It can certainly be worth betting on NCAA Football Over/Under win totals as the season approaches. Below, we’ve selected three situations that we strongly believe offer great value as the 2006 NCAA football season approaches. Take a look at these three win totals below and consider a long-term investment while We point out some factors that add value to the win totals of these teams.
California Over 9.5 Wins
Head coach Jeff Tedford has compiled a solid 33-17 record in his previous four seasons on the Berkley campus, averaging just over eight wins a year. What makes the record even more impressive is that this year’s team may be the best yet.
The team doesn’t have any big superstars, but it is extremely deep and experienced on offense and defense. Cal returns 53 lettermen this year (25 on offense and defense, as well as three on special teams).
The schedule begins and ends with the Bears’ only true tryouts for the season. They open in Knoxville against a Tennessee team looking to bounce back from a very disappointing 2005 campaign. Even a loss to the Volunteers shouldn’t make or break their season, as they won’t get another real test until a Week 11 contest with USC at the Coliseum. They won’t play back-to-back road games until they play Arizona in week 12 after the USC game.
The Bears have been in serious hibernation from the national media in recent years. This year’s team reaching double-digit wins should wake everyone up.
Georgia More than 9 wins
The Georgia Bulldogs have had four straight seasons of 10 or more wins and in 2006 it should be five in a row. Like many of the elite college football teams in the country, the plan each year is simply to reload and that shouldn’t be a problem for the Bulldogs this year. There will be plenty of talent to replace the 22 lettermen lost on last year’s team. The only potential problem is that the players expected to fill in the gaps will be inexperienced.
Fortunately, the Dawgs’ schedule should allow them to get the experience they need by the time they face what should be their first real test in the world’s biggest cocktail party against the Florida Gators. Heading into Cocktail, the only team they’ll face that could present a problem would be Tennessee, and the Vols come to Athens. The Cocktail Party will then begin a three-game series in a row that takes them to Kentucky and Auburn. A tough row to solve, but based on the show’s recent success, winning two out of three of those games shouldn’t be a problem. As a result, getting ten wins this season shouldn’t be a problem either.
Wisconsin under 8 wins
The 2004 and 2005 Wisconsin Badgers won nine and 10 games, respectively. Reaching eight wins in new head coach Brett Bielema’s first year could elevate Bielema to the lofty status achieved by his predecessor, Barry Alvarez.
This year’s Badgers will have to rely more than ever on senior quarterback John Stocco. Gone is running back Brian Calhoun and a talented group of wide receivers. Stocco’s added responsibility may not sit well with the Badgers, as Stocco has been asked not to lose games in the past, now he’ll be looking to win games. The ranks are not completely empty, but they are very young and inexperienced on both sides of the ball.
The schedule didn’t help Bielema in his first season. Wisconsin travels to Michigan, an improved Indiana, Purdue and Iowa. All games they will probably go into as underdogs. The home schedule isn’t much better as visits from Minnesota and Penn State will make the first year very uncomfortable for the new coaching staff.
Earning wins in all four of their non-conference games and then somehow finding a way to win three of the four conference home games may be all that can be hoped for in the first year of the post-Alvarez era. . As a result, six or seven wins will probably be all the Badgers can get this year.