NCAAF 2024 Betting: Arizona State, Duke Beat the Odds
- There were plenty of surprises in the Big 12 and the SEC during the 2024 college football season
- Surprising rushing leaders emerge in multiple power conferences.
- Check out all the NCAA football odds at BetUS sportsbook.
All the talking is over and the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is set, as are the bowl games with only a pair of matchups between 6-6 teams to look forward to.
Good luck finding sports betting odds that had Arizona State’s odds of making the College Football Playoff field. Clemson and Tennessee offered value at +1800 in the odds of being included in the CFP field at the start of the season.
When looking at the NCAAF lines, there are so many other odds to look at now that bowl season is upon us. Perhaps it will help those who bet online to see the teams that exceeded expectations and those who failed to live up to the hype when the 2025 college football season gets rolling.
Touchdown Profits! Bet $200, Get $450 Bonus on first time deposit.
NCAAF Overachievers and Underachievers: Who Defied Odds?
1. Texas, Duke Lead the Overachievers
Texas came into the season with +155 odds to go over 10.5 wins during the regular season. That didn’t leave much margin for error but the Longhorns won 11 games in their first season in the SEC, with their only loss during the regular season coming to Georgia.
The team that deserves kudos for exceeding expectations has to be the Duke Blue Devils. With a new coach and a new quarterback, there were +150 NCAA football futures odds for Duke to go over 5.5 wins. It took just seven games for Duke to pick up win No. 6.
Gator Bowl bound 😈 pic.twitter.com/fMP08YJDRd
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) December 8, 2024
Arizona State was 10-2 in the regular season as the Sun Devils made their Big 12 Conference debut. With odds set at +145 for ASU to go over 4.5 wins, the team was among the top teams to back in college football picks and predictions.
TCU was another Power-4 team that pulled off some surprises with an 8-4 record after being priced at +140 to go over 7.5 wins.
Miami and Penn State both had +130 odds to go over the RSW totals and did just that.
2. Some Former Pac-12 Programs Come Up Short
While Arizona State thrived, it was not a season to remember for all the former Pac-12 teams.
Utah was a perennial Pac-12 contender and the Utes figured to be in the running for the Big 12 title in 2024. That is why the RSW line was set at 9.5 wins by the college football spread. With a 5-7 record, the Utes fell well short and that carried +150 odds.
Not much was expected from Stanford, which moved from the Pac-12 to the ACC. With +145 odds to land under 3.5 wins during the regular season, the Cardinal finished 3-9.
Ohio State (+135 to go under 10.5), Wake Forest (+125 to go under 4.5) and North Carolina State (+125 to go under 8.5 wins) were other underachieving teams out of the power conferences.
3. Plenty of Surprises in the Big 12 and SEC
It might be hard to find another conference where preseason predictions were more off base than in the Big 12.
Only BYU had longer odds of winning the Big 12 championship than Arizona State at +10000 when the season began.
The Giant is awake 😈
THE SUN DEVILS ARE BIG 12 CHAMPIONS 🔱 pic.twitter.com/AkfoKGXpr6
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) December 7, 2024
Utah (+300), Kansas State (+400) and Oklahoma State (+700) had the shortest Big 12 championship odds. Oklahoma State failed to win a conference game with the Cowboys being outscored 366-198 in nine Big 12 games. Utah was just 2-7 in the Big 12 while Kansas State lost three of its last four conference games to finish tied for eighth in the Big 12 standings.
Liberty was at -225 in the Conference USA title odds followed by Western Kentucky (+500) and Jacksonville State (+550). Jacksonville State delivered with an impressive win over Western Kentucky to win the Conference USA title.
Not many who bet online likely had Vanderbilt (+30000 in the SEC title odds) to finish ahead of Oklahoma (+2500), Auburn (+5000) and Kentucky (+8000) in the SEC standings.
South Carolina was 12th in the SEC championship odds when the season began and finished tied for fourth. The Gamecocks picked up a win over ACC champion Clemson and almost defeated Alabama as well.
Georgia and Texas had the shortest odds of winning the SEC and that pretty much played out, although Alabama (+500), LSU (+1000) and Texas A&M (+1200) are among the teams that fell short of playing for the SEC title.
Appalachian State (+280) was the Sun Belt favorite and fell well short of the expectations with a 3-5 record in conference play. Marshall was among the college football best bets, paying out at +1800 by winning the Sun Belt title. The Thundering Herd were the No. 8 favorite when the season got underway.
4. Running Backs Defy the Odds
It didn’t take long for those partaking in the NCAAF player props to go with Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson and Kaleb Johnson on a weekly basis. The real value came before the season.
Sampson had +1400 odds to lead the SEC in rushing yards with Johnson at +1000 to be the top rusher in the Big Ten.
UCF’s R.J. Harvey has the most rushing yards in the Big 12 and that pays out at +550.
The running backs don’t have all the fun. With Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss having the most passing yards among SEC players, that carried +450 NCAA football odds when the season began.
Bet on this College Football Teams!
Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets.
Questions of the Day
When is the first bowl game?
South Alabama plays Western Michigan on Dec. 14 in the IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
When does the College Football Playoff get underway?
Indiana will face Notre Dame on Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. ET in South Bend with the other three first-round games set for Dec. 21.
