BYU Football: Vegas gives Cougars long odds to win national title
By Shaun Gordon
Betting lines are out in Las Vegas for the 2018 college football champion. BYU football is on the list, but the odds are astronomical.
So they’re saying there’s a chance.
The Westgate Las Vegas Superbook released their odds for college football’s national championship, and BYU faces long odds to win the title.
The casino gives the Cougars 1,000/1 odds of winning the championship, right along with college football powerhouses such as Kansas, Rutgers, and Colorado State.
That should come as no surprise, considering that BYU is coming off a 4-9 season and plays a brutal road schedule this year. With away games against Wisconsin, Washington, Arizona, Boise State, and Utah, their chances to run the table and make the College Football Playoff are minuscule.
But that same difficult schedule is the same reason the Cougars are even given odds at all. Only 78 out of the 129 full-fledged FBS teams received a betting line.
If the improbable happens and BYU runs the table, that same difficult schedule could be strong enough to get them into the College Football Playoff. But even then, an undefeated season doesn’t guarantee inclusion.
Just ask Central Florida.
Unlike 51 other college football teams, BYU has a possible path to the national championship. All they’ve got to do is win a handful of games they have very little chance of pulling off.
Most signs point to the Cougars improving in 2018, but not an eight-game improvement. And not enough to knock off two powerhouse teams on the road, beat a rival for the first time in almost a decade, and avoid any slip-ups.
If a betting fan puts down $10 bucks on the Cougars and BYU wins the title, that fan would walk away with a cool $10,000 in winnings. It’s more likely, though, that they’ll walk away with an empty wallet.
But hey, miracles can happen.