College football betting: With 21 starters back, Wyoming has an easily achievable win total

Rush to BetMGM and hit the over on Wyoming's win total.

The Cowboys' over/under for the 2021 season sits at 7.5 and there's a lot to like about Wyoming's prospects for an eight-win season.

Wyoming has hit eight wins in three of the last four full seasons and a 2-4 record in 2020 wasn't a good indicator of the team's strength. Wyoming lost in overtime to start the season to Nevada — the No. 3 team in the conference — and then lost close games at New Mexico and to Boise State to end the season.

There's no reason why Wyoming won't win eight games for the fourth time in five full seasons. All but one starter returns on offense and every single starter returns on a defense that allowed just 21 points per game and held opposing offenses to 3.4 carries.

Wyoming's pass rush was also pretty strong. The Cowboys had 17 sacks in just six games and all but one player who recorded a sack in 2020 is back in 2021.

Toughest games are on the road

The non-conference schedule is also pretty easy. The Cowboys should be significant favorites in games against Montana State, Northern Illinois and Connecticut and the Sep. 18 home contest with Ball State is a winnable one. Ball State also returns a bunch of starters, but we're confident that Wyoming should be able to start the season 4-0.

Games at Air Force, San Jose State and Boise State are by far the three toughest on paper. But even if Wyoming loses all three of those games, the Cowboys can still afford another loss to hit the over (-135). Wyoming is just 1-4 against Fresno State in Mountain West play and most of those games have been blowouts. Fresno travels to Wyoming on Oct. 16 and we'd be stunned if that was a three-touchdown game either way.

Who plays QB the entire year?

The biggest question for the offense is at quarterback, where both Sean Chambers and Levi Williams return. Chambers is once again opening the season as the starter but has suffered season-ending injuries in each of the past two seasons. Chambers was lost for the year at the beginning of the first game of the 2020 season and Williams came in to throw for 877 yards.

He threw for just one TD and three interceptions and completed fewer than 50% of his passes. Whoever wins — and keeps — the QB job needs to be able to complete over half his passes. The Cowboys haven't completed over 50% of their passes as a team since 2017.

That's why Wyoming has rushed for more yards than it's thrown for in each of the past three seasons. With an offensive line featuring two seniors and two juniors and Xazavian Valladay and Trey Smith back in the backfield, the running game should be fantastic once again. And a big reason why Wyoming should be one of the best teams in the Mountain West even if the passing game doesn't improve much.

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