This article is part of our College Football Picks series.
College Football Bets: 2024 College Football Win Totals Wagers for Big 12
The 2024 NCAA Football regular season is fast approaching, and it's time to finalize those futures wagers. Teams are starting to make late announcements on position battles from the spring and summer, and portal transfers are fully folded in. We're getting a little bit better of an idea of who will be good, and who might struggle out of the gates.
The college football landscape changed dramatically over the offseason, and the Big 12 was certainly affected. In fact, the league goes from 12 teams to 16, as Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah come over from the gutted Pac-12 Conference. It will take some getting used to, but a lot of football fans are looking forward to these moves the most.
We just had a season of transition in 2023, when BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF were folded into the league, so rivalries are continuing to form. Eventually, everything will - or at least, should - settle in.
Heading into the exciting 2024 campaign, let's make some money together with these exciting win total futures bets!
RotoWire has up-to-the-minute college football win totals for every team with kickoff around the corner. Check out the best sportsbook promos to jumpstart your college football betting this season, like the offer available with the Caesars Sportsbook promo code.
Colorado Buffaloes Win Totals (5.5 at BetMGM, DraftKings)
The Buffaloes got off to a hot start last season, taking advantage of a light non-conference schedule. The luster started to rub off in the Pac-12 conference slate, and things aren't going to go a whole lot better in the Big 12 for head coach Deion Sanders.
QB Shedeur Sanders is a talented player, and there is no denying that, and WR Travis Hunter, who also plays defensive back, is an outstanding option. However, this was a bad defense which is going to need a lot more than flashy slogans, memes and transfer portal additions.
Colorado did add defensive coordinator Robert Livingston from the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals to try and whip that group into shape. But it remains to be seen if there will be cohesiveness, at least initially. That's kind of the way of things all over college football, though. Portals need to come in and jell in a hurry, and that is easier said than done.
The non-conference portion of the schedule is the same as last season, but with a twist. CU has road games at Nebraska and Colorado State, and those teams should be much improved. It doesn't see its first ranked team, at least in terms of the preseason Top 25, until Oct. 12 when K-State pays a visit, but five of the final seven teams on the schedule have preseason rankings. It could be a decent start, followed by a tough finish, similar to 2023.
Is this a bowl-eligible team? It wouldn't be a shock, but the lean is four or five wins, which would still be an improvement. It would have been nice if CU could miss Utah, but at least it gets the Utes in Boulder.
Colorado Win Totals Best Bet
- UNDER 5.5 WINS (+110 at BetMGM or DraftKings)
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Kansas State Wildcats Win Totals (9.5 at BetMGM)
The good news for the Wildcats is that they have just three teams on the schedule in the preseason Top 25, but the bad news is that they have a lot of difficult road games.
In addition to conference road games at BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State and West Virginia, the Wildcats must also travel to Tulane in the non-conference portion of the schedule. It's a little ambitious for this team to expect to challenge for 10 victories and just two regular-season losses. I love the Under here, and it wouldn't be shocking to see two or more losses by the end of September if things go a certain way.
K-State did suffer three conference setbacks by just one score in 2023. QB Avery Johnson no longer has to look over his shoulder with QB Will Howard transferring out to Ohio State. It's his show, but I expect the offense to take a slight step backward with WR Phillip Brooks and TE Ben Sinnott having moved on.
The good news is that the defense has seven starters back from a pretty solid unit in 2023. That D is led by LB Austin Moore, who could be the best in the league.
Still, the schedule is what should hold K-State back. There would be nothing to be ashamed about with just three losses, and that still might be good enough to get this team to the Big 12 title game.
Kansas State Win Totals Best Bet
- UNDER 9.5 WINS (-135 at BetMGM)
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Utah Utes Win Totals (9.5 at ESPNBet)
We saw newcomers BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF each struggle to gain a foothold in their initial seasons in the Big 12 in 2023. Only UCF had any modicum of success, and it ended up losing seven games total after a Gasparilla Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. All four teams ended up with six or fewer regular-season wins in their first Big 12 campaigns.
So, why will Utah be any different? Well, Utah IS different. This is a team which welcomes back QB Cameron Rising, as well as TE Brant Kuithe. Both are NFL prospects, and while each are coming back from significant injuries, it gives the Utes a running start. Rising will operate behind, perhaps, the best O-line in the league, too. And, the Utes also brought in WR Dorian Singer from USC, while the tailback cupboard is anything but bare with Micah Bernard and Jaylon Glover shining in the backfield.
Defense is where Utah has had most of its success, however, winning two straight Pac-12 titles from 2021-22. The Utes were able to excel in an offense-first Pac-12 last season, turning the temperature down with a suffocating D which allowed just 19.3 points per game. That's impressive given how much teams aired the ball out early and often. The team has eight starters back from that group, and they added plenty of reinforcements through the portal. Expect defense to continue ruling the day in SLC.
What makes Utah a great play, besides the tremendous personnel on both sides of the ball, is the fact it faces just two teams in The Associated Press' Top 25, Arizona and Oklahoma State. It has trips to Arizona State, Colorado, Houston and UCF, which could be daunting, but this has the looks of a 10-win team, with perhaps the potential of even more.
Utah Win Totals Best Bet
- OVER 9.5 WINS (-145 at ESPNBet)
West Virginia Mountaineers Win Totals (7 at Caesars)
While you can get a total of Over 6.5 wins at most shops, I'm rather bullish on the Mountaineers.
West Virginia rolled up nine victories last season, and the Mountaineers have 13 starters back in Morgantown from that squad. There is no reason to believe there is going to be a giant backslide.
It all starts with QB Garrett Greene, who managed 264.8 total yards per game in 2023 in a breakout campaign. He'll be operating behind a solid offensive line which returns three starters, too. When Greene isn't tossing the ball down the field to emerging stud WR Traylon Ray, he has RBs CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White to rely upon. The Mountaineers will be able to hang with anyone in the conference from an offensive perspective.
Defensively, though, West Virginia must be a little better. It did it with smoke and mirrors in 2023, winning the nine games despite ranking 10th in the league in pass efficiency. The good news is that the portal helped head coach Neal Brown shore up a lot of areas on that side of the football, and expectations are that West Virginia will be much more stingy defensively. It all starts with S Aubrey Burks and LB Trey Lathan, two anchors.
The schedule is a little more daunting than it was last season, starting with a top-10 opponent in Penn State at home, as well as the "Backyard Brawl" at Pittsburgh in mid-September. There aren't many breaks outside of FCS foe UAlbany on the non-conference slate.
West Virginia has five teams in the AP Top 25 on the schedule in the first eight games. However, it should be noted that the Mountaineers aren't far from being a ranked team themselves, and the Mountaineers miss the likes of Colorado, Utah and TCU. At plus-money, seven wins or more is a good bet, although your wager might not be decided late into November. If you're worried about a push on seven wins, BetMGM is your next best odds at Over 6.5 (-120).
West Virginia Win Totals Best Bet
- OVER 7 WINS (+110 at Caesars)
Big 12 Win Totals Recap
- Colorado UNDER 5.5 WINS (+110 at BetMGM, DraftKings)
- Kansas State UNDER 9.5 WINS (-135 at BetMGM)
- Utah OVER 9.5 WINS (-145 at ESPNBet)
- West Virginia OVER 7 WINS (+110 at Caesars)
