Betting on College Football: How Polls and Rankings Influence Sports Gambling

October 16, 2024 by Staff

College football is a much-loved sport in the United States, and it often extends well beyond the constraints of the stadium. With sports betting, people can enjoy football by dabbling in a thriving betting market.

The truth is that rolls and rankings play a pivotal role in sports betting, helping gamblers make informed decisions when placing wagers. In this article, we’ll explore the role they play and how they contribute to a progressive love for betting on college football.

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What Are Polls and Rankings in Sports Betting? 

Polls and rankings are systems that are designed to assess and rank teams based on their performance. Examples of such systems include the following:

• Associated Press (AP) Poll
• College Football Playoff (CFP) Rankings
• Super 16 (FWAA-NFF)
• AFCA Coaches' Poll

In most cases, they rank teams on a weekly basis, helping bettors make informed decisions when placing their bets. Those teams that rank more highly are often favored. 

These systems also reduce the likelihood of making losses. But, since there is no foolproof way to predict the outcome of a game and rankings are unreliable, wagers should not be placed purely on the data obtained from polls and ranks. 

It’s also important to remember that these systems often reflect the opinions of sportswriters and experts in the field rather than relying purely on data. This means that polls and rankings can be misleading.

For this reason, only sports bettors who go beyond polls and rankings are able to truly succeed. They analyze other key points, such as team formation and playing styles to increase their chances of a positive outcome.

How Polls and Rankings Influence Sports Betting

With that in mind, let’s explore some of the ways that these polls and rankings affect the college football sports betting industry as a whole.

• They Influence Public Perception

Public perception is one of the main ways that rankings affect sports betting. Rankings are a major source of information for the average bettor when making wagers. For instance, a higher-ranked team could receive more bets just because they are considered the superior team, according to polls and rankings. 

This is particularly true when a higher-ranked team plays a lower-ranked opponent. Even though the true difference in the performance of each team is not as great as the rankings indicate, bettors could still believe that the highly-rated team could easily win.

• Rankings and Polls Affect Over/Under Bets

Rankings and polls are also applicable in over/under wagers when gamblers bet on whether the combined points earned by both sides will surpass or fall short of a particular figure established by oddsmakers. 

Because highly ranked teams tend to have strong offenses, gamblers may anticipate high-scoring results. However, this is not always true, which is why polls and rankings should not always be relied on when making wagers. The strengths and weaknesses of each team's defense must be taken into account.

• Spreads and Moneylines

It’s also important to note that rankings also influence point spreads and moneylines. 

Point spreads are typically set to level the playing field. They offer a handicap to the underdog and require that the other team win by a certain margin. This is because when a highly-ranked team plays against a lower-ranked opponent, the spread can be great.

Moreover, rankings and polls also affect moneylines. These odds involve betting on the outright winner without a point spread. In most cases, a team that is ranked highly will likely have lower moneyline odds, while the lower-ranked team will have longer odds. 

Although betting on the favorite may seem like the best option, the potential payout tends to be smaller, which is why many bettors will not go this route.

Why It’s Best Not to Rely on Rankings

As we have seen already, placing bets based purely on rankings and polls can affect your betting experience. In the section below, we’ll talk about some of the reasons not to base your decisions on rankings alone.

Rankings and Polls Are Subjective

The reality is that rankings do not reflect the true abilities of teams. They can be based on a range of factors, such as past performance and reputation. Changes, developments, injuries, and more could all affect a team’s current strength, which could make rankings unreliable.

As mentioned before, bettors should always take a holistic approach, assessing other statistics before making their bets.

They Lag Behind Current Performance

Because rankings and polls are often released ahead of time, they do not reflect the current strengths of the teams. They may not take the team’s most recent results into consideration, which can make them unreliable.

Rankings Ignore Many Match-specific Details

It’s also important to note that rankings do not accurately sum up the nuances of individual matchups. Teams that are ranked lowly may be better suited to win a match because they have a stronger defense, for example.

Successful betting requires the careful analysis of these factors in order to reduce the chances of losses.

Should You Just Ignore Rankings? 

The truth is that rankings and polls should not be disregarded. Even though they may not offer the most reliable depiction of each team, they can be great starting points. Because they do not take match-specific details into consideration, they should never have the final word, though.

Make sure that you are looking at the strengths and weaknesses of each side and recent results before placing your wager.

The Bottom Line

Although they appear to play a significant role in sports betting, it’s important to remember that polls and rankings are subjective. They should never have the final word. If your goal is to enjoy continued success in sports betting, we recommend taking it a step further and doing in-depth research.

Keep in mind that the more comprehensive your analysis of matchups, the higher your chances of a good betting outcome.

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