With college football season on the horizon, ESPN Chalk's college football experts -- Phil Steele, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris Fallica -- combine to give you betting previews of the top 25 teams, according to the ESPN College Football Rankings. They break down each team's strengths and weaknesses, along with season win total bets and national title odds.
Odds from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook as of Sept. 1.
Florida State Seminoles
National title odds: 30-1
Season win total: 9
Phil Steele
Strengths: Florida State may be one of the least experienced teams in my ratings, but the Seminoles are more experienced than the listed numbers and very talented.
Weaknesses: The offensive line was a veteran group last year that underperformed and this year loses 174 career starts. So, the question is can it improve? The Seminoles have a sneaky-tough Friday night game at Boston College and play Georgia Tech, Clemson and Florida on the road.
Over/under (9): I feel pretty good here with the over. Even with those road games above, the Seminoles still have more talent than all four teams, and if playing with the passion of 2013 they could very well run the regular-season table for a second straight year. This allows two losses and you win the bet, and even with three losses, which is more than the past three years combined, you would still get a push.
National title (30-1): In 2013 I picked a Florida State team that was not ranked in the preseason top 10 and pegged it my No. 1 surprise team, despite the Seminoles having just 11 starters and a first-year QB. They not only delivered yet another surprise-team national title winner for me, they did it with style, dominating teams by an average score of 51.6-12.1. Odds of 30-to-1 are a gift here and history could repeat as the ACC is a conference that a talented team can dominate.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
Here we go again. The Seminoles come into the season as the most thought-after team in the ACC. But, should we pump the brakes on the hype around Jimbo Fisher's team, seeing as it has to replace the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NFL draft? Is it right to just pencil in Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson as the starting QB for the Noles and think their offense will take off without a hiccup?
Look, I like Golson a lot. I picked Notre Dame to beat FSU last year because I thought Golson was good enough to win in that situation. I was wrong and Golson's season was never the same. However, Florida State has only Florida at the end of the season as a challenge in its nonconference schedule. Plenty of people are high on teams like Georgia Tech or Clemson to win the ACC, but I just don't see it.
One thing I found interesting this offseason was the Noles' defense moving one of my favorite players in the country, superstar and future NFL first-rounder Jalen Ramsey, to cornerback. Ramsey is one of the most impactful defensive players because he can do everything, including covering wide receivers, tackling in the open field and rushing the QB. I advise opposing teams to stay away from the side of the field Ramsey decides to play. On the other side of the ball, I do expect wide receiver Travis Rudolph to step up and be Golson's main target. The toughest stretch for Jimbo's squad will be in October when the Seminoles host Miami and Louisville (which will be coming off a bye) and travel to Georgia Tech. I do like FSU's chances of making the playoff for a second straight year.
I say take a shot at 30-1 because I am a fan of Golson and he has played in a title game before, plus, the schedule shows FSU will be favored in a lot of games including on the road at Georgia Tech, Clemson and Florida. An undefeated FSU gets in the playoff, no matter how many close games the Seminoles play, as we saw last year.
O/U: I think a favorable schedule and Golson at QB make this a good over play.
Chris Fallica
FSU has spent the past 33 weeks in the AP top 10 and each of the past 27 in the top 5. The Seminoles haven't lost a regular-season game since Nov. 24, 2012, against Florida, so those thinking there will be a big drop-off this season are going to be disappointed. The Seminoles are still the class of the ACC in terms of talent, but it's young talent, so there may be a couple of losses along the way to keep FSU from the 11 or 12 wins it had the past few years. Those who faded FSU last year couldn't have had things go much better, as the Seminoles were a poor 3-11 ATS (after an insane 11-2-1 ATS in 2013).
O/U: I still think FSU is a 10-win team. The Seminoles have recruited too well not to be a huge threat to win the ACC. The presence of Everett Golson will help and having Dalvin Cook return makes the Noles a lock to win 10 games in my mind. The Noles were 15th last year in FPI, thus they were a little lucky to win 12 regular-season games. Expect the luck to balance out, but potentially a better performance on the field.
Title odds: FSU may have to run the table to reach the playoff, just because I don't know if the Noles' résumé as a one-loss team would stack up against other one-loss teams. The ACC could be at the bottom of the Power 5 pecking order this year, but at 30-1 I'm definitely interested in taking a shot on FSU as I think the talent is still there. Louisville and Clemson are threats in the ACC, though.