What win totals appear to be the best bets and the best picks against the spread going into the 2022 college football season?
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Ahhhhh, the win totals. They’re the most fun of all the possible investments, giving you a season-long team or five to follow and care about.
There are a whole slew of factors going into figuring out the win totals. Obviously, the schedule is almost everything, but where are the 50/50 games that could and should go one way or another? How’s the backup quarterback situation in case disaster strikes? What are the smartest calls historically?
Check out our team-by team predictions for every game to go along with our 10 Best Win Total Predictions of 2022 – remembering that this is for the regular season only. Bowl games and conference championships aren’t a part of these.
CFN Predictions of Every Game
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC
AAC | C-USA | Ind | MAC | M-West | Sun Belt
CFN Preview 2021: All 131 Teams
2022 Bowl Projections | Preseason Rankings 1-131
Click on each team for the season preview
10. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State
Win Total 10.5 or 11 or 11.5
ATS PICK It depends
The “it depends” call isn’t a cop-out. It really does depend on where you’re finding the win total for the four powerhouses coming into 2022, because if you’re getting Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and/or Ohio State at 10.5 on Draft Kings, over is a solid call. If you’re getting those four – or any of them – at 11 elsewhere, you go under.
And if you get any of the four at 11.5, for the love of all things holy and true … UNDER, UNDER, UNDER. If a team goes 12-0 and you lose the under on 11.5, you tip your cap and move on.
It’s asking for way too much for any team to go unbeaten, so if you’re getting 11, going under will most likely come through, or at worst you should get a push. 10.5, though …
Clemson won nine regular season games last year without an offense. The D should be national title-good, the O will absolutely be better, and outside of the trip to Notre Dame, don’t expect to get this team as an underdog anywhere else.
Ohio State’s schedule isn’t a layup, but the talent level is so much stronger than everyone else in the Big Ten. Alabama losing two regular season games is always on outlier under Nick Saban, and don’t get into a twist over all of the lost talent at Georgia. The Dawgs aren’t going unbeaten, but it’ll take something big for them to lose twice.
And finally … the quarterbacks.
Forgive factoring in injuries – and how gross it is to potentially profit off the speculation of a guy getting hurt – but the backup quarterback situations aren’t as strong as they used to be at at Alabama and Ohio State in a transfer portal era. If Bryce Young or CJ Stroud go down for any stretch of time, it’s going to be a problem for the Tide or Buckeyes, respectively, to get to 11.
And then there’s the other side …
9. UConn, ULM, UMass
Win Total 2.5
ATS PICK Under on UMass and UConn, over on ULM
UConn might be better coached with Jim Mora Jr. taking over, and UMass will find a D under new head man Don Brown, but it’s going to be a major struggle for either to get to three wins.
UConn can beat Central Connecticut State, but the winnable FIU game is on the road. It’s going to be a double-digit underdog against everyone else, except at home against …
UMass should be able to beat Stony Brook, but that’s not a given. It can beat New Mexico State at home, but overall the Minuteman talent level needs to be night-and-day better to be anything less than a massive dog against everyone else.
Be a little more leery of ULM at 2.5. It should beat Nicholls State, and it can beat Texas State, but it’s going to take a big upset to get to three wins. There’s going to be one somewhere, but you’ll have to sweat it out.
So … the call is still under on both UMass and UConn, and like the over on ULM.
On to the 2.5 Power Five teams …
8. Arizona, Kansas, Vanderbilt
Win Total 2.5
ATS PICK Over
Just like it’s really, really hard for a superpower to go over on 11, it’s really, really hard for one of the also-ran Power Five programs to go under on 3.
I BEGGED my friends last year to go crazy on Kansas over on 1.5. It barely got by South Dakota, couldn’t get another win into mid-November, and then came the Texas Miracle – a 57-56 overtime victory.
Is Kansas going to be favored this year against any Big 12 team? No. Is it going to pull off an upset somewhere? Almost certainly. It’ll probably beat Tennessee Tech, and the home game against Duke is more 50/50 than you might think.
Is Vanderbilt going to win an SEC game? It didn’t last year, and it didn’t in 2020. However, it’ll beat Elon, it should at least split the road games against Hawaii and Northern Illinois – but it could win both and you’re cashing out in mid-September. You’re an SEC team, Vanderbilt – act like it.
Arizona is the one to really like at 2.5. It was in a total rebuild last year, but it played better than the 1-11 record would suggest – it couldn’t close. Yes, the lone win came over a Cal team decimated by COVID, but there’s talent help from the transfer portal, the overall play should be better, and …
Okay, there’s not a sure-thing win considering the opener is at San Diego State, Mississippi State is coming to Tucson, and you’re crazy to assume a win over North Dakota State. Go over anyway.
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7. North Carolina State
Win Total 8.5
ATS PICK Over
There’s a solid chance NC State is the second-best team in the ACC this season behind Clemson.
If everyone is healthy, the linebacking corps might be the best in the country, Devin Leary is a terrific veteran quarterback, and the schedule isn’t all that bad.
Factor in a loss at Clemson, and there will be at least one other defeat in the ACC, but the non-conference slate isn’t all that bad – even if you’re right to be scared of the opener at East Carolina and home date against Texas Tech.
Last year’s team got to nine wins, and this version is more talented and should be even better.
6. Louisiana Tech
Win Total 4.5
ATS PICK Over
The 2021 rebuilding year was blip for a program that hadn’t suffered a losing season since 2013. It went 3-9 last year – that’s about to change.
In comes new head coach Sonny Cumbie – who could’ve easily have been the head man at Texas Tech – and here comes the upgrade in offensive firepower.
The other key aspect is the loss of Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss from Conference USA to the Sun Belt. All of a sudden, the conference slate looks a whole lot easier, and the team is a whole lot better.
Think of it like this, there are three likely losses – at Missouri, at Clemson, at UTSA – and nine 50/50 games. The Bulldogs will win at least five of them.
Stephen F. Austin should be a win, but that’s not a total given. UTEP, Rice, at FIU, Middle Tennessee, at Charlotte, at North Texas, at Charlotte, UAB – any or all of those could be wins.