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 Aug. 15.
Houston Cougars
National title odds: 80-1
Season win total: 9
FPI win total projection: 8.3
Phil Steele
Strengths: The Cougars are a deeper team than last year and have a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Greg Ward Jr. They have six all-conference candidates in the defensive front seven, and the defensive line and linebackers rank in my top units. Houston also has a top-notch special teams unit.
Weaknesses: Houston has four units that failed to make my top unit list: receivers, offensive line, running back and defensive back. They're good units, but not in the top 40.
Over/under: The number appears cheap, considering they could be favored in 11 games this year. They do face three of the top AAC teams on the road in Cincinnati, Navy and Memphis. They also have Oklahoma in the nonconference opener. My nine sets of power ratings give me an average of 9.5 wins, and Tom Herman is one of the up-and-coming head coaches. I lean with the over.
National title: Houston opened at 100-1 but has since dropped to 80-1. A Group of 5 (or non-BCS) school has never made it to the playoffs and/or title game. Houston has that opportunity if it knocks off Oklahoma in the opener. Even if it turns out to be the perfect storm with Houston at 12-0, Oklahoma at 11-1 and the Cougars making the playoffs, I can't see them knocking off two more powerhouses to win it all.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
O/U: What a year 2015 was for the Cougars. Things could not have gone better for a first-year head coach than they did for Tom Herman, whose team went 13-1 and earned a Group of 5 bowl win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl. Herman was fortunate to walk into a program that had a high quality QB in Greg Ward, who led the AAC in QBR last year (80.3).
What people don't realize about last year's Houston team is that much of its success should have been attributed to the defense, which led the country in takeaways with 35. That's an insane number of additional chances to give the offense, especially with someone of Herman's caliber calling the plays and a player as electric as Ward taking the snaps. However, with the Cougars returning only 11 starters, I just feel like they might have read too many of their press clippings this offseason and might not have pushed themselves as hard after they breezed through the conference. I'll take the under.
Chris Fallica
O/U: Everything went Houston's way last year. It squeezed by Louisville early in the year when the Cardinals didn't have their QB situation squared away. The Cougars were an incredible +21 in turnover margin. They also won close home games with Cincinnati and Memphis (by a combined four points) and capped off a 13-1 season by beating Florida State in the Peach Bowl.
The odds against this perfect storm coming together again are slim. The Cincinnati and Memphis games are on the road. Oklahoma is an extremely difficult opener. It's tough to imagine the Cougars having turnover luck go their way again. And there are personnel losses, especially on defense, that make me think under would be the way to go here. But 9-3 looks about right.
CFB Playoff odds: I don't think Houston will beat Oklahoma Week 1, and a loss there would essentially take them out of CFP consideration. But if you believe, the price is fair.