Caleb Wilfinger
After a long and eventful offseason, the 2025 college football season is nearly upon us. The battle for a spot in the newly revamped 12-team College Football Playoff begins on Saturday and won’t stop until we crown a champion in January. Last season’s National Championship Game saw Ohio State dispatch Notre Dame to cap off a dominant postseason run. Who will reach the pinnacle of the sport in this updated playoff format this season? It’s almost time to find out.
With the start of the season just days away and our extensive college football previews for every conference available for your reading pleasure, it’s time to get into my win total best bets for the upcoming campaign. Featuring best bets from 5 different conferences, here are the college football odds and my college football picks for my favorite win totals on the board. Let’s take a look at a few teams you might want to back or fade before the season starts.
College Football Win Total best bet: South Carolina Gamecocks Under 7.5 wins (-155)
Odds available at bet365 at time of publishing
The 2024 season was something of a magical campaign for Shane Beamer and South Carolina, and while the Gamecocks enter this year with a ton of preseason expectations, I’m selling the hype around LaNorris Sellers and company this season. Yes, the Gamecocks could’ve easily beaten LSU and Alabama if not for one or two plays in those games. However, we also have to acknowledge that South Carolina was pretty fortunate in some of its victories, most notably a one-score win over Old Dominion, a win over an injured Oklahoma team and a success over a banged-up Vanderbilt squad. Sellers is certainly an electric, dual-threat weapon at quarterback, but he does have to work on some things in the passing game and he’ll be without 7 starters from last season’s offense.
Even though the offense should be weaker than a season ago, where I really see South Carolina struggling this season is on defense. This was a unit that was one of the best in the nation at getting to the quarterback, and it lost a trio of excellent defensive tackles to the NFL, along with a pair of linebackers and defensive backs. It doesn’t help matters that the Gamecocks also suffered massive losses in the special teams game, with their punter and long snapper off the NFL. To make matters worse, the schedule features games against Clemson, LSU, Texas A&M, Alabama, Ole Miss and Missouri, to say nothing of a Week 1 game against Virginia Tech. Ultimately, my projections have South Carolina as much closer to 6.5 wins than 7.5, so I have no problem laying a bit of juice on the under in this instance.
Find out ALL of our CFB futures picks in ONE PLACE with our handy betting guide
College Football Win Total prediction: Washington Huskies Over 7.5 wins (+110)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
The win total market is one that has gotten shaped pretty heavily over the past month, but one team that is still being a bit undervalued in the Big Ten is the Washington Huskies. A season ago, Jedd Fisch’s team got off to a slow start, before rounding into form in Big Ten play and qualifying for a bowl in his first year as head coach. More importantly, Demond Williams emerged at quarterback over the last few weeks of the campaign, and the young quarterback broke out in a major way against Louisville in the Sun Bowl, posting 374 yards and 4 touchdowns through the air while running for 48 yards and a touchdown as well. The reports from fall camp suggest that Williams has the potential to be a star in this sport, which instantly raises the ceiling for this team.
Joining Williams on the Washington offense is dynamic running back Jonah Coleman, along with a half dozen Power 4 transfers split across the offense line, wide receiver and tight end positions. While I do expect the Huskies to take a step back on defense, there is still plenty of room for optimism if some of their transfers from the likes of Utah and/or Arizona hit. Finally, this is a pretty favorable schedule, with Washington getting home games against Ohio State, Illinois and Oregon, while avoiding Penn State, Indiana, USC and Nebraska. It’s very possible that the Huskies are 5-1 at the halfway point of the season, and I could certainly see Washington pick up its 8th win with potentially a game or two to spare if that is the case.
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College Football Win Total pick: Syracuse Orange Under 5.5 wins (-180)
Odds available at bet365 at time of publishing
This number has taken money all summer long, and for good reason. Following a tremendous season in 2024 in which it won 9 games, Syracuse is set to take a major step back this fall after losing a ton of production from last year’s team. In fact, the Orange lost 7 of their top 10 tacklers, along with their starting quarterback, running back and top 3 wide receivers. It’s safe to say that this offense might take a bigger step back than any other unit in the ACC, and there are major questions to be had defensively as well.
Even if Syracuse had brought back key players from a season ago, there’s no guarantee that the Orange would get anywhere near the 9-win mark again given this absolutely brutal schedule. This is the hardest road schedule of any team in college football, and I have a hard time believing that the Orange will come close to pulling off upsets against any of the following teams: Tennessee, Clemson, SMU, Georgia Tech, Miami and Notre Dame. Assuming Syracuse doesn’t win any of these road games, the Orange would have be a perfect 6-0 at home to clear this number, and there are easily 5 loseable games on this home slate. Even factoring in the juice, I would still recommend a wager on the under.
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College Football Win Total prediction: San Jose State Spartans Over 7.5 wins (+110)
Odds available at DraftKings at time of publishing
Even after losing all-world wide receiver Nick Nash following a historic season in 2024, San Jose State is in a great position to make a run at a Mountain West title this fall. It all starts on offense, as quarterback Walker Eget is back to run a unit that took noticeable strides forward with him at the controls after he was inserted into the starting lineup midway through last season. Eget will benefit from having Floyd Chalk in the backfield, along with a trio of Power 4 wide receiver transfers and an offensive line that returns 4 starters.
Defensively, the Spartans are set to bring back 6 starters, to go along with transfers from Utah, USC and Washington. The run defense should take major steps forward this fall, as it was a weakness for this team a season ago. But the real star of this year’s San Jose State team is the schedule, as the Spartans hit the lottery in that department. San Jose State has the fortune of avoiding Boise State and UNLV, while also getting to host Air Force, Hawaii and Fresno State. There is some difference of opinion in the market on the Spartans, but I firmly believe this team can win 8+ games and make a run at the confernece title game. With that in mind, I gladly took over 7.5 regular seasons wins at plus money.
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College Football Win Total pick: Tulane Green Wave Under 8.5 wins (-150)
Odds available at DraftKings at time of publishing
While Tulane has been a very successful program historically, I don’t have much confidence in the Green Wave to reach the same heights they did in recent seasons. For starters, head coach Jon Sumrall’s group only returns 5 total starters from last season’s squad, and the offense is going through a complete overhaul following the exit of Darian Mensah and Makhi Hughes, along with a bevy of wide receivers and a couple of pieces on the offensive line. Additionally, there was the insertion of quarterback Jake Retzlaff post-spring following his dismissal from BYU, a move that suggests Tulane doesn’t have much confidence in its quarterback room.
As for the defense, it’s also a complete overhaul for defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato, who will also bring in a whopping 7 transfers to fill in the gaps left by the mass exodus following last season. That doesn’t bode well for a unit that was fairly inconsistent a season ago. Lastly, the schedule is very difficult at the start, with games against Northwestern, South Alabama, Duke and Ole Miss to open the campaign, to say nothing of games against Army, UTSA and Memphis once conference play rolls around. I confidently bet Under 8.5 wins on Tulane earlier in the summer, and I’d still recommend that wager before Week 1.
