FiveDimes recently released over/under regular season win totals for college football teams.
Here is an early-season look at the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12.
Over/Under
FiveDimes has Arizona at seven wins. Last year, Arizona was 10-2 in the regular season. The line features a more favorable under to betters at +110, while the over is set at -150.
The upside
Arizona is coming off one of its best seasons in school history. And it’s returning its starting quarterback. Oh, and it’s also returning its best defensive player.
So, for gamblers, the upside is that the Wildcats only have to win more than seven games.
This number just screams that oddsmakers seem to think they know something. The juice is heavily weighted toward the over, but seven wins seems low for a team that won double-digit games last year, and has three games right away (UTSA, Nevada and Northern Arizona) that will be wins.
That means quarterback Anu Solomon and linebacker Scooby Wright just need to navigate through five more wins to reach the over.
The downside
This isn’t your dad’s Pac-12 (or 10 for that matter).
These guys are good and it appears they’re only getting better.
The Wildcats have some perceived gimmes, including home games against Washington State and Oregon State, and a road game at Colorado. That would give the Wildcats three more wins to pencil in, barring a fairly major upset.
Getting the next two games will take some work, with home games against UCLA and Utah, and road games against USC, Arizona State, Washington and Stanford. There’s no Oregon on the schedule, but surprisingly in the regular season, the Wildcats have owned the Ducks with two consecutive regular season wins.
Winning on the road with that schedule won’t be easy. And the two home games left over will be toss ups. The Wildcats will likely be favorites in a couple of those contests, but it won’t be by more than a touchdown.
The Verdict
Oddsmakers usually know what they’re doing. On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer. Arizona should win eight games. But this is the Pac-12 and it will be difficult to navigate any schedule in this league, and the Wildcats might be due for a letdown.
However, I just don’t see Arizona winning only six games. The Wildcats should take home a couple of those toss ups, meaning it’s far more likely the Wildcats can get eight rather than only six.
