Utah was one of the trendiest teams in the futures market ahead of the 2024 season.
The Utes were a popular pick to win the Big 12, and they were given a real shot to make some noise in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
As is often the case in college football, the hype train derailed pretty quickly after they started playing games.
Part of Utah’s misfortune was just rotten luck, but there’s still no excusing a 2-7 record in conference play from one of the betting favorites.
The Utes will look to begin a bounce-back season against UCLA on Saturday night, and are a six-point road favorite.
For a while, it felt like you could set your clock to Utah’s offense, but things will change in 2025.
Jason Beck comes in as the offensive coordinator after serving up some impressive numbers at New Mexico, and he’s bringing his quarterback, Devon Dampier, with him.
Dampier has the potential to be electric — especially when he tucks the ball away — but he didn’t grade out as a dynamite passer at New Mexico, so expect the Utes to lean on their rushing attack to drive the bus.
The same won’t be true of UCLA and its transfer-coup quarterback, Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava can certainly do damage with his legs, but it’s his elite arm that has him ranked as one of the top quarterbacks of the 2023 recruiting class.
Things didn’t go the way he wanted at Tennessee, but Iamaleava immediately makes an already hard-to-judge UCLA team even tougher to predict.
If Iamaleava is the goods, this team could be a thorn in the side of a lot of goliaths in the Big Ten.
If Iamaleava doesn’t find consistency, or isn’t protected, things could go south quickly for DeShaun Foster and the Bruins.
With nearly 20 new starters on both sides of the ball, you really have to be a savant to have any feel for how UCLA will fare in 2025.
Playing at 11 p.m. on Saturday night in Week 1, you can bet that this will be the “chase game” that is usually saved for Hawaii.
But with the Rainbow Warriors in Arizona this weekend, this will be one of the last chances for bettors to get into the green before the weekend closes.
That should lead to a lot of casual money pouring in on this game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of action on the over, as bettors tend to lean that way in these late-night spots.
I’d prefer to zag in this instance, as Utah’s offense sets up to be rush-heavy, which should move the clock, and Iamaleava is making his first start at a new program littered with fresh faces.
This could be a scrappy contest to close out Week 1.
The Play: Under 51.5 points (-148, bet365)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.