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

NCAAF Week 11, Big Ten parlay. Take these two bets to make a parlay lock this Saturday. Check out our free college football betting tips! Picks and predictions cover a variety of bets, such as the standard moneyline to betting against the spread (ATS). They also provide combined college football picks and parlays, which are made by combining various bets for a larger winner-take-all wager. Free College Football Picks: How Do Handicappers Make Predictions?

“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.

Best College Football Parlay Bets This Week

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:

College Football Parlay Bets Against

I'm sure we've all been in a situation before where we stare at the list of games and think to ourselves -- if only I could hit a nice 10-team parlay. Now, depending on the odds of the games you selected, or the amount of money actually wagered on the parlay, this bet won't necessarily make you rich, but it could offer up a very nice four- or five-digit return. The problem with hitting a parlay that size is that it's damn near impossible to do. Most experienced bettors refrain from ever making parlay bets. Thankfully, for sportsbooks, parlays will always be a staple of the betting game since there is always the potential of that one big payout every square bettor chases.

In case you are new to the industry, a parlay is a type of bet that involves two or more teams. In order for a parlay bet to be successful, each team involved must win, or cover the spread - depending on how you bet them. A parlay can also be called an accumulator or a combo bet. Parlays are the most popular bet amongst amateur bettors since it has the potential for the biggest payout.

Different Types of Parlays

A parlay can have a combination of moneyline bets , point spread wagers and even include the 'over/under' option. Some sportsbooks allow bettors to include different kinds of prop bets, half-time wagers, different sports and sometimes even futures bets .

Depending on the type or parlay you make, the payout could be minimal or significant. A lot of things go into determining the odds, but the main thing you need to know is that not all sportsbooks offer up the same odds.

Generally speaking, a two-team point spread parlay will pay about 2.5/1, while a three-team parlay pays 6/1, a four-team parlay pays 10/1 and a five-team parlay pays 20-1. Obviously, the more teams you decide to put in your parlay, the higher the odds go.

If you decided to go the parlay route with your money, you must be completely educated on the rules. Do you know what happens if one of the games in your parlay is canceled or pushes on the total or point spread? If you're reading this, I'm assuming you don't, so let me give you a better understanding.

What Happens to My Bet If My Parlay Has a Canceled Game?

Whether you are playing a point spread parlay on football Sunday, or a moneyline parlay on Tuesday's baseball card, the answer to this question remains the same; 'it depends'.

It all depends on which sportsbook you are using and what their rules are for parlays. Most sportsbooks do not punish bettors for having a canceled game on their parlay ticket. The ticket will go on as if that canceled game never existed.

For example, if you put together a five-team parlay and the fourth game on your ticket between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals gets canceled due to rain, your parlay is still live, but it just reduces to a four-team parlay and the payout is adjusted accordingly.

What Happens to My Bet if My Parlay Has a Push On it?

This is where it gets a little bit dicey, but as I said above the answer still depends on which sportsbook you use. Most sportsbooks try to avoid setting full-point point spreads such as -3 or -7 in order to be able to declare a winning and losing side. If by the off chance you can get a whole number and that game happens to fall right on that number, most sportsbooks just void that leg of the parlay and reduce the payout to the next number - which is the same procedure as above. A five-team parlay would then turn into a four-team parlay and the odds would adjust.

However, it should be noted that some sportsbooks treat pushes as losses. That means that just because you got a great number of -3 instead of -3.5, you are still needing to win by four in order to avoid losing your parlay. These parlays increase the difficulty of the wager and should be avoided at all costs.

College Football Parlay Bets Parlay

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