Ryan’s Ramble: All great things come to an end

The 2021/2022 college football season is officially over. Every time the national championship game comes around, there is always that bittersweet feeling of watching the pinnacle of the sport we love, but also realizing that we have a long eight months ahead of us before the next season kicks off.

With no games on, now all we can do is hypothesize as to what could happen next year or “take a step back” and review some of the highlights and big moments from the year.

If you’ve followed Ryan’s Ramble throughout this college football season, you’d know we’ve had a lot of highs and lows on a roller coaster-like journey ‘til the end. From preseason win total future bets to bowl season underdogs; we’ve been through it all.

This has been my second full college football season posting and analyzing betting lines, but the first time doing a coinciding podcast where I talk about each pick in greater detail. Last season we finished with a 97-89-7 record (52.1% win percentage), and this year I set out with a goal to improve upon that record.

After a long, stress-inducing battle against those oddsmakers in Vegas, I can proudly say Ryan’s Ramble finished with a 107-87-4 record (55.2% win percentage) this season.

Here is where I would typically introduce “What I learned” from last week’s games and preview my picks for the upcoming Saturday, but there are no more games to discuss. Instead, let’s take a trip down memory lane to see exactly how we ended up with a >55% win percentage.

The Futures

This season’s sports betting journey began in early August with wayyyy too many future picks.

For those unfamiliar with the difference between a future bet and a typical single-game spread or over/under, this is essentially predicting how the season will pan out before a down of football is played. Every team has a set line for regular-season win totals, such as TCU at O/U 7.5 this season, and every conference has odds for who might become champion that season.

Even though I do my best to think like a sharp and stray away from the squares, seeing all of these lines was overwhelming and I ended up taking 20+ future bets.

I went 0-2 on my G5 conference winners (App. State & Marshall) but bounced back by going 2-0 in Power 5 conference predictions, where I took Alabama -160 to win the SEC and Utah +500 to win the Pac 12.

Aside from the conference winners, I finished 4-3 on my G5 regular-season win total predictions and 8-7 on my Power 5 win totals. There was a few beautiful wins as well as a couple “What the hell was I thinking” picks in the mix. For example, SMU o6.5, Texas u8.0, UNC u10.5, and Michigan o7.5 were a few of my proud wins, but I also took Indiana o8.0, Miami (FL) o9.5, and Georgia u10.5; yikes.

Bowl Season Bets

Bowl season was incredibly disappointing this season, not because of the quality of games, rather because of the seemingly endless cancellations. Although I was thrilled the NCAA got through the playoffs with smooth sailing, it was a bummer seeing what felt like a new game cancellation every day of December.

Alas, not all of Ryan’s Ramble’s bowl season picks were canceled. We still had 19 plays across the board. Some went great, and others… well not so much.

Excluding any picks that were canceled, our bowl season picks finished with an 8-9-2 record. One of the few losing weeks of the season for Ryan’s Ramble, but it could have gone much, much worse.

The goal heading into bowl season was to simply not royally screw the pooch and tarnish the positive record we had at the time. Even though 8-9 still puts us down a unit, it felt like a weight off my shoulder. Anything other than 0-19 and it would have been a-okay.

Overall

I could drone on and on about my picks this season considering I have nearly 200 to choose from, but the fact of the matter is there are simply too many to break down individually. I’d be writing a novel if that were the case.

Instead, check out the Podcast version of Ryan’s Ramble where I break down some of the season’s highlights in greater detail. I know I know, another shameless self-promo, but hey, we’ve got to get those clicks somehow.

This was an incredible season and I want to highlight the fact that none of this would have been possible without YOU. The audience, the readers, the listeners; a huge thank you to all of you for your support throughout the season.

As this is the last episode of the season, be sure to go and give it a listen on Spotify/Apple Podcasts or a watch on YouTube!