2024 College football odds: Can SMU challenge for ACC title?

By Will Hill
FOX Sports NFL Betting Analyst

College football is (almost) here, and it’s time to enjoy the sport we all love.

But first, those of us who have been fans for decades have to rewire our brains, forget everything we knew, and re-learn which schools are in which conferences.

While that is not something that can be done overnight, much less in this column, just know that if you are confused or feel uncertain about which teams are where, you are not alone. If some of these changes feel weird, it’s because they are. Not only are teams being shuffled and reshuffled, the players are also changing teams rapidly in this new era of college football, where NIL and the transfer portal are a large factor in awaiting and retaining talent.

That being said, the two most important things remain intact: the games are still on television, and we can still wager on them.

With that in mind, let’s take a glance at the new-look ACC.

When you think of the ACC, you probably think of the great rivalry in basketball between Duke and North Carolina. Well, now the Cal–Stanford rivalry is as much a part of the ACC as Dean Smith vs. Coach K was (ok, perhaps not, but you get the point), as the two West Coast schools have both joined the league, along with fellow newcomer SMU, which I think has a great shot to compete for a conference title.

SMU returns a lot of production from a team that won 11 games last year, and was outstanding on both sides of the ball. It was 37th in the country in yards per play on offense (6.0), and defensively, it was sixth in the country in yards allowed per play (4.5).

Any time a team moves up in class like this, from the American Conference to the ACC, a concern about its talent producing against better competition is natural and certainly warranted. However, the Mustangs’ schedule is a fairly generous welcome gift, considering they avoid most of the elite teams they’ll have to contend with.

Clemson, Miami, NC State, Florida St., and Virginia Tech are the five of the six teams ahead of SMU in terms of odds to win the ACC. But the only team out of that group that SMU has to play is Florida St., and SMU gets that game on its home field.

Considering the generous schedule and the plethora of weapons on offense, combined with a stingy defense, SMU has a chance at 15-1 to play for, and possibly win the ACC title in its debut season in a new conference.

PICK: SMU +1500 To Win ACC (bet $10 to win $160 total)

Will Hill, a contributor on the Bears Bets Podcast, has been betting on sports for over a decade. He is a betting analyst who has been a host on VSiN, as well as the Goldboys Network.

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