FiveDimes recently released over/under regular season win totals for college football teams.
Here is an early-season look at the Oregon State Beavers in the Pac 12.
Over/under
FiveDimes has Oregon State at four regular season wins. Last year, the Beavers went 5-7 in the regular season. The line features a more favorable over for bettors at -110, while the under is at -130.
The upside
In one of the strangest coaching moves of the year, Oregon State was able to lure Gary Andersen away from Wisconsin after Mike Reilly left for Nebraska.
Andersen has shown the ability to win football games and he has accomplished that feat on the West Coast with Utah State.
However, it may take a little while before the winnings picks up at Oregon State.
On the positive side, the Beavers will return all five of their offensive lineman and will surround their new quarterback with veteran wide receivers and running back.
Andersen is no stranger to running the football, as was the case at Wisconsin. Look for a strong running game to guide the Beavers this season.
The downside
Where do we start? Could it be having to replace starting quarterback Sean Mannion? Or maybe its the two returning starters on defense? Possibly, it doesn’t have anything to do with the Beavers’ team. It might have more to do with the conference that Oregon State calls home.
There’s no clear-cut answer to who will replace Mannion. The three possible options are freshmen. The defense will have so many holes to replace that it’s impossible to pinpoint an area that is in need of the most work. And that defense will have to line up against some of the best offenses in the country on a weekly basis.
The Beavers will travel to Michigan, Arizona, Washington State, Utah, California and Oregon. There’s likely not a game in their road slate that they will favored in, other than possibly at Washington State.
There are some winnable home games, though. Dates against Weber State, San Jose State and Colorado could translate into wins. However, outside of those games, there may not be a game where Oregon State is expected to win, with games against UCLA, Washington and Stanford.
The verdict
Right now, it’s safe to call Oregon State a favorite in three games this season, with one of those being a home game against Colorado. The Buffaloes should be much improved this season and by the time the Beavers play Colorado, oddsmakers may have a different take on the match-up.
It’s not usually a safe bet to take the Beavers at three wins or less. Oregon State has won more than four games in 16 of the past 17 seasons. History should tell bettors to take the over.
However, this is a different era, and although Andersen has shown the ability to win right away at schools, the Pac-12 is far more difficult than any leagues he’s coached in before. This will be a rocky start to the Andersen era with the Beavers winning less than four games.
