The college football season is just over three months away, but FanDuel has provided us with numerous winning opportunities for the upcoming season. Check out our college football odds series where we provide Utah football over/under overall winning predictions and picks.
The Utes just won a Pac-12 championship and are looking to repeat it in 2023. There are many familiar faces in the Utah roster, but also some massive departures. Utah has been consistently good lately, so there’s a lot of hype surrounding this team. Below we give our overall victory prediction and our selection for the Utes.
Here are the college football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Football Odds: Over/Under Win Total Odds
Over 8.5 wins: +104
Under 8.5 wins: -128
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Why Utah Can Win 8.5 Games
Cameron’s rise. That’s it. Rising led Utah to the Pac-12 title last season and is back again in 2023. In 2022, Rising threw for over 3,000 yards and completed 64.68 percent of his passes. He finished the season with 26 touchdown passes, eight interceptions, and also rushed for 500 yards and six touchdowns. Rising can take it down with his arms and legs, making him incredibly dangerous. Utah lost to UCLA, Oregon and Florida last season, but they’ve beaten USC twice and easily dealt with the rest of their conference opponents thanks to Rising. With Rising once again leading the offense, Utah is in danger of being among the top 10 national teams and becoming Pac-12 champions again.
Judging from their schedule, Utah should be able to beat Weber State, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon State, Cal and Washington. That’s six wins. The other teams they play against are Baylor, Florida, Oregon, Colorado, USC and UCLA. You only have to win three of them. Colorado will be interesting this year and no one knows how good they will actually be, but it’s safe to assume Utah will beat them. Baylor had a bad season last year, but Utah needs to go there. Utah beat USC twice last year, but Caleb Williams will never be an easy duel. Nonetheless, Utah should be able to win at least three of those six games.
Why Utah Can’t Win 8.5 Games
The Utes lost to Dalton Kincaid by draft and he was Utah’s lead with 890 yards. The Utes may return their second leading pass catcher, but losing Kincaid is a smash hit. Rising loves his tight ends, and receivers are his second or third reads. Utah will need a tight end this season to really get to the top. Receivers aren’t bad, but Kincaid took a lot of the pressure off of them in 2022. If tight end play is underperforming in 2023, opposing safeties can help out on the outside and not have to worry about tight end position.
If Utah loses four regular season games, the over is dead. Oregon and UCLA were two of their losses last season and they should be two very tough games again this year. To open the season again, they also play Florida, but that’s at home. However, that doesn’t matter. Florida is going to be a tough game for Utah and they lost to the Gators in the first week of last season. Utah must try to beat Caleb Williams again this year. He will be considered a Heisman favorite and cause a lot of trouble for Utah just like he did in 2022. Those four games can go either way, and if Utah doesn’t play well, they could easily end up on the losing side.
Predicting and Selecting the Ultimate Over/Under Victory in Utah
Cameron Rising is very good and he is poised to lead the Utes to another Pac-12 title. They have talent as a running back and their receivers have potential. Utah has gaps to fill by losing their top tight end and defensive back. Utah will need some help at those two spots, but they have the depth map to get them. It’s hard to bet against such a successful team. The whole season will depend on how they fare as they play Florida and Baylor in the first two weeks of the season. However, having to make a prediction and a pick, I expect the Utes to come in 9-3 and make the over this season.
Final over/under victory in Utah. Overall Prognosis and Selection: Above 8.5 (+104)
