How many games does Vegas have Utah winning in 2018?

We’re getting to the point of the season where we are starting to see pre-season polls and Vegas win projections. The first batch of win projections from the Bovada in Vegas came out a month or so ago, and now we have the full county on the books, including the Utes.

I predicted that Vegas would put Utah at 7.5 on their win projections for the season, and I was really close. The guys in the desert have the Utes at 7 even on the season, which it always surprises me when they give a team a round number like that. Utah may have the toughest in conference schedule of anybody in the league, missing Cal and Oregon State in the North, while hitting all of the heavy hitters up there. Utah has the third highest projection in the South, behind USC (8.5) and Arizona (7.5).

Here’s a full list of the entire conference:

Arizona: 7.5
Arizona State: 4.5
Cal: 6.5
Colorado: 4.5
Oregon: 8.5
Oregon State: 2.5
Stanford: 8
UCLA: 5.5
USC: 8.5
Utah: 7
Washington: 10.5
Washington State: 6.5

Some initial surprises for me is the fact that Washington is so high at 10.5. I think that’s a number they can get to, but man, that’s a lot of wins for Vegas to put on your head. Oregon has a lot of talent, and being at 8.5 is a good number, but I’m not sold on the coaching staff, especially after the debacle in the Vegas Bowl. Cal almost made a bowl game a year ago, and Vegas has them getting there this year, which I think is about right. Colorado doens’t have a lot of faith from the fellas in the casinos with only 4.5. I’m not sure if that coaching staff survives if they don’t make a bowl game this year, but I don’t think I see if for the Buffs.

Utah will have a lot of swing games this year, just based on the difficulty of the schedule, and they could beat every team in the South and still lose the division because of the guys they play in the North. This may be one of the most interesting seasons in the Pac-12.