College Football Futures Bets- Week 12 2025

I have to apologize in advance for being slow in writing up my futures bets this week. I bet all of these on Sunday morning and a lot of the lines have moved pretty aggressively in my favor since then. I’ll try to be more timely with the writeups going forward.

I also apologize for not posting a rooting guide this week. I’m in New Orleans for my bachelor party (and headed to Baton Rouge tomorrow for Arkansas/LSU). I just haven’t had the time to write up the full rooting guide. Teams we want to win this week, in rough order of importance:

Georgia, Jacksonville State, North Texas, South Florida, Oklahoma, TCU, Arizona, Texas Tech, Utah

James Madison to miss the Playoff -230 (4 units)

I think the James Madison hype has gone a little far over its skis. Let’s break down what they need to have happen to make the playoff:

-They need to win out, including the conference title game. They’re favorites in every remaining game but have to go to Coastal Carolina and likely play Southern Miss in the conference title game. Call it a 50% chance.

-They need either Duke (or perhaps SMU) to win the ACC to jump them. Or, they could have some chaos in the American- ECU winning the league would certainly do the trick, Tulane winning might. There’s around a 20% chance Duke wins the ACC, a 13% chance SMU does, and a 10% or so chance they get a favorable outcome in the American.

Add it all up, and I think -230 is the absolute best odds I could see being reasonable here. I think it should be -330 or so.

Vanderbilt to make the Playoff +380 (3 units)

As I detailed in my playoff preview post this week, Vanderbilt is in very good shape to make the playoff if they win out. They host Kentucky and go @ Tennessee. They’ll be underdogs in Knoxville, but only by a field goal or so. They’ll be a heavy favorite at home against Kentucky. I like this line quite a bit- Vanderbilt has a decent shot at their first playoff bid.

SMU to make the Playoff +1200 (1 unit)

This one has moved a ton in my favor (it’s +490 now) and I do apologize for not posting these earlier in the week, but I’ve been busy with work. SMU does not control their own destiny in the ACC, but if they win out, they’ll be in pretty good shape to make the conference title game. This line priced a strong chance that SMU would get left out of the field if they win the ACC in favor of James Madison, but I pretty strongly disagree with that.