College Football Betting

College Football Betting Explained

Football is an incredibly popular betting sport, and much like the professional ranks of the NFL, College Football betting is growing in popularity all the time. Each College Football game will have in some instances, hundreds of markets made available to bet on, of course, the bigger schools and conferences, like the Power 5 teams garner more attention, and thus more markets available. Here at Pickswise, our main focus is too on the Power 5 games, and also any Top-25 ranked teams from outside the big five conferences. With hundreds of College Football games each week, the sheer volume is too great to allow for enough time to research each game as required. Therefore by narrowing the pool of matches, we are able to ensure our College Football betting previews are as well researched and detailed as can be. Each of our previews will have bets against the spread and on the points totals, as well as a select number of College Football Parlays. We also have a College Football Best Bets page, to further assist you in finding our best plays of the day.

College Football Betting This Week 

The majority of the College Football season will be played on Saturday’s but with games also occasionally played during the week, including the National Championship Title Game itself, we are on hand for all of your college football betting this week. Our previews and bets for Saturday’s matches will be posted at least a couple of days before the match is set to be played, and likewise with any of the midweek action. We cover all of the top college football action, including the Power 5 Conference games and any non-Power 5 team ranked in the Top-25. Each of these game previews will contain a bet against the spread as well as on the points total line, alongside full game analysis and all of the key stats. We have everything you need for your college football betting this week. 

College Football Betting Online

College football is an extremely popular sport, and that is no different in the world of sports betting. Being one of the most popularly wagered on sports means sportsbooks will put a considerable amount of time and thought into their college football betting product online. What this means for us, is great specials each week, competitive odds between sportsbooks, huge signup bonuses, and a whole host of specialized markets to bet on. Near enough any Best Online Sportsbook will have college football betting odds on hundreds of matches each week, and we’re here to find the best value lines or those we think the sportsbook may be a little off on. Shopping around is key when betting college football online, and it pays to have multiple sportsbook accounts to ensure you’re always on the best line or odds. We highlight the best available odds with all of our college football betting advice, but these lines change fast so be sure to double-check before locking them in, the difference of 1 point on the spread could determine a winning bet or a losing one. 

College Football Live Betting

The college football betting action doesn’t stop at kick-off. With live sports betting increasing in popularity, it’s expected to be the next big thing in the US betting industry, just as it already is overseas. Live betting is simply betting on a game after it has started. Being able to place a wager on a game while you watch, is an exciting and exhilarating way to get involved in the action. While you don’t get as expansive a selection of markets as you do with pre-game college football bets, in the live betting section, you’ll still be able to wager on all of the most popular lines such as the money line, totals, and spreads, which change in line with the on-field action. You may also see a selection of prop bets such as touchdown scorers of team points totals in the college football live betting section. Fancy something different? why not give college football live betting a try while you watch the next big game. 

Types of College Football Bets

There are many different ways you can bet on college football and our expert handicappers are on hand all season long with insight, analysis, and our best bets. Check out the most popular types of college football betting, and what they mean, and how they work below. 

College Football Money Line Betting

College Football money line betting is the simplest way to wager on a college football game. A Bet on the college football money line is a bet on which team will win that given match. With no ties and multiple overtime periods in college football, this is simply a yes or no, right or wrong market. The money line is less popular with college football betting due to the hugely negative odds you’ll see about bigger schools vs smaller schools. Unlike in NFL Betting, where teams are more closely matched, making the money line a viable play, in college football, you can get some spreads as big as -50 and the money line wouldn’t even be offered for the favorite. Of course in close games, such as conference play, or bowl season and the playoffs the money line becomes a more viable option, but the spread remains much more popular in college sports. 

