2008 Miami Hurricanes Betting Odds and Schedule

The Miami Hurricanes football team has fallen from National title games to finishing last year’s college football betting schedule 5-7 and only won 2-6 in the ACC Coastal conference.

Miami finished the 2007 college football schedule with its worst record since 1977 and is below .500 over the past two seasons going 12-13. Randy Shannon is back at head coach and will not have much to look forward to except for playing at Dolphin’s Stadium for the 2008 Hurricanes football schedule.

A total of 13 starters are gone from last year’s 5-7 squad which means immaturity will play a big factor. Although Shannon has been busy trying to rebuild the team much like Butch Davis did in the 90’s, the 2008 squad will have too many freshmen for Miami to be considered seriously for any Bowl Games.

Last year, Miami went 4-8 against the spread in college football betting odds and 6-6 in over/unders. The Hurricanes averaged 169.5 passing yards and 145.6 rushing yards per game while allowing opponents 212.2 passing and 133.8 rushing yards per game.

If you believe the freshman can play big time football, then you should visit BetUS sportsbook for early BCS odds. BetUS has the Miami Hurricanes at +6000 in college football odds to win the BCS Championship.

Vegas odds to win the 2009 BCS National Game have the Miami Hurricanes at 60/1.

College football odds for 2008-2009 regular season wins on Miami at BetUS sportsbook have the Hurricanes at 8, +120 over and -160 under.

However, Shannon thinks differently about his freshman, “I think those guys will be able to contribute right away. They've already brought something to the team. We've developed depth. They're not really true freshmen now, more like redshirt freshmen,” Shannon said when asked about getting the freshman squad in early for spring ball.

2008 Miami Hurricanes Offense Miami only averaged 170 yards per game in the air last year mainly because of the confusion at the quarterback position between Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman. This year doesn’t look much better with redshirt freshman Robert Marve and true freshman Jacory Harris competing for the starters jersey. Marve is the son of former NFL linebacker Eugene Marve and has been touted as an excellent overall passer but at only 185lbs., he needs to bulk up his 6’2 frame. He is a quarterback who likes to stay in the pocket but can also make big plays happen on the ground. Marve definitely has the makings of a great college quarterback; just don’t expect too much this for college football betting this year. Whoever starts at quarterback for Miami will have a more talented receiver crew than last year but will be looking at freshman Aldarius Johnson to put up the big numbers. Johnson finished the regular season at Miami Northwestern HS with 47 catches for 855 yards and 12 touchdowns. The little experience Miami has at the receiver position is junior Sam Shields who had 346 yards for 27 catches during the 2007 football schedule.

The offense will require the experience of sophomore Graig Cooper and junior Javarris James at the running back position to carry them through the early part of the college football betting season. Cooper led Miami in yards on the ground last year with 682 and James was right behind him with 582.

Another father-son connection being made in Miami this year will be the coach’s son center Xavier Shannon, who is transferring in from Florida International. This will definitely improve the Hurricanes offensive line with some much needed help in the middle.

Only two offensive starters, senior Reggie Youngblood at left tackle and junior Jason Fox at right tackle, return to the line for Miami. The guard spots will be watched by many offenses as sophomores Orlando Franklin and Joel Figueroa will try to fill the positions.

If Miami is to have any chance of scoring; the line will have to give either Marve or Harris time to throw the ball while opening lanes for Cooper and James to run through. With so much inexperience, I just don’t see that happening during the 2008 Hurricanes schedule.

2008 Miami Hurricanes Defense

As with the offense, the Miami Hurricanes defense will have a young squad with only 6 players returning from last year and one starter. On the front line, the only two returning players the Hurricanes have are senior defensive end Eric Moncur who tallied up six sacks last season and sophomore defensive end Allen Bailey. Freshman Marcus Forston, another Miami Northwestern star, will try to fill the tackle position 2008 schedule.

The one position that the Miami Hurricanes should not have to worry about this year is at linebacker. The linebackers will be led by senior Glenn Cook and junior Darryl Sharpton but according to sources in Miami, the Hurricanes have a whole slew of talent coming in this season from the linebacker recruiting class including Arthur Brown and Marcus Robinson.

The secondary should play pretty decent during the 2008 Hurricanes schedule with returning starter junior Chavez Grant and sophomore DeMarcus Van Dyke at the corner positions, senior Randy Phillips will be taking over at strong safety and senior Lovon Ponder at free safety.

2008 Miami Hurricanes Prediction

The team should be much better than last season but with many positions being filled by freshman, the Hurricanes will be lucky if they break into the top four of the ACC Coastal conference. It has been awhile since the Hurricanes have been in contention for a BCS title and with immaturity playing a big factor this season, they will need to wait a little longer. I would expect the Miami Hurricanes to have a sub .500 college football betting season winning maybe 5 games on the schedule and finishing 3-5 in the ACC.

2008 Miami Hurricanes Schedule