With college football upon us now is the time of year where many people begin to take a look at future plays and they want to get those good odds on who will win the National Championship. Year after year the natty and Heisman winner get a massive amount of tickets and money pouring in on them from bettors trying to cash in on a futures play. This year however there is a wrinkle.
The NCAA will now move to a 12 team playoff and that causes a disruption in the betting strategy. More variables and more unknowns are bad for bettors, especially when it's a vote that will determine not only who gets in, but also seeding. The same can be said for the Heisman trophy and it's voting. With that said it's safer to stick with known commodities. Things like what team will make the playoffs are tempting, but team total wins are always a safer bet, but a lesser payout. Here are the top future plays for this season:
UMass Minutemen Under 4 wins:
I have seen this number at 3 1/2 in places and I still like it, just not as much as this number, so this is a good spot to shop around. The Minutemen are dreadful and that should be the same this year. They have not won more than 3 games since 2019 and they play this season without a true conference yet again. UMass has to run the ball to be effective, and can only do that well when leading, which doesn't happen often. This offensive line was bad last season, but they simply had to play from behind too much for it to improve it's blocking. The defense was the main culprit though. They allowed more than 38 points per game and have 6 games on the schedule they will have no chance to be in. Their winnable games are against Central Connecticut, Wagner, at Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, at Northern Illinois, and UConn. No one can't bank on this team winning road games with that defense which leaves just four potential wins. At worst it's a push and they are already preseason underdogs against UConn.
Nevada Wolfpack Over 2 wins:
The Pack have won just 2 games in back to back years but the new coaching staff will end that this season. The new coaching staff is defensive minded and have some key D line guys to work with right away and the linebackers are the best unit of this entire team. Giving a D-minded head coach and staff with the best position on the field will mean that they will play to that strength. Slow the game down, play a lot of low scoring games, which could lead to some fluke wins on top of everything else. The offensive line was the main issue last season returning just 37 snaps but this season they boosted that through the portal and it should help what was a totally inept offense. A more experienced crew who will get a solid schedule in a middling conference will help, but they also get Georgia Southern and Eastern Washington at home early in the year, both of those games they are already favored by, before heading into their conference schedule where they can pull out a win or two.
Boston College Eagles Over 4 1/2 wins:
I fully believe in Bill O'Brien as a head coach. Here's the thing: I might be on this play even without the coaching change. Thomas Castellanos was fun to watch last season and the dual threat QB should improve one more step here. Last year they almost beat Florida State and while the schedule is slightly tougher they showed me all I needed to see. O'Brien and Castellanos should be good for 6 or 7 wins, easily beating this number. The Eagles have an outside shot at having a massive improvement but once they see a bowl game in sight it should motivate them even more.