Miami, Florida State picked as two ACC teams with value to win league by betting analyst

With the start of the 2024 season only a week away, college football bettors everywhere are looking for their best value picks for a variety of different bets. And the bet on who will win the ACC has some interesting options.

ESPN BET Live analyst Joe Fortenbaugh broke down what he viewed as the best potential value bet in the ACC.

“To go back to Miami again in the ACC, I think there’s an opportunity there,” Fortenbaugh said on the Always College Football podcast with Greg McElroy. “They’re still sitting out there at plus-money.”

Miami is indeed at plus-money, sitting at +450 to win the league, meaning if you bet $100, you’d win $450 if the Hurricanes did indeed win the ACC.

But they’re not the only good value bet in the ACC, according to Fortenbaugh. In fact, a Miami rival is the other quality bet in the ACC, Fortenbaugh said.

“A lot of people love Florida State. Again, it’s one of those ‘we saw it last year so it should happen again,'” he said. “(Mike) Norvell hits the transfer portal really hard. He’s fantastic at that. But they still lost a lot. Five starters on defense went in the NFL Draft. They lost their quarterback. There’s a lot they’ve got to figure out and they’re going to be on the road at Miami.”

Having said that, the transfer portal is where the Seminoles (+300) are looking to turn their fortunes. That starts with former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who takes over for Jordan Travis.

Uiagalelei is coming off a season in which he threw for a career-best 2,638 yards and 21 touchdowns, against just seven interceptions, albeit in the former Pac-12, not the ACC. He also ran for 219 yards and six scores.

If he can pick up where Travis left off, the Seminoles will be in excellent shape.

Of course, there’s some retooling to the skill position group that must be done after Keon Coleman, Johnny Wilson and Jaheim Bell all headed to the NFL Draft.

To that end, Florida State brought in Alabama running back Roydell Williams, Indiana running back Jaylin Lucas, Alabama receiver Malik Benson and LSU receiver Jalen Brown.

Can those additions help the Seminoles repeat as ACC Champions, providing bettors with a quality value win? That remains to be seen. But we’ll begin to find out a week from now, when Florida State takes on Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland at noon ET on ESPN.