Betting Sites Set Cal Football 2024 Over/Under Win Total at 6.5

The Bears are a mere 500-to-1 shot to win the national championship in their first season in the ACC

Bookmakers are suggesting that Cal’s football team is going to finish with about a .500 record in 2024, which will be the Bears’ first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Two betting sites, Fan Duel and BetOnline.eu, have set over/under win totals for college football teams, and both have placed Cal’s win total at 6.5 victories. That means if you think Cal is going win seven or more games in 2024, you bet the over. If you believe the Bears will win six or fewer games during the 12-game regular season, you bet the under.

You could also bet Cal to win the national championship next season, and it would pay off handsomely if the Bears were able to pull off that near-miracle. Virtually every betting site pegs Cal’s chances of winning the national title at 500-to-1, which means a $100 bet on the Bears to win it all would net $50,000 if Cal would do it.

But let’s get back to reality, and the over/under win total.

The over/under line for Cal’s 2024 season is more optimistic than it was in 2023, when BetOnline.eu placed the Bears’ win total prior to last season at 4.5 wins, while Sports Betting Dime and BetMGM both set Cal’s over/under win total at 5.0 wins last year.

Cal surpassed last year’s win-total line by going 6-7, but had to win its final three regular-season games to get to six wins.

That was in the last season of Cal’s membership in the Pac-12. Now the Bears are headed to the ACC. So how does Cal’s over/under win total compare with other ACC teams? Both Fan Duel and BetOnline.eu have the same win totals for every ACC team accept Pittsburgh, and the one-game difference is noted.

Here’s the over/under win totals of the 17 ACC football members:

Florida State – 9.5

Clemson – 9.5

Miami (Fla.) – 9.5

North Carolina State – 8.5

Louisville – 8.5

North Carolina – 8.5

SMU – 7.5

Virginia Tech – 7.5

Cal – 6.5

Duke – 6.5

Syracuse – 6.5

Pittsburgh – 6.5 (Fan Duel)

Pittsburgh – 5.5 (BetOnline.eu)

Georgia Tech – 5.5

Wake Forest – 4.5

Boston College – 4.5

Virginia – 4.5

Stanford – 3.5

This puts Cal somewhere near the middle of the pack in the ACC.

A number of issues will determine how many wins Cal gets next season, and the biggest issue is quarterback play. Fernando Mendoza played pretty well as a redshirt freshman as the Bears starting quarterback the second half of the season. But he will be challenged for the starting job by Chandler Rogers, who was North Texas’ starting quarterback for most of the 2023 season and had better numbers than Mendoza.

So which games will Cal be expected to win next season?

The Bears will be favored in their opener against UC Davis and have a good shot to beat San Diego State at home in the third game.

However, the Bears figure to be underdogs at Auburn in the second game.

Cal will be a major underdog in its first ACC game at Florida State, and Miami figures to be favored in Cal’s first home ACC game.

The October 12 game at Pittsburgh looks like a 50-50 proposition, and the Bears might be slight underdogs at home the following week against North Carolina State.

Cal stands a good chance of beating a depleted Oregon State team in a nonconference game in Berkeley, and Cal is expected to be an even bet in its game the following week at Wake Forest.

The Bears should win its next two games against Syracuse and Stanford at home, but they are unlikely to beat SMU in Dallas in the regular-season finale.

So how does that add up?

This calculation gives the Bears five wins, five losses and two games that could go either way. The variable that remains uncertain is the cross-country travel and how that will affect teams going east to west or west to east.

How do you see it?

Cover photo of Jaydn Ott by Annie Rice, Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

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