Four Best Bets for the 2025 College Football Season

The college football season is already underway, with several bite-sized morsels served out this past weekend during the oddly labeled “Week 0,” If you’re wondering about the magnitude of the actual games, know this — the biggest story coming out of Week 0 was the father and brother of Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson getting into a fight WITH EACH OTHER in the streets of Dublin, Ireland, after the Wildcats’ 24-21 loss to Iowa State:

After yesterday’s 24-21 loss to Iowa State in Ireland, Avery Johnson’s dad & brother got into a fight…with each other. Both of them apologized in a joint statement earlier this morning pic.twitter.com/SIlxrmaSkY

— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) August 24, 2025

Week 1 should bring us some actual relevant football action as the top stories, headlined by the top ranked Texans Longhorns visiting defending national champion Ohio State in Columbus in the early window on Saturday afternoon. That is a game where we can truly say “These two teams may see each other again in January.” Should be fun!

You know what else is fun? GAMBLING on college football! Sure, you can go week to week, game to game, but here is my annual article for the more conservative bunch out there, those who want to engage in the “long play” of betting on season win totals. With that in mind, here are my four favorite bets on Season win totals:

BAYLOR OVER 7.5 wins
Baylor was one of the hottest teams in the country down the stretch in 2024, finishing out the season with six straight wins.  You’ll have a pretty good idea if this ticket is going to cash before the first month of the season is over, as the Bears open at home against Auburn and then on the road in Dallas against playoff team SMU. Two weeks later, they play another 2024 playoff team in Arizona State. Sawyer Robertson is an experienced signal caller, which should help tremendously in navigating that mine field. Arizona State, Utah, and Kansas State are on the schedule, but all of those games are in Waco.

NOTRE DAME UNDER 10.5 wins
As a proud 1991 graduate of the small parochial school in northern Indiana, this one hurts to give out, but the fact is this — historically, Notre Dame has not followed up GREAT seasons, seasons with one or zero losses, with another great season. In the last 70 years, it’s happened twice, both under Lou Holtz, back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. As early season schedules go, Notre Dame’s is not murderer’s row, but it’s very treacherous, if you need 11 wins to cash an OVER ticket — at Miami, hosting Texas A&M, at Arkansas, with games against Boise State and USC on the schedule, as well. If the Irish make the playoffs this season, they’ll have earned it. 10-2 may get it done for a playoff berth, but it doesn’t for the OVER. Take the UNDER.

TCU OVER 6.5 wins
We’re just a couple seasons removed from TCU coming within one (massive, murderous, blowout) loss to Georgia from winning a national championship. It’s been very up and down for Sonny Dykes’ crew since then, but 6.5 wins just feels very low for a team with this many playmakers on the defensive side of the football. Finishing above .500 cashes you this ticket, granted the juice is so high on the OVER that you might get 7 wins as the number in some places.

MISSOURI OVER 7.5 wins
Eli Drinkwitz’s team has been one of the better ones in the country over the last two seasons, having won 23 games the last two years. The Tigers have done a nice job in the transfer portal, adding top level talent to a unit that was already pretty good. They need to find playmakers to replace Luther Burden and Theo Wease. Missouri gets lost in the SEC perception shuffle, because their brand isn’t that of Deep South programs like Georgia, Alabama and LSU, but the schedule is conducive to an eight or nine win season, with the swing games against teams like Texas A&M and South Carolina being at home.

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.