A Detailed Guide to Betting on College Football

July 6, 2022 by Tim Harrison

Betting on college football could sometimes be challenging for many punters. Here are the tips and strategies that can help your wagering process

How to Bet on College Football

Betting on college football is not so different from gambling on the NFL; the only difference is being familiar with the teams. Here is a guide covered by our betting expert Tim Harrison to enlighten you on how to wager on college football, the tips and strategies involved, and the best legal college football betting sites

How to Understand College Football Betting Odds

College football teams play only once a week, and almost all teams play 12 games each in the regular season. It allows punters to have time to read and understand how college football betting odds work.

Bettors can bet on college football in three basic ways: Moneyline, Over/Under, and Point spread. Wagering on Moneyline allows you to bet who will win the game. The over/under market means wagering on the combined total points scored by both teams. If you wager on the point spread, you are trying to predict how many points a team will lose or win the game by.

Sportsbooks set all odds and usually base their picks on different analyses. Let's break down each betting market to help you better understand how the college football betting odds work.

Moneyline Wager: Betting on the Winner

The Moneyline wager remains the most common among bettors because you will be wagering who will win the game. This type of wager becomes interesting when a team who has been consistently on top of its game is playing against one which has been struggling.

As a result, bookmakers assign a Moneyline value to each side. The team that is expected to win is the favorites, with the smallest odds, while the underdogs who are expected to lose have the biggest odds.

Betting on the favorites is less risky, but the returns could not be encouraging. If you wager on the underdogs, your bets will be subjected to more risk, but your returns will be more massive.

For instance, a sportsbook could place a -110 Moneyline on the Michigan Wolverines as the favorites while placing a +325 on the Indiana Hoosiers. Wagering on the Michigan Wolverines will set up your bet to likely win, but the returns will not be as massive as wagering on Indiana Hoosiers, who are likely to lose.

As a result, the side that carries the (-) sign is the favorites, while the (+) sign represents the underdogs.

So, from the example above, you will need to wager $110 on Michigan to get a $100 return. On the other hand, you will get a return of $325 when you use $100 to wager on Indiana.

Over/Under Wager: Betting on Total

There are different betting markets, and the over/under market is one of them. Many bettors have neglected other ways to wager on college football games by only focusing on the Moneyline wager. Here, you will predict the total points both sides competing will get at the end of the game.

Since football is not a game where high points are scored like basketball, the points scored by both teams could sometimes not be more than 50 points. It could be higher but could also be lower. It all depends on how free-scoring both sides are.

Sticking with the Michigan game against Indiana as cited above, a bookmaker could set a baseline of 44 points as the total points for the game. Sportsbooks usually put different analyses into place to get to this number. So, your only duty is to wager on whether the combined points scored by both teams will be over or under 44. You will wager on over 44 if you think more than 44 points will be scored in the game, and wager on under 44 if you feel the game will end in less than 44 points.

Point Spread Wager: Betting on the Difference Between the Points of the Team

Betting on the point spread is another way to wager on college football, and it could be profitable for those who know how to go about it. With the point spread, you will wager on the number of points a team can win or lose by. It will help level the field of competition between the two sides playing.

A bookmaker could expect Michigan to beat Indiana by 8.5 points, setting the point spread at -8.5 0r +8.5 points. Michigan will be the favorites with a point spread of -8.5, while Indiana will be the underdog with a point spread of +8.5. But betting on Indiana would mean Michigan will not beat them with more than 7 points. It means that Michigan must win by at least 9 points for your wager to win if you bet on Michigan.

Props Wager: Betting on Players' Performance

Rather than focus on the game's outcome, you can play prop bets where you can wager on players' performance. Bettors are allowed to wager on whether a player will score a touchdown or if a player will throw an interception.

Parlay Wagers: Betting on Multiple Bets

College football betting does not only allow bettors to wager on single games but also multiple games. So you can have a bigger payout by wagering on more than one game in a bet slip, but it comes with more enormous risks. The odds are increased because, most times, the returns from the first bet are used as a stake for the next bet. Parlay bets are risky because a cut in one game will lead to losing all. So all bets need to win for bettors to get a payout.

Future Wagers: Betting on College Football Playoffs and Others

If you want to go long-term, college football also has a place for you. You can wager on long-term bets like who will win the College Football Playoff, the Heisman Trophy, or a conference.

These bets are usually available at the beginning of the college football season. Thus, allowing you to wager and sit back to watch the outcome.

How and Where to Bet on College Football?

Betting on college football is effortless, and all you have to do is to follow the steps below:

Choose a Sportsbook

Before you can wager on college football games, you need to choose from the legal college football betting sites. Several sportsbooks allow punters to wager on college football. You need to be on the lookout for the one that provides the best offers.

Register on the Betting Platform

Once you've identified the bookmaker to wager, the next step is to register an account. No bookmaker will allow you to wager without registering an account. The good thing is that the processes are always easy, and you can complete your registration within a few minutes. Meanwhile, some betting platforms may ask you to verify your account immediately after registering.

Deposit Funds

You need money to wager before a bookmaker will allow you to place your bets. The next step to wagering is to deposit funds into your account. Do this by using any of the payment methods available on the website.

Select Your Picks

After depositing funds into your account, the next step is to make your picks. Visit the sports section of the betting platform and navigate to college football. Open the unit and see a list of games available to wager on. Just click on the odds attached to the team you want to wager on to make your picks. You can select multiple bets depending on what you want. Adding more events will make the odds and potential payouts bigger, but it comes with many risks.

Before selecting your picks, it is good to check out some of the best football betting predictions and tips. A website like collegefootballpoll.com offers some of the best.

Enter the Stake and Place Your Bets

Once you are done making your selections, enter your stake amount, and place your bets.

Conclusion

In conclusion, wagering on college football is the same as betting on the NFL. The only difference could be in getting more familiar with the teams. You can wager on markets, including Moneyline, Over/Under, Point Spread, Future, and Props. Choose any of these markets, and you can be the next to get a massive payout.