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ESPN Staff Writer- ESPN Insider college football contributor
- Has published his annual college football preview magazine for the past 18 years
With the 2013 college football season nearly a week away, fans and sportsbooks are buzzing with excitement about the season's best bets. Beyond BCS-title favorites such as Alabama and front-runner conference picks such as Ohio State, where do the best value bets lie?
Two ESPN Insider betting experts, Phil Steele and Will Harris, are here to help. Below is our 2013 college football betting guide, which includes dozens of picks from Steele and Harris covering a variety of betting categories and/or odds-related questions. (Odds according to Las Vegas.)
1. Which team is the best bet to win the BCS title? Are there any others worth giving a look?
Phil Steele: The best bet to win the BCS national championship are the Texas Longhorns (20-to-1 odds). While the Crimson Tide are my official pick to win the national championship over Ohio State this year, those two teams are the clear favorites in Las Vegas and do not give you solid value. The Longhorns, however, do give you value as they are currently favored in all 12 of their games. They are the most experienced team in the country (19 returning starters) playing in a Big 12 Conference that ranks as the least experienced conference in college football this year. Five of my nine sets of power ratings call for an unbeaten Longhorns season.