Although I am already the richest, most successful person in the West Virginia media, Clark Johnson’s outstanding article from earlier today (“Vegas Odds to Win the Big 12 Championship”) inspired me to make a rather large bet on my beloved Mountaineers.
According to Clarks’ article, West Virginia was given 80-1 odds to win the Big 12, which is tied for 6th best in the league with Kansas State and Texas Tech. Only the Kansas Jayhawks were given worse odds at 500-1.
Oklahoma, currently the favorites at 6-5 odds, is typically the team to beat in the Big 12 and it’s no surprise that they are once again favored by the people in Las Vegas. However, Oklahoma will start an inexperienced albeit extremely talented redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler.
Rattler, who completed 7 of 11 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in three appearances last season, is the quarterback of the present and future for the Sooners now, and he will undoubtedly be one of the best players in the Big 12 eventually, but he is still a freshman and being successful next season will be no easy task.
The Texas Longhorns, led by talented senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, currently have the second best odds to win the conference at 3-2. Texas is always loaded with talent and this year is no different, but they have to play LSU on the road in the 2nd game of the season and Oklahoma in Norman as well. If the Mountaineers can pull off a Will Grier-like upset in Austin in mid-October and beat Oklahoma at home in November, they could end up right at the top of the Big 12 Conference.
West Virginia’s schedule is very, very favorable this season and the Mountaineer’s odds are certainly far better than 80-1 to win the Big 12 Conference.
With this said, I don’t condone gambling. It’s for degenerates and low-lifes. However, I justified this particular bet by convincing myself that $500 is not a huge amount of money and the potential profit is simply too good to pass up on.
The odds on the particular website that I used to place the bet was +5000, which essentially means that my $500 bet will pay out $25,500.00, or a $25,000.00 profit.
I truly believe that not only will the West Virginia Mountaineers make a huge turnaround like Neal Brown did in his second season at Troy, I think they have a real shot to win the Big 12 Conference, making me $25,000 richer.
