Oddsmakers have released win totals for the 2016 college football season.
I’ll take a look at each power conference and pick the teams with the best chances to earn the over and the under. Here’s my look at two teams in the SEC destined for the under in 2016.
LSU Tigers, over/under 10Â (+100 over/-120 under)
I don’t trust Les Miles. The roster is loaded, but when is that not the case in Baton Rouge? Leonard Fournette is a Heisman front-runner, but in today’s college football world, teams have to pass a little bit to compete for a national championship.
Alabama has shown the way to not having great quarterbacks and still competing on a yearly basis. But their men under center are still competent at the position. I’m not sure if the Tigers have such a player at the helm this season.
Quarterback Brandon Harris will have to be much better for me to jump aboard the Tigers bandwagon.
Overall, the Tigers return 18 starters on a team that was once regarded as a team last season to compete for a national title. By the end of the season, it appeared that Miles was on the way out. However, that didn’t stick and we have at least one more season of Miles’ late-game antics.
Those antics will be on full display, as the Tigers open with a game at Lambeau Field against Wisconsin. Road games at Auburn, Arkansas and Florida will create challenges, as will home contests against Mississippi and Alabama.
There’s too many stumbling blocks en route to 11 wins for me to trust LSU with a win total set so high. — Under
Tennessee Volunteers, over/under 9.5 (+105Â over/-125Â under)
I know at some point I’m supposed to just voluntarily jump on Tennessee’s bandwagon, but I’m not ready to board that runaway train yet.
The expectations continue to escalate for Tennessee, which won nine games, including a bowl blowout against Northwestern. The biggest problem is the Volunteers once again disappointed in the SEC, going 5-3 inside the conference, with its only wins coming against Georgia, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina and Missouri.
Those aren’t exactly teams that lit the world on fire last year.
Oddsmakers and the general public are expecting the Volunteers to take the next step this season. However, I just don’t see it.
On paper, the Volunteers return 18Â starters and will feature a nasty defense. But they just haven’t shown the ability to win those close, big games in the past. And I don’t expect this team to reach 10 wins this season, with road games against Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and Georgia, and home games against Alabama and Florida.
Could they reach nine wins? That’s plausible again. But double-digits seem just out of reach. — Under
