Counting coaches, Louisville’s fresh start, eyes on Pac-12, bowl bets: Fortuna’s Cover 4

There have been 11 head-coaching hires since the last column. Louisville has a new coach.

Louisville had been through a lot in the last five years. The FBI and the NCAA came after the Cardinals in 2017. There were five different basketball coaches, three different presidents and two different athletic directors. Scott Satterfield left the program for Cincinnati. Jeff Brohm, a former Cardinals quarterback, came back to Louisville. The team plays in a football game against Cincinnati on December 17.

Louisville has a new coach in Scott Satterfield. Sterfield was close to losing his job after a poor start. Louisville didn't have to pay a buyout to fire him. The school shelled out $14 million to let Bobby Petrino go in 2018. Now Louisville is feeling good again. It knows what it has and there is no more cloud hanging over any coach's head. If only Brohm and Saterfield could face off against each other near the Green Monster later this month.

Western Michigan hired Louisville offensive coordinator Lance Taylor as its new head coach. Toledo won its second conference title this past week. Jason Candle has one year left on his contract. Former Kent State coach Sean Lewis is the favorite to replace him. Pat Narduzzi is a possibility if Purdue decides to lean on defense. North Texas is still looking for a new coach after Seth Littrell was fired. Stanford's search should be wrapped up by the end of the week, but it's still unclear if it will be him or someone else.

The Pac-12 is without a media deal and is not close to landing one. The Rose Bowl was criticized by Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. Stanford great Andrew Luck was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. David Shaw attended the ceremony on behalf of Luck. He retired 10 days ago. Louisville is looking for a new coach. It's a good time to bet on the team.

There have been 22 head-coaching changes in the last 22 years. There are more than 1,000 transfer portal entrants and opt-out after opt out.

The value on picking these games was there upon announcement. The odds have moved dramatically in a number of games. North Texas is now an 8.5-point underdog to Boise State in the Miami Beach Bowl. Florida is a 10-5 underdog against Oregon State. Western Kentucky went from +3. 5 to +7.0 after Austin Reed entered the transfer portal. Arkansas dropped from -5. to -3 against Kansas in Liberty Bowl, and North Carolina went +10.