2024 College Football Win Totals: Bet the Under on These Three Teams | Deadspin.com

Roster turnover, scheduling quirks, and chemistry—despite the confusion of one of the coaches included below as to what the word means—can all impact a season win total.

With the kickoff of the 2024 campaign fast approaching, bettors might consider the following when wagering on win total unders:. 

Colorado, Under 5.5 wins +120 (BetMGM)

The showmanship characteristic of his dual NFL and MLB career and indicative of the initial months of Deion Sanders’ tenure as Colorado head coach have given way to petty quarrels with local media. 

Spats over such a quizzical topic as the definition of the word “bolster” feel like misplaced focus for a program coming off a 1-8 stretch to close the previous season, especially with FCS powerhouse and historic power-conference derailer North Dakota State visiting Boulder in a few weeks.

Never mind eclipsing the 5.5 wins most books have set for Colorado’s over/under win total; a loss to NDSU could set the Buffs on their way to trying to avoid the kind of 1- and 2-win seasons that predated Sanders’ arrival. Win or lose, the Week 1 matchup should provide a telling barometer of the adjustments Colorado made for offensive and defensive lines that struggled mightily in 2023.

The Buffs ranked No. 110 nationally against the run a season ago, indicative of a lack of depth up front, and ranked next-to-last and dead last in sacks allowed and rushing offense—another reflection of depth. 

It may not be a word Sanders likes to invoke, but Colorado will need to have dramatically bolstered its play on both lines. Otherwise, bettors taking the Buffs under 5.5 wins could cash their tickets before Halloween.

Liberty, Under 10.5 wins +112 (FanDuel)

Jamey Chadwell has a well-established track record for overachieving everywhere he’s been a head coach. Chadwell led North Greenville to its best-ever season, finishing ranked No. 12 in Div. II in 2011; guiding Charleston Southern to four straight winning campaigns and consecutive FCS Playoff appearances in 2015 and 2016; then breaking through with back-to-back 11-win seasons at Coastal Carolina in 2020 and 2021. 

His recent accomplishment as head coach is his most noteworthy, with Liberty winning 13 games and landing in the Fiesta Bowl a season ago. Expectations are understandably high for the Flames heading into their second season under Chadwell, with most books setting Liberty’s win total in line with national championship contenders like Georgia and Ohio State.

The Flames should again be the class of Conference USA, thanks in part to an explosive offense with quarterback Kaidon Salter and running back Quinton Cooley leading the way. A more difficult schedule than Liberty played a season ago, however, makes under 10.5 wins a valuable play.

Liberty travels to Appalachian State for a huge non-conference date on Sept. 28. A midweek home game in league play against Jacksonville State also looms large, with the Gamecocks coming off a nine-win 2023 and having their own perennial overachiever at the helm, Rich Rodriguez. 

South Carolina, Under 5.5 wins +110 (FanDuel)

Non-conference matchups against Old Dominion, Akron and Wofford likely ensure South Carolina no fewer than three wins in 2024, but the Gamecocks’ schedule is not conducive to picking up three more victories.

Since ending the College Football Playoff aspirations of Tennessee and Clemson in consecutive November weeks in 2022, South Carolina is 4-8 against power-conference opponents. The 2024 Gamecocks see two of the teams against which South Carolina picked up those four wins—Kentucky and Vanderbilt—but both are on the road.

The Gamecocks may need to sweep those away dates to give themselves a realistic shot at surpassing the 5.5-win threshold. South Carolina must also travel to Alabama and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks, then hit Death Valley to close the regular season at rival Clemson. The home dates in conference play feature an assortment of opponents projected for the upper echelon of the SEC: LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri.

The South Carolina defense packs a punch behind Debo Williams and J.T. Sanders. However, enough questions loom for an offense that scored 20 points or fewer in seven games a season ago that, coupled with a daunting league schedule, makes a wager on the under a sound play.