College Football Picks 2025- Bowls and Playoff

It’s been another great year for my college football picks. I’ve bet 412 units on the season and am up 101 units- a nice 24.5% ROI. The highlight of the season was my Duke to win the ACC bet at 100/1, although I only won 38 units on it as I hedged my exposure before the ACC title game.

I’ll write up a big retrospective on the season in a few weeks discussing what I learned and what lessons I’ve taken away for 2026. But for now- let’s close out the season with two small picks.

Futures*: +96.29 units

Week 0: -3 units

Week 1: -2.57 units

Week 2: +2.61 units

Week 3: +1.05 units

Week 4: +3.43 units

Week 5: -3.13 units

Week 6: +3.83 units

Week 7: +2.04 units

Week 8: +8.16 units

Week 9: +0.84 units

Week 10: 0 units

Week 11: -4 units

Week 12: -1.13 units

Week 13: -2.05 units

Week 14: -1.09 units

Season Total: +101.28 units

*Note: Futures PnL is a mark to market estimate

James Madison @ Oregon (December 20th, 6:30 PM Central)

Of the two G5 teams that made the playoff, James Madison is definitely the better one. The Dukes dominated a week Sun Belt, and are now 28th in my ratings. That puts them in the same neighborhood as a team like Washington- who lost to Oregon a few weeks ago, but hung around until the fourth quarter. JMU is better than people give them credit for and can remain competitive here.

James Madison +21.5 -115 (1 unit)

California @ Hawai’i (December 24th, 7 PM Central)

This is the rare bowl game that is a true home game for one team- if they qualify for a bowl game, Hawai’i is generally placed at home in the Hawai’i Bowl. Unfortunately, my thesis for this bet has kind of gone out the window since I placed it. I was thinking that star Cal QB (and native Hawai’ian) Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele would enter the portal and not play in this game. Since I placed this bet, he has announced he’s coming back to Cal next year. This line has thus moved a few points against me.

Hawai’i ML -108 (1 unit)