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.
Boise State Broncos
National title odds: 100-1
Season win total: 10
Phil Steele
Strengths: Boise returns 17 starters from last year's 12-2 Fiesta Bowl champs, which handily beat Arizona in the bowl game. The Broncos could have seven or eight guys on either first- or second-team All Mountain West from that defense at the end of the year. The O-line and receivers are veteran groups, and they could very well be favored in every game this year.
Weaknesses: They do have a first-year starting QB and two tricky road trips in September with a young QB. The first is traveling to BYU the week after they play ex-coach Chris Petersen at home. The second is a cross-country trip to Virginia, which beat a ranked Louisville at home and almost upset No. 7 UCLA in the opener last season.
Over/under: I have Boise as the top Group of 5 team this year, so I am expecting 11 or 12 wins. While Virginia, BYU and Utah State all are tricky road games, the Broncos are capable of winning two of the three. With the number at 10, they can even lose two games and you don't lose your bet.
National title: Normally I like the odds and if you have a buck or two in your pocket go ahead and put it down, but no more than that. I don't see any way they can get in the playoffs only facing two Power 5 teams and neither of those looks to win more than seven games this year. There is no way a Power 5 conference champion gets beat out by a team facing my No. 104 rated schedule.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
People really love the Broncos this year, especially the guys in the desert who have posted a season win total of 10. Sorry, Boise, I just don't see it this year.
First off, look at the start of the schedule. Even though they are about a 10-point favorite at home versus their former head coach, Petersen and his Washington Huskies, that will be a harder-than-expected game. Then, the following game they travel to Provo, Utah, to face the BYU and one of my favorite players in the country in QB Taysom Hill. I'm just saying I could see the Broncos starting the season 0-2.
Along with those games, Boise State has tough contests at Virginia, at Colorado State and at Utah State. We know they don't lose on "The Smurf Turf," but I just can't commit to the idea of the Broncos winning double-digit games and having the same kind of year as they did last year. They lost their starting QB, they lost their RB Jay Ajayi and, more importantly, they lost their offensive coordinator, Mike Sanford. I mention Sanford because the guy has simply won wherever he has been; I can even remember Sanford at his first year at Yale as he helped changed the culture in New Haven ... let alone his time at The Farm, where I don't think we will see that kind of success ever again in Palo Alto.
O/U: I don't think Boise State is a legit threat to crash the College Football Playoff party this year and I don't see a return to a New Years Six bowl game, either. Go under the total here.
Chris Fallica
The Broncos will be in the New Year's Six discussion on a regular basis. This team isn't as good as the great ones from 2006-2012, but it's still the class of the Mountain West. While the gap has narrowed, expect the Broncos to be a part of the national discussion for a long time.
O/U: I'd side with the under. The first four road games are all dangerously tough (at BYU, at Virginia, at Colorado State, at Utah State) and the Broncos could be looking at a 2-2 or 3-1 start. But even if they go 3-1 in that stretch, Boise would have to win out to beat you at 11-1.
Title odds: No value at all to win the title, as it will be next to impossible to reach the playoff. They could represent the Group of 5 again in one of the New Year's bowls.