Are you looking for this year’s Auburn Tigers to invest a little disposable income on? Are you one of the people who make a yearly journey to Las Vegas (or the internet) to drop a Benjamin on your alma mater? If you fall into either category, here are a few long shots who could pay off.
Arizona State – 66 to 1
Sure, the Pac-12 is no joke. Although it doesn’t get the press of having week-to-week landmines like the SEC does (and rightfully so), there is plenty of quality across the board. With the reputation of a solid league, it’s likely that the Pac-12 will get a team into the “Final Four,” even with a loss.
The Sun Devils return some serious talent on offense with quarterback Taylor Kelly throwing to dynamic wide receiver Jaelen Strong, one of the best targets in the conference. With plenty of returning experience on defense, ASU should be able to get just enough stops to win plenty of games.
As we peruse the schedule, most of the Sun Devils toughest games are at home (UCLA, Stanford and Notre Dame). Arizona State gets to avoid Oregon altogether (unless a potential date in the Pac-12 title game) and their toughest road test is against a USC team that they’ve owned in recent years.
Baylor – 30 to 1
Question: Who loves scoring? Answer: Everybody (except Nick Saban who doesn’t love anything). Art Briles’ Baylor Bears can rack ‘em up as shown by how they led the nation in points last season. Although 2014 is a new year, Baylor returns a pair of senior leaders on offense who could make the trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Quarterback Bryce Petty was one of the most efficient passers in the nation last year and he has his favorite target, senior Antwan Goodley back. While Lache Seastrunk has departed for professional pastures, the team still boasts sophomore Shock Linwood who will mitigate the loss.
Although Baylor’s conference schedule looks like it can be “a Bear” (see what I did there) with games at Oklahoma and at Texas, they get their worst matchup in Oklahoma State at home. Their non-conference schedule is a virtual pillow fight with SMU and Northwestern State at home, and at Buffalo (why are they playing this game there?) without Khalil Mack. With no conference championship game, the Bears might be able to slip up once and still get to the “Final Four”.
UCF – 500 to 1
Is this a homer pick? Quite possibly, but if you want to place a couple french fries on a 500 to 1 superdog, tell me who you’d rather have? This is by far the longest odds for a BCS bowl winner and there’s obviously something to that as the Knights lost the first quarterback taken in the NFL Draft in Blake Bortles along with running back Storm Johnson and three all-AAC offensive linemen.
Make no mistake, UCF’s success last season was not only due to the stellar play of their signal caller. The Knights skinned the proverbial cat in many different ways last season and although their 7-1 record in one-possession games doesn’t seem sustainable, George O’Leary has built a solid team that returns 10 starters on defense and a wide receiver corps that any quarterback in the nation would love to throw to.
To get any kind of “Final Four” consideration, without question the Knights will have to go undefeated. Their schedule is conducive to a strong season without being littered with cupcakes. UCF has a neutral site game against Penn State, a team that they defeated in Happy Valley a season ago. They will likely be underdogs just once as they travel to Columbia to take on Missouri and they have one other tricky road test at Houston. O’Leary’s teams have generally played up to their competition and if they can navigate that minefield, the Knights could be playing in their second consecutive BCS bowl game. And if things break correctly, they could find themselves in the playoff.
