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A Look at Win Totals for Penn State, Notre Dame, and Other CFB Programs
By Joe Tansey
Published:

The college football season kicks off on Saturday, but most of the notable programs get going next week.
The two official CFB programs of the Northeast, Penn State and Notre Dame, have high expectations yet again, so there’s no better time than now to dive into some win totals at bet365.
Penn State Over/Under 10.5
If not now, then when?
That’s the motto for the 2025 Penn State football team.
Drew Allar is back, as are running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Tyler Warren and Abdul Carter are gone, but PSU usually has depth on the defensive line and did work in the portal to bring in actual, functional wide receivers to soften the blow of Warren’s departure.
10-2 is the minimum expectation for Penn State. The regular season comes down to two games: 1) The September 27th White Out against Oregon, and 2) the November 1 trip to Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions aren’t losing to Indiana at home. The Hoosiers might even take a few steps back in 2025. The rest of the schedule is incredibly easy.
Penn State doesn’t leave State College until October 4th and you can say they really only have four true road games. The fifth and final road contest is at Rutgers, and I’d be surprised if the PSU alumni base doesn’t buy up all the tickets in Piscataway on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.
You’re betting the win total over/under on the two big games. If you think Penn State splits them, then take the over at even-money. If you think they’ll blow the White Out, the under 10.5 is at -130.
Notre Dame Over/Under 10.5
Notre Dame doesn’t bring back their quarterback, but they do have a good amount of stars back in South Bend, including running back Jeremiyah Love.
C.J. Carr, the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, was named the starting QB earlier this week.
The Irish have three ranked opponents on their schedule in the first five weeks. They open with Miami, then face Texas A&M in Week 2 and play Boise State in Week 5.
Texas A&M is probably the toughest of the three opponents. Miami has questions to answer with Carson Beck at quarterback, and, you know, Miami doesn’t exactly have a great track record of staying at the top over the last decade or so.
After the Miami, Notre Dame goes on the road to Arkansas, Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Stanford, all of whom could struggle to reach six or seven wins.
Similar to Penn State, it all comes down to whether or not ND wins its big games, and with two of those three at home, it feels like getting the over at +120 is good value. The under is -150. I’d bet that if you think Notre Dame has its trademark bad loss on its schedule, but the schedule as a whole isn’t strong this year.
Other Win Total Bets
Georgia Tech o7.5 (-160): The ACC behind Clemson is wide open. Georgia Tech has a veteran quarterback in Haynes King and notably gets Clemson at home and avoids Louisville and Miami, the two other teams to watch in the conference.
Illinois o7.5 (-200): It’s a shame the price is super high on the Illinois win total because I love the Illini a lot in 2025. The Illini are the best Big Ten team outside of the Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon trio. They only have to play Ohio State among the Big Three. I’d easily back Bret Bielema to get this team to nine wins, so if you can find o8.5, I’d bet that too.
South Carolina u7.5 (-160): South Carolina is a preseason top 15 team with a stud at quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, but the schedule is BRUTAL. The Gamecocks have six Top 25 teams in the final seven weeks and a decent opening week test at a neutral site against Virginia Tech. The war of attrition might not favor the Cocks.
South Florida o6.5 (-130): Here’s your Group of Five pick. USF quarterback Byrum Brown is electric when healthy and the Bulls might beat Boise at home in Week 1. They have a tough opening stretch against Boise, Miami, and Florida, but even if they go 0-3 to start, they can win seven or eight games in the American with a healthy Brown under center.
Should be a lot of action on PA sports betting apps and New Jersey sports betting apps in the coming weeks.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.