Cal a Long Shot in Betting Odds to Win 2022 Pac-12 Football Title
The Pac-12 made a significant change recently when it announced that the division winners would not necessarily be the two participants in its conference football championship game. Instead the two teams with the best conference winning percentage would meet in the title game even if they were from the same division.
Whether that affects gamblers' wagering trends regarding the Pac-12 remains to be seen, but it is interesting that two teams from the Pac-12 South are the co-favorites to win the conference title, based on odds provided by Caesars Sportsbook as reported by CBS Sports.
The shortest odds for a North Division team belong to Oregon, but the Ducks are only the third betting favorite to win the Pac-12 title.
Cal is a long shot. Only Colorado and Arizona have longer odds than the Golden Bears, which indicates that the experts making the betting lines at Caesars don't expect much from Cal.
Cal has not shared a conference title since 2006, and the Golden Bears have not finished alone in first since 1958, when the league was known as the Pacific Coast Conference and included Idaho.
The odds of Cal winning the Pac-12 title in 2022 are listed at +7500, which is 75-to-1. So a $10 bet on the Golden Bears would bring you a payout of $760 ($750 profit) if Cal would pull a major surprise and win the Pac-12 title.
But the longest odds belong to Arizona, which is 500-to-1, so a $10 bet on the Wildcats would yield $5,000 in profit if they should win the conference title. And considering the improvements Arizona has made in the offseason, it might not be a ridiculous bet.
Picking a winner in the Pac-12 may be difficult if you keep in mind that seven of the 12 teams are expected to have a starting quarterback who was an offseason transfer from another school.
Here are the odds to win the Pac-12 title, according to Caesars Sportsbook, as reported by CBSSports.com.
USC -- +200 or 2-to-1
Utah -- +200 or 2-to-1
Oregon -- +300 or 3-to-1
UCLA -- +750 or 7.5-to-1
Washington -- +1800 or 18-to-1
Arizona State -- +2500 or 25-to-1
Oregon State -- +3500 or 35-to-1
Washington State -- +4000 or 40-to-1
Stanford -- +6000 or 60-to-1
Cal -- +7500 or 75-to-1
Colorado -- +40000 or 400-to-1
Arizona -- +50000
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CBSSports.com's David Cobb gave the following advice:
Best bet: UCLA, at 15-to-2 (or 7.5-t-to-1.)
Worst bet: USC, at 2-to-1.
Best value bet: Washington, at 18-to-1
Best long-shot bet: Oregon State, at 35-to-1
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Cover photo by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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