Football Betting Lines – Higher Finish in the USA Today Coaches Poll: Washington Or Georgia Tech?

As always, the composition of a college football schedule will have a lot to say on the matter of which team finishes higher in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll at the end of a given season. In comparing the football betting lines of the Washington Huskies with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, one has to realize what both squads are up against in 2010. 

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Washington – despite being a beaten-down team on the football lines during the Tyrone Willingham era – still scheduled elite opponents in non-conference play. Washington was trying to climb out of a ditch created by the ethical lapses of former coaches Rick Neuheisel and Keith Gilbertson, plus wayward leadership from former athletic director Barbara Hedges. Yet, despite the need to clean up the program off the field – a primary focus of Willingham during his tenure – the Huskies didn’t accordingly downgrade their schedule. If UW had put multiple Sun Belt or WAC teams (not named Nevada, Boise State, or Fresno State) on their schedule, the Huskies could have made a bowl with a 6-6 record. Instead, they scheduled the likes of BYU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. As a result, they paid the price and failed to make a bowl under Willingham. This year, Washington has continued to schedule above its pay grade. A road opener at BYU and then a Sept. 18 home game against Nebraska should likely draw two losses before the Pac-10 season even begins. Then, a deep and balanced Pac-10 slate should give the Huskies at least three more losses if not four. A 7-5 season is the best Washington can realistically expect, even with stud quarterback Jake Locker returning to Seattle for his senior season. The reality is that the Huskies are going to get bloodied up this year; they should have scheduled non-conference patsies to bump up the win total. 

Georgia Tech, the defending football lines Atlantic Coast Conference champion, has scheduled much more wisely as the team tries to reload without big-time running back Jonathan Dwyer, now in the NFL. The Yellow Jackets scheduled South Carolina State, Kansas, and Middle Tennessee out of conference, along with – of course – the rivalry game with Georgia of the SEC at the end of the season. Georgia Tech probably won’t overcome Virginia Tech in the ACC Coastal Division, but the Jackets should win at least eight games this year, if not nine. Their road trips to Clemson and Virginia Tech are likely losses. The roadies at Georgia and North Carolina are both extremely winnable; a split of those two contests would leave the Yellow Jackets at 9-3. 

You can criticize Georgia Tech for being wimpy with its non-conference scheduling (they should be favored on the football lines for all of their non-conference games), but there are times when it makes business sense for a program to schedule beatable opponents in September. Getting to a bowl game means more practice time for young players plus the taste of a neutral-site game against an unfamiliar opponent. One can say that Georgia Tech will definitely make a bowl game in 2010. One can’t be nearly as certain about Washington’s bowl prospects. Tech will win at least two more games than Washington, maybe three, and naturally finish with a higher poll ranking.

Football Lines Pick: Georgia Tech