FiveDimes recently released over/under regular season win totals for college football teams.
Here is an early season look at the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC.
Over/under
FiveDimes has Tennessee at 7.5 regular season wins. Last year, the Volunteers were 6-6 in the regular season. The line features a better return on the under at +110, while the over is at -140.
The upside
Experts are bullish on the Volunteers.
It’s hard to blame them. Tennessee returns 17 starters, including quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
Dobbs will be the main attraction on offense, which includes a far more experienced offensive line than last year. The running backs and wide receivers are playmakers, and the defensive line will be one of the better units in college football with the return of Derek Barnett and Curt Maggitt.
The secondary also should be dominant with several returning starters.
In addition to the roster, the Volunteers will avoid Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State and LSU.
The downside
Tennessee should go undefeated, right?
Not so fast.
The Volunteers looked great in its bowl game last season against Iowa, to finish the season above .500. Despite dominating the Hawkeyes, the blowout isn’t as good as what many want to believe based on the Hawkeyes underachieving last season.
And Tennessee didn’t exactly blow by teams last year, and suffered a few bad losses against Mississippi, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma.
Sure, the expectations are higher with all the returning starters, but those starters weren’t exactly helping to win the SEC East last season. The nation will find out plenty about the Volunteers and Dobbs in the season’s second game at home against Oklahoma. The Sooners and Volunteers should be better than last season, so it should be a good barometer of which team has the best opportunity at competing for a conference championship.
Keep an eye on the Volunteers from Sept. 26 to Nov. 7. That’s the meat of the schedule, with games at Florida, Alabama and Kentucky, and home games against Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina. Kentucky, Arkansas and Florida should be improved, and Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama have been consistently good for years.
The verdict
There’s no shortage of confidence surrounding the Volunteers.
The Volunteers should be heavy favorites in four games and slight favorites in three games. The rest of the games, with possibly the exception with a road game against Alabama, should be toss-ups.
For bettors looking for the over, there’s plenty of opportunities to win. The return is far worse, but the easiest pick is to take the Volunteers to reach eight wins. The opportunities will be there, making the over the most reasonable pick.
