College football season preview: Best bets for top 25 teams

The 2019 college football season is ready to kick off, and we're here with betting previews for the top 25 teams, according to the ESPN College Football Rankings. (We even threw in five bonus contenders for good measure.)

College football experts Bill Connelly, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin, Chris "The Bear" Fallica, Preston Johnson, Doug Kezirian, Phil Steele and Seth Walder and combine to offer their best bets for each team, from win totals to Heisman potential to national championship odds and much more.

Note: All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook unless otherwise noted. Odds as of Aug. 19.

Jump to a team:

Alabama | Oklahoma | Ohio State | Michigan | Nebraska | Texas

1. Clemson Tigers

Under 11.5 regular-season wins (+105)

Connelly: It's hard to find favorable odds right now (Caesars has been around -110 for both over and under), but even with a great projected rating and a shaky schedule, S&P+ still only gives Clemson a 35% chance of going 12-0. Going unbeaten over two years is really hard and really rare, and an 11.5 total is unforgiving.

Over 11.5 regular-season wins (-125)

Kezirian: ESPN's FPI projects the Tigers as at least 20-point favorites in all but two regular-season games. In those two others, they are favored by more than two touchdowns. Clemson should roll easily through a mediocre ACC schedule, while also catching Texas A&M at home. Additionally, Georgia Tech comes to Death Valley and the Tigers no longer have the possibility of being stumped by that unique option offense. Alabama demonstrated last year what happens when a historically dominant defense unveils a prolific offense. We also got a taste of that with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and the Tigers will be incredibly explosive this coming season as he evolves even more. "Clemsoning" is a thing of the past; the Tigers ran the table last season and two of the past four years.

Over 11.5 wins; win ACC (-650); make CFP (-500)

Coughlin: Could it be this easy? Can Clemson just waltz its way to another national championship? The Tigers will be at least 17-point favorites in every regular season game. I think they will get a stern test against Texas A&M when the Aggies visit in September, but when you look at the ACC as a whole, outside of Clemson, it's a complete free-for-all. I have no idea who the second-best team is in the conference now or who it will be at the end of the year, but I do know that no one will challenge Dabo's boys.

Trevor Lawrence to win Heisman (+275)

Steele: Lawrence quarterbacks my projected top offense in the country and will be playing for the No. 1 team. Clemson will be a 17-plus points favorites in every game this year, and I fully expect Lawrence to pick up where he left off at the end of last season.