Miami football is Fanduel’s overwhelming favorite in ACC Coastal

Coming off of 7-6 2018 season the Miami football team is still Fanduel’s overwhelming favorite in the ACC Coastal Division in 2019. The iconic sports gambling site lists the Hurricanes as the number two favorite to win the ACC behind Clemson.

Fanduel gives the Miami football program odds of +850 (or 17-2) to win the ACC in 2019. The Hurricanes have the best odds among ACC Coastal Division teams to capture the conference title. Clemson is the extreme overwhelming favorite to win its fifth straight ACC Championship at -600.

The Miami football program won their first and only ACC Coastal Divison title in 2017. The Hurricanes finished 10-3 overall and 7-1 in the ACC in 2017. Their only conference loss of the regular season was at Pittsburgh in the final regular season game. The Hurricanes also lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship game.

Fanduel’s odds making the Hurricanes the second betting favorite in the ACC shows both their faith and the perception of how the public will gamble this summer on the winner of the ACC. Virginia who many prognosticators have in the top 25 and projected to win the Coastal is a distant +3000 as the Coastal’s second favorite.

A few websites have come out with their predictions for the ACC in 2019. Athlon Sports projects Virginia to win the Coastal this fall with a 6-2 ACC record. The Cavaliers come to Hard Rock Stadium in October.

Some other sites have picked Virginia Tech in the early projections for this fall. The Hokies also play at Hard Rock Stadium in October. Virginia Tech is equal to Virginia in FanDuel’s odds at +3000 to win the ACC in 2019.

Athlon concedes that the ACC Coastal will be a tight battle that will come down to Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Most of the prognostications for the Hurricanes fortunes in 2019 depends on how far the Miami offense comes under new coordinator Dan Enos.

In the analysis of the odds, CBSSports.com’s Chip Patterson stated that the odds FanDual has for the Miami football team are the worst in the ACC. Virginia Tech’s 30-1 odds were stated to be the best bet by CBS. CBS has confidence in the Hurricanes offense but like everyone else has questions about the offense.

"“Worst wager — Miami (17/2): I’m not sure Tate Martell is going to be the answer to Miami’s offensive woes, but at the same time, I’m not expecting Miami’s defense to take any huge steps back despite losing some of its key contributors.The analysis of Miami is that Manny Diaz and a defense that he helped construct gives the Hurricanes a high floor, but I will wait to buy stock in Miami as a team that can win the ACC and make a playoff run until offensive consistency and explosiveness shows up to raise the team’s 2019 ceiling.As it stands, I see Miami as a solid nine- or 10-win team, set to take at least a loss or two in conference play during the regular season and definitely on a different level than Clemson. I view Miami and Virginia Tech as similar teams in the ACC race and the oddsmakers clearly do not, so I cannot advocate a Canes pick at this price.”"

It’s tough to disagree with Patterson’s assessment of what Miami would have to do upset Clemson in Charlotte in December. The odds, in general, of winning the ACC are less for the Coastal Division teams than the Atlantic Division teams other than Clemson.

The winner of the Coastal will have to defeat Clemson once to get to the College Football Playoff. If someone other than Clemson wins the Atlantic Divison, that team would almost definitely defeat the Tigers and go nearly unblemished throughout the rest of the regular season.

Clemson lost Atlantic Division games to Pittsburgh and Syracuse in 2016 and ’17 and still won the Atlantic Division. In 2016 they won the National Championship. The Tigers have lost only two ACC Games and three overall in the last four seasons. They won National Championships in the 2016 and ’18 seasons.

Athlon gave the same analysis about the outlook for the Miami season as Patterson did. The success of the 2019 Miami football season will come down to how much Enos can improve the offense. The schedule works in Miami’s favor. Having their two biggest competitors come to the Rock gives the Hurricanes a huge advantage.