2018 Michigan Wolverines Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

It's easy to hate Jim Harbaugh. There's the hyper-intensity. The self-importance. The smack-talking. And the khakis. But count me among the minority of people that think it is absolutely ridiculous to question whether or not Harbaugh is the right guy to get things going at Michigan.

2018 Wisconsin Badgers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

The Wisconsin Badgers were absolutely and completely screwed out of a spot in the College Football Playoff last year. The Badgers went undefeated (12-0) in the regular season before coming up just six points short against Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. They were then passed over by Alabama, a team that didn't win its division OR its conference championship because it didn't go undefeated despite playing in a weaker conference.

2018 Michigan State Spartans Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

Mark Dantonio heard the haters calling for his head after his disastrous 3-9 season in 2016. And he answered the bell. Boy did he ever answer the bell. Michigan State came roaring back with a 10-3 season in 2017, going 9-4 against the spread and capping it with a 42-17 Holiday Bowl thrashing of Washington State.

2018 Penn State Nittany Lions Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

James Franklin has the Penn State powerhouse humming along. But after losing a once-in-a-generation talent at running back and his top assistant, and with unprecedented talent in the Big Ten East, Franklin's program will be pushed the to max this year as they attempt to get back to the conference title game.

2018 Iowa Hawkeyes Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

In sports betting, particularly in college football betting, stability and consistency are gold. There is so much insanity from week-to-week and season-to-season that I love some measure of predictability. And that's why I enjoy Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

2018 Nebraska Cornhuskers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

Scott Frost is expected to be nothing less than a Savior. The former Nebraska starting quarterback, Frost is back in Lincoln. And he brings with him a lightning-fast offense that helped Central Florida to an undefeated season and a self-proclaimed National Championship, while earning Frost national Coach of the Year recognition.

2018 Northwestern Wildcats Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

Every few years or so Pat Fitzgerald's squad explodes for 10 wins seemingly out of nowhere. Last season was the year. The Wildcats were able to tiptoe through a soft schedule and turn it into a solid campaign, which ended with a bowl win over SEC foe Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.

2018 Minnesota Golden Gophers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

The excitement of Fleck's first season, after a phenomenal campaign at Western Michigan, fizzled pretty quickly. After opening with three straight wins, the Gophers lost at home to Maryland, were blown out at Purdue, and then blew a game against ranked Michigan State. It didn't get any better from there, and Minnesota finished 2-7 in the Big Ten and missed a bowl game for the first time since 2011.

2018 Indiana Hoosiers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

After decades as an afterthought in the Big Ten, Indiana is now a program that teams have to take seriously. The Hoosiers are coming off a bowl-less season after making back-to-back postseason games for the first time since 1990-91. But even in a "down" season they still wound up and took serious swings at Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State, three of the best teams in the league. This team is no longer a pushover.

2018 Purdue Boilermakers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

It didn't take long for Jeff Brohm to prove that he is an up-and-coming star in the coaching ranks. He took over a Purdue program that was a laughingstock under Darrell Hazell and got them to their first bowl game since 2012. In four years under Hazell, Purdue won nine games. Brohm won seven in his first season, including a bowl victory over Arizona.

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

I have been a lifelong Chicago Bears fan. So I will always have a special place for Lovie Smith. But in two years at the helm of the Illinois program, Smith hasn't done anything to engender any confidence that he can be successful at the college level. Smith has gone 5-19 overall the past two years and just 2-16 in league play after a crushing 0-9 Big Ten mark last season.

2018 Maryland Terrapins Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

The Terps have been an afterthought in Big Ten football since joining the league in 2014. They aren't expected to compete, really ever. But even their league "rivals" had to feel bad for what Maryland went through last year after the team was decimated by injuries.

2018 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2018

The Scarlet Knights have won just seven of 34 conference games since joining the Big Ten prior to the 2014 season. They've won just six games since hiring Chris Ash two years ago - with two of those wins coming against FCS opponents - and this year Rutgers will try to throw punches in what is by far and away the best division in college football. They can't compete. No way, no how.

2018 Auburn Tigers Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Auburn feels like it is at a crossroads season. Gus Malzahn's program should feel good about itself coming off a 10-win season and SEC West title. Yet, the Tigers are entering Malzahn's sixth season at the helm. And after watching in-state rival Alabama win yet another National Championship, the War Eagles feel as far away from the Tide as ever before.

2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is in an intriguing situation as he takes over in Starkville. This is Moorhead's first head coaching job at the FBS level. And while most new coaches have some leeway as they ease into stewardship of a new program, Moorhead takes over a talented, experienced Mississippi State team that is poised as a potential sleeper in the SEC West. Expectations are high. And Moorhead's learning curve will be sharp.

2018 Kentucky Wildcats Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

For a basketball school, Kentucky has produced a couple of solid football seasons. After coming heartbreakingly close to bowl games in 2014 and 2015, the Wildcats broke through for back-to-back bowl appearances in 2016 and 2017. Now they will be gunning for their third straight bowl game, something the Wildcats have accomplished only twice in over 100 years of football.

2018 Florida Gators Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Things could not have gone worse for the Gators last season. Ten players, including several starters, were suspended before the season opener. Then their second game was cancelled because of a hurricane. They mustered a three-game winning streak. But then the bottom dropped out with five straight losses, a rash of injuries, several blowouts and a lame duck coach by November. When the dust settled the Gators had just four wins for the second time this decade. And those two four-win seasons were the only two since the 1970s.

2018 Vanderbilt Commodores Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Every now and again Vanderbilt is able to jump up and bite someone and prove that they do belong in the SEC. All things considered, the Commodores have done pretty well for themselves. Because, despite being the weakest program in the league, they've managed to keep from becoming total fodder that just gets run through and embarrassed every week.

2018 Ole Miss Rebels Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Ole Miss is still dealing with the fallout from the Hugh Freeze fiasco. And this year will be their second in a row impeded by a bowl ban. But I have to hand it to coach Matt Luke; he is plowing ahead with his rebuild and reshaping this team into a faster, pass-happy team that could be a potential spoiler in the SEC.

2018 Arkansas Razorbacks Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football
by Robert Ferringo - 8/6/2018

Admittedly, Bret Bielema was always a bit of an odd fit at Arkansas. That said, his unceremonious firing shows that the Razorbacks clearly have unrealistic expectations about where their program should be. Toiling in the SEC West, one of the three or four most difficult divisions in college football, Arkansas is not going to be a perennial championship contender. And after three of four winning seasons and back-to-back bowl wins (in 2014-15) for the first time in school history, Bielema was given his walking papers.