College Football Against The Spread Betting

College football against the spread betting is unquestionably the most popular form of sports betting amongst college sports. With a relative lack of parity between schools, at least in the most part, betting the money line is almost not viable in the long term. What college football against the spread betting allows, is for you to place a wager on a game at better odds, typically around -110 on either side of the line. Of course, betting a favorite against the spread is riskier than the money line, with some teams having to concede 20,30 or even 40 points, but you do so at much bigger odds. Conversely, you can also bet on the other side and take the underdog to keep the game closer than expected, 40 points is still a lot of points to try and win by, especially when some teams will pull their starters if running up a score. 

College Football Over Under Betting

Many bettors will opt for college football over-under betting because they don’t see the value in better a short odds favorite on the money line, but also don’t want to take them to cover a huge spread, whilst not trusting a small school to keep the game close. This is a regular dilemma sports betters find themselves in, so betting the points totals, takes the result out of the game, and focuses solely on whether more or fewer points will be scored than the sportsbooks set the line at. If the line is set at over 80.5 points and the game finished 62-20 then the overs will cash with 82 points scored. If the game ends 40-17, then the unders will cash as only 57 points were scored. You can see some wild scorelines in college football, but that also means you see some high over/under lines, and while we all love offense, getting the balance between betting the overs and unders in the right spots is the key to long term profit. 

College Football Player Prop Betting

College football play prop bets are popular ways to wager on players within the game. The most common type of player prop bet is on touchdown scorers. With the high-scoring nature of college football, unlike the NFL most players will be negative odds to score one touchdown, but you can get better odds for a player to either score the first touchdown or 2 or more touchdowns. Other player props can include exceeding a certain number of rushing, receiving, or passing yards, with the lines set by the sportsbook in an over/under type bet. 

College Football Team Prop Betting

College football teams probs are popular amongst bettors because they can focus on one teams’ performance rather than both. Total Team Points scored is a perfect example of this. Instead of taking the match points and seeing a smaller school shut out or scoring very few points and getting a bad bet on the overs. With team total points you can focus on just one side, be it unders on a team you think could be dominated, or just taking the overs on a big favorite. Other types of team prop bets can be to win both halves or even individual quarter betting lines.

College Football Parlay Betting

With the sheer number of college football games each week, the schedule lends itself to a college football parlay. A college football parlay is when you combine multiple selections, which can be from a mixture of markets, into one bet. The biggest benefit of college football parlay bets is undeniably the odds. With a parlay, you multiply each of the selections’ odds to calculate the parlay odds. The downside is that only one selection needs to lose, for the entire bet to lose, regardless of how many winners you’ve picked. Parlays are difficult bets to win, for this reason, so are always advised as smaller fun plays to try and win big from a smaller stake.

College Football Teaser Betting

College football teasers are a type of parlay, but a safer option than a regular parlay. What a teaser is, is a bet where you move the lines of each leg, in your favor, to make it a little safer. The most common type of teaser is a 7 point teaser, i.e another touchdown in your favor. In the example of a 2-team, 7 point teaser,  if the regular spread lines you wanted to bet on were Alabama -12 and Clemson -8, you would bet on Alabama -5 and Clemson -1. As you can see the lines have been adjusted 7 points in your favor, meaning the odds will also decrease. In a 2-team 7 point teaser, you will expect to get odds of around -120, which means you must stake $120 to win $100. 

College Football Futures Betting

There are three main college football futures markets that sports bettors will wager on from before the season starts, right throughout the season. The most obvious one of these is betting on a team to win the National Championship. You can bet on a team to win the national championship from pretty much right after the National Championship game of the previous season. Another similar type of college football futures betting is a team to make the playoffs. With only 4 teams making the playoffs each year, for now, at least, the odds for these can offer some value. You may see Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State with short odds, but there is often value in finding that 3rd or fourth team to make the playoffs. The other main market for college football futures betting is a players market, and that’s the winner of the Heisman Trophy award. With plenty of upsets or winners coming from left-field over the years, such as Joe Burrow and DeVonta Smith most recently, you can find some huge-priced winners in this market. Check out who our college football experts like in the 2021 Heisman Trophy Race.