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. 22.
Stanford Cardinal
National title odds: 50-1 (opened 60-1)
Season win total: 8.5
FPI win total projection: 9.1
Phil Steele
Strengths: Stanford has a legitimate top-10 defense led by my No. 2-rated linebackers and No. 4-rated defensive backs in the country. Bryce Love will be running behind my No. 16-rated offensive line.
Weaknesses: Quarterback Keller Chryst missed
Over/under (8.5): Stanford has to play USC, Utah and Washington State all on the road and hosts Washington. While those are tough tests, the Cardinal are a true underdog in only one game and coach David Shaw always has this team playing up to its potential. I like the over.
National title odds (50-1): Even if the Cardinal lose to USC early, they get Washington at home and a win there likely puts them in the Pac-12 title game. That would be one step from the College Football Playoff. With a top-10 defense, coach Shaw and a healthy quarterback in Chryst, they have a decent shot at the playoff and should be priced closer to 20-1. They're a solid play at 50-1.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
O/U (8.5): How about starting your season in Australia and then playing an in-state rival who might be the best team in your league -- that's how Stanford starts its season in 2017. The Cardinal then play at San Diego State, who will treat the game as their Super Bowl -- a chance for a smaller school to take down a big-name, in-state powerhouse they haven't played in forever. Then follow that up with a game at home against another California rival, UCLA, which wants to beat Stanford in the worst way, because the Bruins haven't in a long time. That's all in just the first four games, and we haven't even talked about the trips to the Cardinal's house of horrors in Utah and to Pullman to face a Washington State team that embarrassed them last season.
No one seems to know who the QB will be to start the season, which is never a good thing for a team when you have so many important games early. I'm going with the under.
Chris Fallica
Over/under (8.5): I love Stanford this year. The Cardinal will be an underdog at USC -- and Stanford has beaten the Trojans seven of the past nine meetings -- and could be favored in every other game. Love is a good back -- as he showed in the bowl game. Even if Chryst isn't ready to start the year at QB, I get the sense Stanford will be just fine going with K.J. Costello. There's so much focus on the losses of the star names -- Christian McCaffrey and Solomon Thomas -- that people forget that everybody else is back. Their line play on both sides of the ball is exceptional. FPI has them at 9-3, but I see that as worst case. The other road games after USC are SDSU, Utah, Oregon State and Washington State. Washington and Notre Dame visit Stanford. Only once since 2010 have the Cardinal failed to win nine regular-season games. Play the over with confidence.
National title odds: At 50-1, Stanford is a very interesting team. The fact the Cardinal get Washington at home is huge. It allows them a loss somewhere along the way, as long as they beat the Huskies on Nov. 10. And if the Cardinal are sitting there on selection day at 12-1 with wins over Washington, Notre Dame and USC in their final four games of the year, they are in the playoff and 50-1 becomes very live.