How to Bet On Sports > How to Bet on College Football

College football total bets follow the same procedure as total bets from other sports and is identical to over under betting on NFL. The sportsbook will set a line for the total number of points expected to be. The majority of online sportsbooks – or at least the NCAA football betting sites we recommend – have lines and odds on most college games. We’ve researched each one and can attest to their safety and ease of use. Choose one of the betting sites. Bet – Now that you have funds online head over to the “college football betting” section of the sportsbooks, sort through the games and place your bets. Then kick back and watch as the game unfolds. Types of College Football Bets. Spread betting is the most common type of college football bet. A college football betting strategy is a structured approach to wagering on NCAA football with the goal of producing a profit. Strategies used in college football betting are very similar to those used for NFL football betting.

“Show me a good and gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure.” – Knute Rockne, Notre Dame

Introduction

Welcome to SportsInsights.com’s Sports Betting Academy, designed to provide even the most novice sports bettor a look into the different aspects of sports betting. The focus of this article is how to bet on College Football. The college game is a completely different animal from its NFL counterpart, providing bettors with a greater slate of games throughout the week, including 30+ matchups on Saturday alone. We will prepare by starting with the basic college football betting types, including: spread bets, moneyline, totals, parlays/teasers and halftimes.

Spread Bets

Just like the NFL, college football’s most popular wager is the spread bet. The spread is a type of bet that equalizes the chance of winning a wager (see example below). The spread, or line, for college football is generally released days in advance of the game (these release dates will vary due to college football’s games taking place Tuesday-Saturday). An underdog team’s spread will be accompanied with a “+”, while a “-” indicates a team that is favored. The example below demonstrates an example of a spread bet:

The juice for this game is -115 for the underdog. The juice can be thought of as a fee the bookmaker charges for you to place the bet. Typically, the juice for any side wager is -110, but several sportsbooks offer reduced juice. In this example, a winning bet of $115 would yield $100 profit, for a total of $215 ($115 bet + $100 profit = $215 total). Despite losing the game, Michigan covered the spread by losing by less than 3 points.

Moneyline

A Moneyline (ML) takes the spread out of the equation as bettors simply pick who they think will win the game. Different odds placed next to each team will quantify the payout of betting on either team. The example below from the SI Archive should clarify things:

As you can see, a bet of $375 on Alabama would yield a profit of $100. Generally, the Moneyline is a direct reflection of the spread. For example, the spread for this game closed at 7.5, which helps to explain the drastic ML odds. With the amount of games available on any given Saturday, a bettor may choose to parlay (see below) several big favorites, which will increase the risk AND the payout of the wager.

The Spread and Moneyline are contributing factors for SportsInsights’ Steam Moves and Smart Money plays.

1st Quarter/Half Lines

Every major U.S. sport is broken down into division, whether it is quarters, halftimes, periods, or innings. Naturally, the bookmakers have made available wagers for these partitions, and for NCAA football, they are known as the 1st quarter and Halftime lines. As one might expect, the 1st quarter line is generally a quarter of the entire game’s line, while the first half line is usually about half of the entire spread. These lines are available at all reputable sportsbooks.

Halftime Lines

Halftime wagers are only available during halftime of the contest. Our Sportsbook Insider software helps bettors track how the halftime lines and halftime betting percentages fluctuate during the small window that is halftime.

Halftime lines use the events of the 1st half to help determine how the rest of the game will play out. In this example, the bookmakers expect the Tar Heels to continue to dominate their rivals, however, the Blue Devils endure the 1st half deficit to help cover the halftime spread, despite losing the overall game. Halftime action can be a good way to capitalize on middle plays.

Totals

Another popular side bet for NCAA Football is the Total or Over/Under (O/U). The sportsbooks determine what they believe will be the total points scored by EACH TEAM and the bettor places a wager on the over or under of that total. The example below shows the final total for the 2011 Texas Bowl:

Like many bowl games, the majority of bets in this contest were placed on the over, to the tune of 77%. In this instance, public money pushed the total line up three full points, while the final total landed under at 52. A wager of $115 on the opening under would earn a profit of $100 due to the increased juice originally placed on the under.

Parlay/Teasers

A parlay is spread, moneyline, or total bet in combination to increase the payout. In order for a parlay to payout, or hit, EACH one of the wagers must win. A teaser involves the same stipulations as a parlay, only you select a number of points to put down to decrease the risk (and reward) of a parlay. For example, if a proposed line is -7 (a popular number for football lines) and you have a 3-point teaser bet, your new line is -4. This 3-point advantage applies to each part of the teaser play. Below is a chart of the typical parlay payout structure:

If you’re new to football betting and keen to get involved
then you’ve just come to exactly the right place. On this page
we will teach you all the basics of betting on football, and
make sure that you are on the right track from the moment you
place your first wager. If you feel like you’re ready to dive right in, here are the top football betting sites we recommend:

In our opinion this is one of the most useful beginner’s
guides to football betting you’ll find anywhere on the internet.
It covers everything you need to get started, and yet you don’t
need to worry about getting overwhelmed with detail as we keep
our explanations as simple as possible.

