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With Week 1 of the college football season approaching, it is time to give out some of our bolder takes for this upcoming season.
While these predictions certainly go into the category of longshot bets, they are plays that could provide some real value as the season goes on and are definitely worth sprinkling on nosw.
Miami to Win ACC (+360) FanDuel
While some might not qualify this as a hot take as Miami currently has the second-best odds to win the Conference (only behind Clemson), the +360 odds equate to an implied probability of 21.74%, so this is still an unlikely outcome.
With that said, fading Clemson is the way to go this season, as detailed further in our article giving out three of our favorite NCAAF win total under bets for this season.
If we are fading Clemson, then that leaves room for another team to win the ACC. We are calling our shot and going with the Miami Hurricanes. The biggest difference with Miami from their roster last year is the addition of quarterback Cam Ward.
Ward is a darkhorse candidate to win the Heisman, and he will be ending his college career in Miami for his fifth and final season. He was previously at Washington State for two seasons, and prior to that he was at an FCS program Incarnate Word for two years.
He comes to Miami with after posting excellent counting stats at both Incarnate Word and Washington State, and he is surrounded by excellent talent on the Miami offense.
The offensive line features two standout tackle prospects in Francis Mauigoa at RT and Jalen Rivers at LT, and the Hurricanes have several skill-position studs as well, including Damien Martinez at RB and Xavier Restrepo at WR.
Martinez transferred from Oregon State to Miami this offseason after two first-team All-Pac-12 seasons, while Restrepo, a fifth-year senior, is coming off an All-ACC season in 2023.
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Arizona to Win Big 12 (+1400) BetMGM
This one is definitely a bolder take, but Arizona has a real chance to take down the Big-12 this season. There are a couple reasons to believe in Arizona for this upcoming season, starting with the absolutely electric combination they have at QB and WR.
Of course, we are talking about Noah Fifita at QB and Tetairoa McMillan at WR. To stick with the QB here, the Wildcats’ 2023 season really took off when he became the starter in Week 5.
They finished 10-3 a year ago, and all three of their losses were close. Arizona impressively played premier programs Washington and USC tough, with the Wildcats’ loss to the Trojans coming in triple-overtime.
Fifita might have the best WR in the country to throw to in McMillan, who burst on to the scene last year. He finished the year with 90 receptions for 1,402 yards and 10 touchdowns, and he could easily improve upon that this year.
The Wildcats had to replace head coach Jedd Fisch this offseason following his move to Washington. Arizona hired Brent Brennan from San Jose State to replace Fisch, and Brennan tabbed former Syracuse head coach Dino Babers as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Defensively, the Wildcats have a wide variance, as they have a lot of turnover from last season after bringing in a ton of transfers. The line of scrimmage is where this defense made the most changes from last year, as it does not return a single starter up front. But that unit struggled last year, so this could be a blessing in disguise.
The offense has a high likelihood of being a good unit, so if the defense can carry its weight, then this +1400 banger might end up looking like a steal.
Nico Iamaleava to Win Heisman (+1500) DraftKings
For our last pick of the article, we are going with another longshot and taking Tennessee Volunteers QB Nico Iamaleava to win the Heisman. Iamaleava is a redshirt freshman and only 19 years old, so this definitely qualifies in the category of bold take, but he has a chance.
He has drawn comparisons to Justin Herbert with his size and athletic 6-5 build, and he does have one impressive college start under his belt, last year’s 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
Iamaleava has everything you want in a QB in that he has the arm talent to make any throw on the field, and he is also gifted as a runner, with the ability to make throws on the move and also scramble. He also plays in a QB-friendly offense, so he could easily rack up video-game numbers.
We have seen Tennessee QBs under coach Josh Heupel do this in the past, including Hendon Hooker, who was on fire in the 2022 season before he unfortunately tore his ACL.
If Iamaleava can live up to the hype, the combo of his talent and Heupel’s offensive scheme could lend itself to Heisman-worthy numbers.
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