would make it harder for them to recruit than they were about making the Big 12 as good as they possibly could, so they rejected Houston and the option of expansion for now.

Nebraska Cornhuskers Odds to win the Big Ten with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/9/2017

Mike Riley was a bit of a surprising hire at Nebraska, but after a dismal 6-7 first year his 9-4 season last year, including a 6-3 Big Ten mark, was very solid. This year, though, will likely not be nearly as strong. Backers and fans of the team will have to remind themselves consistently that this is a rebuilding year and that Riley is looking to establish a strong foundation for the future. There will be suffering involved with watching this team at times this year. The question, though, is how far they will fall and how competitive they can still be despite the retooling on the fly that they are forced into.

Florida Atlantic Owls Odds to win Conference USA with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/9/2017

Lane Kiffin is like a cockroach. So many times he has taken a step that you were sure would be the last of his professional career, yet every time he pops up and funds new life somewhere. It hasn't always been a smooth path, though, and you certainly can't argue that the career of a guy that has coached USC and the Raiders is on an upward trajectory still now that he is at Florida Atlantic. You can be relatively sure of two things that now that Kiffin is in charge - Florida Atlantic football will be a lot less boring than it has been, and sooner or later things aren't likely to end well with Kiffin. They never do.

Appalachian State Mountaineers Odds to win the Sun Belt with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/9/2017

The Appalachian State Mountaineers won three straight FCS national titles starting in 2005, but that's not what everyone knows them best for. After winning their second title, they opened their 2007 season as very heavy underdogs in Ann Arbor against fifth-ranked Michigan. As a very big Michigan fan, the game worried me so little that I went golfing instead of watching.

College Football Betting Advice: Teams that Could Exceed Expectations
by Trevor Whenham - 8/7/2017

Preseason rankings in college football are notoriously difficult to make and almost never hold completely true. There are just too many unknowns. What is interesting to bettors is not the things that the rankings likely have right - like Alabama at the top, for example - but what they are not right about. Teams that should outperform their rankings, those that aren't ranked but should be, and those that are too highly regarded - all of those provide real opportunities to profit for bettors.

Expert College Football Handicapping: Toughest Teams to Judge
by Trevor Whenham - 8/7/2017

There are some college football teams that are very easy to judge. Alabama and Ohio State, for example, are both going to be very good and will only be challenged a small handful of times. And there are teams that clearly seem to be getting more hype than they probably should be at this time because of who they are (I'm looking at you, USC). What is tougher for handicappers, though, and what we want to deal with here, are the teams that are the hardest to judge.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Odds to win Conference USA with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/7/2017

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are very heavy favorites to win Conference USA. That's a remarkable feat for a team that has a new coach and staff. Jeff Brohm parlayed his success at Western Kentucky into the head job at Purdue - though a big part of me wonders if being at a hopeless Big Ten program is really an upgrade. Mike Sanford Jr., who was previously the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and then Boise State, where he also played QB back in his day, is the new man in charge. If a 35-year-old first-time head coach is this heavily favored then the team must really be one to contend with.

Boise State Broncos Odds to win the Mountain West Conference with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/7/2017

The Broncos have been so good for so long that we just expect it from them. They are not always great but are so wildly consistent. They have won 12 conference championships since 1999, they have won at least eight games every year since then, they won two BCS bowl games, and have finished ranked in the Top 18 of the final polls 10 times since 2002. They just keep on keeping on, never seeming to have to reload no matter which players graduate and which coaches leave. It's remarkable. And while they aren't heading into this season with the best team we have ever seen from them, they are still positioned to add yet another conference title. The train keeps rolling.