College teams with close loses in 2008

College basketball isn’t the only sport that gives fans a Cinderella team to root for. In 2007, an unlikely Virginia Cavaliers football team won a share of the ACC Championship with a 9-3 record. Amazingly, that included a 22-20 win over North Carolina, a 28-23 win over Georgia Tech, a 23-21 win over Middle Tennessee State, a 17-16 win over Connecticut, an 18-17 win over Maryland and a 17-16 win over Wake Forest. That’s five wins by 10 total points – or a season of having all the chips fall in the right direction. 

In a blog entry from Phil Steele last month, he took a look at teams with three or more close losses in 2008. That list included two teams: Iowa and Ole Miss. The Rebels finished 9-4 last season but lost all four games by a touchdown or less. A 30-28 loss to Wake Forest, a 23-17 loss to Vanderbilt, a 31-24 loss to South Carolina and a 24-20 loss to Alabama sent Ole Miss to the Cotton Bowl. To the Rebels, it probably felt more like the Toilet Bowl.

Several close losses definitely have a negative effect on a team’s psyche. It’s hard to go out there every Saturday after losing sleep wondering, “What if?” all week long. It can, however, be good to college football betting fans.

You see, Ole Miss doesn’t appear to be the most dangerous team on paper. A 9-4 team in a perennially tough conference doesn’t scream National Championship contender to most people. But the Rebels return 14 of 22 starters, get seven games at home and, best of all, avoid playing Florida and Georgia. Granted, it’s not a cupcake schedule – Ole Miss still faces Alabama and LSU, but both games are at home on their own turf in Oxford, Mississippi.