College football betting is a peculiar beast when it comes to laying down a bet, and you sometimes have to throw caution, research and everything else to the win when you sit down to make your selections each week. Because when Saturday morning rolls around, most of your prep work can go right out the window.
Let’s start with the point spread. Unlike the NFL, where it’s been whittled down to the last point, college football is much more wide open, especially if you’re looking at a perceived blowout. Spreads of 45-0 are not all that uncommon. As the odds makers know, anything can happen.
I’m usually one to preach statistics and probability, and research over any “gut” feeling when it comes to making a bet, but in the case of college football, the excitement and young, raw emotion of the event trumps all that in a heartbeat.
Don’t worry, I am going somewhere with this. My point is that money lines in college football will look like the ocean to a fisherman, but you have to hold yourself back from overreaching as a gambler. Even a 50-line bet of Ohio State vs. your high school JV team isn’t a sure thing. Be careful how much you plop down on these major spread games, they can bite you hard.
The main reason for the warning is because these are usually “nothing” games to begin with, meaning they’re early in the season (so there’s no conference title on the line, per se), and once a team runs up the score enough, you know they’re going to pull all their starters on both sides of the ball. That still might be more than enough to coast to a victory, but if you were counting on a 7 touchdown spread, you might be in for a nail-bitter after all. So take the lines with a grain of salt.
Don’t get me wrong, the college football lines are just as professionally handled in NCAA as they are in the NFL, but you get the feeling that it’s a little more Wild West in college and a little more Wall Street in the NFL when you compare the two.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t take these bets, but 1) don’t bet the farm on it unless you’re literally about to lose your chicken farm, and 2) be aware of things like home field, who’s injured, just to have it as reference. Don’t make your bet solely on these as I mentioned earlier, but a little change one way or another could sway you off that 59-point line.