You could hardly have scripted a better curtain-raiser for the 2025 college football season than Saturday’s contest between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State.
Not only is this a battle between the two betting favorites to win the national championship, but it’s also Arch Manning’s debut as QB1 for the Longhorns, and it comes against the defending champs.
The betting line, which is essentially a coin flip, only adds to the drama.
There’s a chance that Manning is generational.
He’s got the pedigree, he’s excelled in a small sample, and his coach, Steve Sarkisian, knows how to put his quarterback in the best position to succeed.
It’s all there for Manning, at least on paper.
There’s only one problem: The game is not played on paper.
Not only will Manning face one of the country’s best defenses, but he’ll be doing it with a relatively unproven wide receiving corps. And he’ll be doing it in a very hostile environment.
This isn’t to say there’s no chance that Manning lights it up and leads Texas to an impressive win, but rather to argue that the betting market — and college football world at large — is giving him too much credit to come out ahead in an extremely difficult position.
Hype seeps into the betting market, and the Manning bandwagon is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in college football.
There are certainly questions about Ohio State, too.
Matt Patricia takes over on defense, and it’s been 22 years since he was on a college sideline.
He’s got plenty of new faces in tow, but the Buckeyes are a recruiting machine, so don’t doubt the talent.
Brian Hartline steps back into the offensive coordinator role after Chip Kelly took the reins from him in 2024, but he too has a ridiculous amount of talent to work with in Columbus.
Julian Sayin, like Manning, is unproven as a starting quarterback in big-time college football, but his pedigree got him recruited by Alabama and then Ohio State.
He also has the best receiver in the country, Jeremiah Smith, riding shotgun.
Betting on College Football?
This game is being priced as a coin flip, but that seems like it’s a product of a generational hype train.
We’ll trust the defending champs at home.
The Play: Ohio State (-125, bet365)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
