LARAMIE -- For all you bettors out there, DraftKings has released its over/under win totals for the 2023 college football season.

If I was betting man -- I'm not -- I’d be wagering on the Pokes.

101.9 KING-FM logo
Get our free mobile app

According to this sports betting site, the Vegas experts have the Wyoming Cowboys win total set at 6.5. This means if you think Craig Bohl and Co. will win 7 or more games this season, place the bet. If you're a pessimist and think the Cowboys will go 6-6 or worse, bet the under.

 

Draft Kings Over/Under Win Totals for MWC

Boise State 9.0

Air Force 8.5

Fresno State 7.5

San Diego State 7

Wyoming 6.5

UNLV 6.0

Utah State 6.0

San Jose State 5.5

Colorado State 4.5

New Mexico 4

Hawaii 3.5

Nevada 2.5

Why bet on the Pokes to win more than six games? Well, for one, the schedule features seven home games this season. UW sports a 28-11 record inside War Memorial Stadium since 2016, including a pair of perfect campaigns in 2019 and '16 (excluding the Mountain West title game.)

The Cowboys' road tilts are at Texas, Air Force, Nevada, UNLV and Boise State.

You have to like their chances in Reno and Las Vegas, plus, UW is 3-3 against the Falcons in Colorado Springs since 2011. The Pokes have never won at Texas or Boise State.

Why shouldn't you bet on the Cowboys to win more than six games?

Texas Tech and Appalachian State aren't exactly gimmes in the non-conference slate. Defending conference champions, Fresno State, also pays a visit to Laramie.

As previously mentioned, UW has never beaten the Longhorns or Broncos on the road. That's a combined record of 0-12 in those venues. In fact, since Bohl arrived on the high plains in 2014, his Cowboys have won just 17 games away from home in 52 tries.

For what it’s worth, College Football News came out with a MW football prediction for every game. Seems pretty silly to come out with something like this so early, but then again, a lot of things in 2023 don’t make sense. CFN predicts that the Pokes will go 6-6 overall and finish .500 in league play with losses to Fresno State, Air Force, Boise State and UNLV.

I wouldn’t put any stock in what Bill Connelly of ESPN predicted back on April 11.

In his “highly anticipated SP+ projections" for the upcoming season, he has the Pokes winning only 5.5 games. But read the first paragraph of this article. Did you catch the part about how the projections are for the MW’s Mountain Division? Is this guy even credible after stating that? The league did away with the Mountain and West Divisions for 2023 and beyond.

Now, the best two teams at season's end will face off in the annual championship game. This positions the conference to get its best on the field and gives it a chance to crash the New Year's party.

Think about this, if there were no divisions last fall, Wyoming still would've been alive on the final week of the regular season despite that heartbreaking 20-17 loss to Boise State. Instead, the Broncos took over the top spot in the Mountain Division and eventually lost to Fresno State in the title game.

Connelly had this to ay about the Cowboys: "Wyoming is projected to finish with 5.5 wins, which may not be too far off considering their consistent six to seven win season performance."

He's not wrong there.

(Jared Newland will keep an eye on Wyoming and Mountain West betting odds throughout the 2023-24 season)

POKES: The Seven Best Games In The History Of The Wyoming-CSU Border War Rivalry (Naturally, they were all Wyoming wins)

More From 101.9 KING-FM