For those who are only really interested in wagering for a
bit of fun, you’ll be ready to go as soon as you’ve finished
reading this page. For those of you with ambitions of making
long term profits, we also point you towards a wide range of
additional information and advice that will help you to achieve
such goals. We’re not promising that we’ll make you an instant
expert, but we’ll certainly give you the chance to become one.

If you’re simply just looking to bet on football games right now we have
listed our top recommendations for online betting sites below. These
are sites that we have found to be trustworthy with our money and
offer football bettors true value.

We recommend reading through this whole page from start to
finish, but we’ve listed the various topics we cover below if
you’d prefer to skip straight to something specific.

How to Bet on Football: Page Contents

Before You Start: Recommended Reading

If you’re already familiar with how sports betting works, and
know a thing or two about football, then please feel free to
skip this section. If, however, you’re completely new to sports
betting and/or not much of a football fan, then there are a few
things you should learn before you start placing bets on
football games.

Firstly you really need to understand the basics of what
sports betting is all about, and what’s involved with placing
wagers. These basics are relatively straightforward, so
thankfully it doesn’t take long to get up to speed. It’s
definitely advisable to familiarize yourself with them though.
Our beginner’s guide to sports betting is the perfect resource
for this. Here’s a selection of some of the topics it covers.

In addition to knowing the basics of betting, you should also
know at least the basics of football too. It’s likely that most
people reading this are big sports fans, and fully understand
it, but that’s not necessarily the case for all our readers. We
like to cater for everyone, so we’ve written the following two
articles explaining all about the game at both professional and
college level.

Different Types of Football Bets

How To Bet On College Football Games Online

One of the first things you should understand about betting
on football is the fact that there are several different types
of wagers that can be placed. You won’t necessarily use all the
different types, depending on what strategies you employ, but
it’s still advisable to learn at least a little about each one.

Below we look at the two most popular types of wagers, some
of the other commonly used options, and the various options for
wagering on multiple games with a single bet.

The Most Popular Types of Football Bets

Online Ncaa Football Betting

There are two types of football bets that are used far more
than any other. Many people who bet on football place only the
following wagers.

• Point Spreads
• Totals

Some readers will already know all about these and how they
work, but we’ll explain a little about them for those that
don’t.

Point Spreads

A point spread is effectively a handicap that’s used to
create a 50/50 wagering proposition. For example, a bookmaker
may offer the following point spread on a football match between
the San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts.

What this spread means is that, for the purposes of wagering,
the Chargers will have 3.5 points deducted from their final
score. For a bet on them to be successful, they would therefore
have to win by four points or more. The Colts, on the other
hand, will have 3.5 points added to their final score. A bet on
them would be successful if they won the game, or lost by 3
points or less.

You can read more about point spreads on the following page.

Totals

Totals are just as easy to understand. With these, the
bookmaker posts an expected total for the amount of points
scored by both sides. On the previously mentioned match between
the Chargers and the Colts, for example, they might set the
total at 48.50. You then have to decide whether to bet on the
over or the under.

A wager on the over will win if the combined score from the
two teams is 49 or over (e.g. Chargers 29, Colts 24). A wager on
the under will win if the combined score from the two teams is
48 or less (e.g. Chargers 19, Colts 17).

We explain totals in more detail on the following page.

Before we go onto explain some of the other types of wagers
you can place, there’s some very important information that we
need to mention.

The basic principle of point spreads and totals is that you
have roughly a 50% chance of winning, so technically a “fair”
return on these types of wagers should be equal to the amount
staked. However, they are usually priced up by bookmakers at
odds of -110 (1.91 in decimal odds format, 10/11 in fractional
odds format), which means for every $110 staked you stand to win
$100. You don’t have to stake as much as $110 of course, but the
point is that a successful wager will only return 90% of the
amount staked (plus the initial stake of course).

This is because bookmakers are in business to make a profit,
so they effectively charge a commission for taking wagers. This
commission is known as the vig, short for vigorish, and it’s one
of the ways that bookmakers stay profitable. They don’t charge
it just for points spreads and totals either, as it’s built into
the odds for every wager that they offer.

If you have any ambitions of being a
successful bettor, we strongly recommend reading our article
explaining vig and how bookmakers make money.

Other Common Football Bets

In addition to point spreads and totals, there are three
other types of bets that are commonly used for wagering on
football. These are as follows.

• Moneylines
• Props
• Futures

We’ll now provide a brief overview of each of these, and
point you towards some additional information on each one too.

Moneylines

A moneyline wager is very simple. It involves simply backing
a team to win a match, with no point spread involved. The odds
for moneyline wagers are based on each team’s relative chance of
winning. For example, the moneyline on a game between the San
Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts might look like this.

The Chargers are the favorites here, and the odds of -175
mean that a stake of $175 is required to win $100. To put it
another way, every $1.75 staked stands to win $1 if the Chargers
win. Initial stakes are returned too of course.

