Best Bets This College Football Season 2022

These are the best bets this college football season. 

Key Points 

– Bettors can find a ton of great bets this college football season. 

– Bettors should look beyond popular favorites and find betting value. 

Best Bets This College Football Season 

The 2022 college football season is underway and fans and bettors alike are ecstatic. After months of waiting, the one thing that brings great joy - and hopefully large amounts of cash - is back. 

While you were away in the offseason, a number of things happened. All will have an effect on how the new season plays out. As usual, bettors will be looking for their best bets this season. Here are just a few. 

MUST READ > USING BETTING TRENDS FOR GREATER SUCCESS 

Take Syracuse Over 5 Wins 

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers went 10-3 in 2018, but the Orange have struggled with just 11 wins since. This year, Babers welcomes back the most underrated running back in the country - Sean Tucker. 

As a freshman last season, Tucker totaled 1,751 yards and 14 touchdowns. The Orange also brought in offensive coordinator Robert Anae who helped Virginia put up some eye-opening numbers last season.  

The Orange has tons of experience on defense and the schedule is just right. Connecticut and Wagner offer up two wins. Louisville at home in the season opener is another possibility. Look for Babers and company to pull an upset or two as well. 

Syracuse Over 5 wins is one of many best bets this season. The college football betting trends are there to support it. 

Mississippi State OVER 6.5 Wins  

It’s the perfect Mike Leach recipe. His first two teams at Texas Tech went 14-11 before a 9-5 season in his third year. At Washington State, Leach went 12-25 before a nine-win season in his fourth year.  

The Bulldogs are 11-13 in Leach’s first two seasons. QB Will Rogers is back for his third season as a starter. Mississippi State will be favored in all four of its non-conference games - Memphis, Arizona, Bowling Green, and East Tennessee. 

Third-year starting quarterbacks for Leach have won at least nine games in their third season. That’s why the Bulldogs win total is one of this season’s best bets. 

Best Bets - FCS Over FBS Power 5 

Last season, four FCS teams upset Power 5 programs. 

• Montana beat Washington 13-7 

• East Tennessee State beat Vanderbilt 23-3 

• Jacksonville State beat Florida State 20-17 

• Northern Arizona beat Arizona 21-19 

NCAAF bettors know it will happen again in 2022. There are 54 games this season where an FCS team plays a team from a Power 5 conference. One of the best opportunities for a win comes in Week 1 of the season when South Dakota State plays at Iowa. 

The Jackrabbits are the No. 2 FCS  team in the country. They have been to 10 straight FCS playoffs and beat Colorado State last season. Iowa has lost to an FCS program before. The Hawkeyes were ranked No. 13 in 2016 when FCS power North Dakota State went to Kinnick Stadium and won 23-21. 

Other opportunities include North Dakota State, which plays at Arizona in September. Tennessee Tech plays at Kansas and Montana State is at Oregon State.  

The Heisman Trophy 

C.J. Stroud begins the 2022 season as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Stroud is a +200 favorite ahead of last year’s winner Bryce Young who is listed at +350. The Alabama quarterback will have a whole new receiving corps. Stroud still has Jaxon Smith-Njigba who had 95 catches for 1,606 yards and 9 touchdowns. 

It’s a quarterback-heavy board with USC’s Caleb Williams the only other player listed with better than +1000 odds. The highest-finishing non-quarterback this season will be Young’s teammate at Alabama.  

Linebacker Will Anderson Jr. chose not to enter the NFL draft. Anderson had 17.5 sacks last season among his 102 tackles.  

Texas A&M 

If you have any urge whatsoever to wager on the Aggies to win the national title…don’t. Yes, head coach Jimbo Fisher beat Nick Saban last year, but Texas A&M went on to lose four games and drop out of the Top 25. 

Fisher had an outstanding recruiting year, but true freshmen don’t typically win games. The Aggies play in the SEC West which means another game against Alabama this year. This year, that game is at ‘Bama and you can bet Saban will be out for revenge. 

There’s a non-league schedule that features FCS Sam Houston State, Appalachian State, Miami, and UMass. Even if the Aggies somehow won the SEC West, there would be Georgia in the SEC title game. Not this year Jimbo. 

CFP National Champion Best Bets 

In this history of the College Football playoff, only one time has the preseason No. 1 gone on to win the national championship. Alabama is the overall favorite this year at roughly -200 at most sportsbooks.

Ohio State and Georgia are next on the board and are the only other teams listed below +750. The Crimson Tide in 2017 was the only preseason No. 1 to end up winning the CFP national title. 

In the 2021 College Football Playoff, the favorite won and covered the spread in all three games (two semifinals, national championship). One of last year’s best bets in the CFP was on the Under. Both semifinal games and the championship all resulted in the game total going Under.

Go see how we did in our last article that outlined post All-Star Game MLB futures.