College Football Bets: What You Need To Know Before Week 10 2023

And just like that, another domino falls in college football… Until proven otherwise, the default assumption for every program is that they need to win all 12 games to make the CFP. With five conferences in the aptly named “Power 5” along with the inevitable claim that the second best team in the SEC is probably better than anyone in the ACC/Big 12/Pac 12, it’s a dangerous game to think that a loss can be papered over with enough big wins. Sure, it’s certainly not uncommon to see one-loss teams in the playoffs, but a bad mistake outside of the Conference Title game generally spells doom.

While Oklahoma’s loss at Kansas doesnt exactly reek like UNC’s truly impressive set of back to back losses against UVA and GT, it’s hard to imagine that a team who wasnt even ranked in the top four can make up that ground with zero remaining regular season games against Top 25 opponents. Alas, the Big 12 may have lost all hope unless the CFP Committee has the chance to include Texas, something they would welcome with open arms.

So, as most see it, we’re left with nine teams contending for four spots. For some, the key is to prove their worth and rise up, for others the goal is simply to avoid a death like the one we saw in Lawrence last weekend. Now time to dissect a new set of “things to know” and make sense of what Week 10 could bring.

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1. Who the Hell is Actually Good?

Week in and week out, I walk away from college football in 2023 with an entirely new idea of who actually looks like a top team or, more importantly, who looks like a pretender. FSU almost lost to BC, UGA had to fight off Vandy, Washington barely survived ASU, etc. etc. The only team that hasn’t been in danger is Michigan, partially because they’ve played a schedule made up of lost children and kittens and partially because they’ve been stealing everyone’s signals (allegedly…).

From my perspective, the best default when things look uncertain is to rely on what you know. Even if teams like UGA havent been dominant, the overall quality of players in the SEC is usually just higher, and the Big 10 duo of Michigan and Ohio State are probably pretty good too. Other than that, trust at your own risk.

2. Some Love for the Little Guys

Partially because I’m running out of ways to say “maybe this lopsided matchup could be interesting” and partially because I think it’s genuinely worth it, I’m going to take a moment to shout out James Madison and Air Force. Every year we get a couple of odd teams who survive deep into the season without losing and get a ceremonial spot in the Top 25 (neither of these programs are better than mediocre SEC programs, but whatever), but seeing Air Force and JMU is truly weird. Neither is a traditional football or even sports powerhouse, and I cant remember ever thinking about them as relevant in pretty much anything.

But, my opinions aside, both of these teams sit 8-0 which is pretty impressive regardless of who you’re facing in the FBS. And, while this isn’t a Cincinnati situation where either team is trying to steal a playoff spot, it’s still fun to watch them play. Tune in and catch a few minutes to see some surprisingly decent football (Air Force has a bye, so take a rain check there) out of two small programs so that you can forget about them for 30 more years.

MORE: Our updated look at College Football Futures: Who will be crowned National Champion?

3. Is the SEC in Danger?

One sliver of gossip sneaking its way around the world of college football now is the precarious situation the SEC faces at the moment. In fact, you even hear some whispers about the potential that ZERO SEC teams make the CFP, which would be absolutely unheard of (and stupid, whoever wins the SEC title should get an auto berth but whatever) for a conference that has dominated the college football landscape recently.

The premise largely requires that UGA lose to either Mizzou or Ole Miss in the next couple of weeks, and potentially a bit more chaos with Alabama, leaving nobody with less than 2 losses at the end of the season. It’s certainly possible, depending on which version of the Dawgs shows up to these big games, but I find it hard to believe this wont shake out in a way that makes one SEC team a viable candidate. And then, as is tradition, that team will walk in and smoke everyone on their way to a national title. Count out the SEC at your own risk…

Make sure you check for value in Dimers' College Football Player Prop Bets section before locking in any picks for your parlays.

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