The Colts are the underdogs, so backing them means the
potential for higher payouts relative to the amount staked. The
odds of +155 mean that every $1 staked stands to win $1.55 if
the Colts win (i.e. a $100 wager stands to win $155 if the Colts
win). Again, initial stakes are also returned.

For more information on moneylines, and the strategy involved
in placing them, please see the following article.

Props

Props, short for propositions, are wagers on outcomes that
are decided during a football game, but are not necessarily
directly linked to the final result. Some examples include the
following.

• The first team to score.
• The distance of the longest touchdown.
• The total passing yards of a quarterback.
• The number of field goals kicked.

These are just a very small selection of some props. Many
bookmakers offer dozens of different options, particularly on
high profile matches. Props are generally considered a fun type
of bet rather than a way to make money, but it is possible to
make consistent profits from them. We explain more about props
on the following page, where we also offer some strategy advice.

Futures

Futures are wagers on how teams, or individual players, will
fare over the course of an entire season. A wager on a team to
win the Super Bowl, placed at the start of the season, would be
considered a future. So would a wager on a team to be the
National Football Conference champions, or a wager on a player
to win the Most Valuable Player award.

There isn’t a lot more to explain about futures, and there
isn’t really much in the way of specific strategy for them
either. We do go into a bit more detail on them on the following
page though.

Betting on Multiple Football Games

A lot of people like to bet on multiple games at once, as
this can provide the potential for big payouts. It’s not
something we particularly advise beginners to get involved with,
but it doesn’t hurt to understand the options available. The
main ones are as follows.

• Parlays
• Teasers
• Pleasers

Let’s take a quick look at what these are all about.

Parlays

A parlay basically combines several different wagers into
one. For example, a parlay could be made up of five point spread
wagers on five separate games. The payout for such a wager could
be very attractive, but only if ALL the wagers were correct.
Just one wrong pick would mean the whole wager failing. That’s
why these are considered quite risky. They’re a bit more complex
than the previous wagers mentioned, but we won’t go into any
more detail here. We do on the following page though.

Teasers & Pleasers

Teasers and pleasers are essentially types of parlays that
use modified point spreads or totals. With teasers, the spreads
or totals are moved in the bettor’s favor. With pleasers, they
are moved in the bookmaker’s favor. There’s plenty more to
explain about these wagers, which we do on the following pages.

Where to Place Your Football Bets

Betting On College Football

Now that you know about the different wagers you can place on
football, the next step is actually placing them. The question
you’re probably asking now is “how and where can I do this?”
There are a few options, which we list below, but please be
aware that not all of these are available in all parts of the
world.

• Casino Sportsbooks
• Bookmaking Shops
• Telephone Betting
• Online Sports Betting Sites

Casino Sportsbooks

Many casinos around the world contain a sportsbook. They
usually feature several big screen TVs showing any live sports
action currently taking place, and computerized odds boards
displaying all the latest odds. There are typically cashier
windows where you can place your wagers with a real person, but
some books have interactive machines instead. Either way, these
are great places to place some bets and watch the games at the
same time. The problem for Americans, though, is that they are
only legal in Nevada. There are plenty of sportsbooks in Las
Vegas casinos, but not in other parts of the country.

Bookmaking Shops

Bookmaking shops are mostly like sportsbooks, they’re just
not inside a casino. They also generally have lots of TVs
showing sports, and a counter where wagers are placed. These
shops can be found in many countries around the world, but
they’re not legal in the United States.

Telephone Betting

A lot of bookmakers offer telephone betting services, and
they are usually very straightforward to use. It’s a simple
matter of calling the relevant number, telling the operator you
reach which wagers you want to place, confirming the odds, and
then providing your credit card details. Some bookmakers take
other payment methods too, and some even offer credit lines to
select customers.

This is another option that’s not available to Americans. Not
legally at least, as the Federal Wire Act of 1961 made telephone
betting illegal. You might be getting disheartened by now if you
live in the US, and wondering exactly how you’re ever going to
place any wagers. Don’t worry though, as we have one more option
to tell you about.

How To Bet College Football Online

Online Sports Betting Sites

Using an online sports betting site is far and away the best
way to bet on football, or any sport for that matter. It’s the
most convenient and accessible option, and there are several
other advantages too. Best of all, it’s legal in the United
States. There are some laws against online gambling in the US,
but these mostly apply to companies and individuals providing
gambling services. There’s no law that states it’s illegal to
use a gambling site of any kind, so Americans are at liberty to
place football bets online if they so choose. We’ve written the
following page explaining things in more detail for those
interested, or you can just keep reading for a quick guide to
getting started online.

Using Online Betting Sites

Using sports betting sites to bet on football online is
relatively straightforward. It’s super easy to open accounts at
most sites, and the majority of them are very user-friendly.
Finding and placing wagers generally takes no time at all, and
can be done from the comfort of your own home with just a
computer and internet access. You can even use most sites from a
smartphone or tablet these days.

Please make sure that you use the right sites though. Most
places are pretty good, but there are some that are best
avoided. It’s vital that you use a safe and trustworthy option,
and you also want to use somewhere that is suitable for
football. We suggest taking a look at the following sites.

Our Top Ranked Football Betting Sites: