Barkley: Why You Should Bet the Under on USC's Win Total

College football season is upon us and You Better You Bet has been diving head-first into previewing this upcoming season. Ken Barkley discussed how USC and new coach in Lincoln Riley will fare when it comes to their 9.5-game win total after finishing fourth in the Pac-12 last season with a 4-8 overall record. And Barkley is leaning toward them hitting the under.

"It's not that the 9.5 is crazy for USC, it's just a little on the crazy side," Barkley said. "Also, they were terrible last year. ... It's not that I think USC's bad or that this isn't going to work. I think it's definitely going to work. I just don't know if in Year 1, 10 wins is like the baseline average expectation we should be having. And it makes sense with the glitz and glamour of the acquisitions that expectations would be too high and then they'll go 8-4, 9-3, which should be viewed as an accomplishment based on how bad they were last year."

The BetQL model agrees with Barkley here, projecting USC to win 8.5 games to go under the 9.5 total. And if you want to get in on the over or the under on this win total, the over is at +105 at DraftKings, while the under is at -125.