Wisconsin Has A Real Chance To Go Undefeated This Season
Marty Mush: Mississippi State OVER 6 wins
Mike Leach in year two should see significant improvement from year one. They bring back QB Will Rogers and stud All-SEC Freshman WR Jaden Walley and the entire offensive line from last year. The Bulldogs bring back some strong pieces on defense like leading tackler Aaron Brule but if they get into any injury trouble on the defensive side of the ball they’re gonna be in real trouble with the lack of depth they have in some of those units. If the offense improves the way it should with Mike Leach gettting a full offseason to get his offense installed, they should be able to outscore some people and put together a winning campaign.
Big Ev: UCLA OVER 7 wins
Chip Kelly stepping into his 4th year finally has his team in place. No excuses about cleaning up the mess that was left before him or not having his guys. This is his team and if he can win with them now I don‘t know if he ever will. Dorian Thompson-Robinson has a ton of potential at QB and really showed a lot of improvement last year as a passer (65% completion percentage with 12 TDs and 4 INTs). They bring back 19 starters (10 on offense, 10 on defense) including the entire offensive line. This is a team that showed flashes of being really good last year while also making some extremely costly mistakes. In their 4 losses last year they lost by a combined 15 points. If they can clean up the mistakes and play a clean, high tempo style of football that Chip Kelly is known for they should win a lot of games this year. Week 2 at LSU should set the tone for the season. They're only 4 point underdogs as it sits right now and if they can beat Hawaii Week 0 and LSU Week 1 they’re in a great spot to not only go over this total, but to be a dark horse team in the PAC-12.
Brandon Walker: Wisconsin OVER 9.5 wins
Wisconsin has a legit chance to be favored in all 12 regular season games and even go undefeated in the regular season. They even sit as a 1.5 point favorite over Notre Dame the end of September in a neutral site game. Graham Mertz in his second year should flourish after COVID threw a wrench in his freshman campaign. This defense that was one of the best in the country last year should be strong again and as ferocious as ever. They also get all their toughest Big 10 games (Penn State and Iowa) at home as well as avoiding Ohio State until the Big 10 championship game which does not count in the win totals.
Mintzy: Miami UNDER 9.5 wins
Miami opens the season vs Alabama. Not great. With a loss there they would need to go 10-1 the rest of the way to go over this total. At UNC, at Pitt, at Va Tech are very losable games along with having to play what should be a solid NC State team and the always fun rivalry with Florida State even though they’ve been down the last few years. A sneaky tough game for them could be App State Week 2 coming off the game vs Alabama. If D’Eriq King can get back healthy for the start of the season this offense is gonna be in great hands, if not they might be in big trouble. The defense has to replace a ton of talent, especially on the defensive line, and Manny Diaz is gonna have to work some magic to make something happen with this unit.
Rico Bosco: Houston OVER 8 wins
Dana Holgerson in year three needs to make something happen. QB Clayton Tune should have a big year and Houston caught a Hugh schedule break not getting Cincinnati or UCF. They lost a lot of talent at WR but bolstered the offensive line with a couple transfers from LA Tech and Texas A&M. On defense they return 9 starters including both cornerbacks, Donovan Murtin at LB (who Holgerson considers their most important defensive player) to lead a really strong LB group and some solid production on the defensive line. They have 5 up in the air games that are Texas Tech, at Tulsa, at Tulane, Memphis and SMU. If they can go 3-2 in those games they should definitely hit the over on this total.
