The 2022 college football season is here, and with that comes dozens of games to bet on each week. For the next 5 months, there will be college football galore for sports bettors to wager on. However, there are risks that come with so many avenues to bet each game.
Here at Pickswise, we’re committed to helping you make smarter bets this season. That’s why our team of expert handicappers is here to provide this educational guide so you can bet better. You will certainly want to have this guide on hand before you place a bet on any college football market this fall. At Pickswise, we'll also provide FREE picks, insights and betting deliverables for every college football game this season. This breakdown is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the quality of analysis we'll have all season long.
Enjoy this betting guide, and best of luck with your bets!
Is betting on College Football legal?
For many years, states were prevented from legalizing sports betting by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, aka PAPSA. PAPSA was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018, paving the way for legal sports betting in the United States. As of August 2022, Connecticut, Arizona, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Iowa, Louisiana, Oregon, Indiana, New Hampshire, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Washington D.C., and Virginia have all legalized online sports betting.
Numerous other states have legal sports betting, but only in-person. Most states have at the very least introduced bills to get the process started, so it’s likely only a matter of a couple of years before the vast majority of states have legalized betting on college football.
As of August 2022, The following states all have a legal and regulated sports betting industry, where you can wager on College Football;'
- Arizona
- Arkansas'
- Colorado'
- Connecticut
- Delaware'
- Illinois'
- Indiana'
- Iowa'
- Louisiana
- Nevada'
- New Hampshire'
- New Jersey
- New York'
- Michigan'
- Mississippi'
- Montana'
- Oregon'
- Pennsylvania'
- Rhode Island'
- Tennessee'
- Virginia'
- Washington DC'
- West Virginia'
Best online College Football betting sites and mobile apps
Picking a sportsbook to do your betting at is extremely important. They aren’t all the same, and each sportsbook will have different odds and promotions. Each site will have their own unique quirks and offerings, and it can’t hurt to look around as much as possible before settling on a betting home. It’s always a good idea to have multiple accounts at different sportsbooks, so you can shop around and compare odds. One site might usually have better juice or better parlay payouts, but another will have better live-betting software. There are already a lot of great operators out there, and with legalization spreading across the country, the number of options for bettors will only continue to increase.
How to bet on College Football
In college football you’ve got plenty of options for betting. You can bet on the money line, the point spread, the total in the game, or a whole slew of props. Just find the best odds by shopping around at different sportsbooks for whatever wager you want to make, then add it to your bet slip and lock it in. The key to betting college football games is finding teams that are undervalued in the market, and that’s where Pickwise can help. Here at Pickswise we’re a one-stop shop for everything college football, as we put in the time and crunch the numbers to come up with the best free picks around. Check out our college football predictions all season long, since we’ll be providing free picks on the side and total of every game. We’ll also have free prop bets and parlays, so don’t miss out!
Ways to bet on College Football''
College football is one of the most popular sports to bet on, and there are so many markets to wager on within it. During the college football season betting volume can get off the charts, and oddsmakers will sometimes change lines just based on the avalanches of public money coming in. You can bet on an individual game, or bet futures markets like the National Championship or conference winner. In the next section, we’ll be taking a look at each of those markets. Each one has different strategies and angles to exploit, and the money line and point spread can be treated as entirely different handicaps. Let’s break each one down, starting with money line college football betting.
Money line betting in college football is as basic as it gets. You’re simply betting on which team will win the game, the margin of victory doesn’t matter. With money line betting one team will be the underdog and one team will be the favorite. The favorite will be identified by a ‘-‘ minus sign, while the underdog will be identified by a ‘+’ plus sign next to their odds. For example, USC might be an underdog in a game against UCLA. You’d see something like USC +175′ and UCLA -200.’ There will always be a gap between the two odds, so you’ll never see USC +200′ and UCLA -200.’ That gap is the ‘vig’, and it’s how oddsmakers make their money.
The bigger favorite a team is on the money line, the bigger favorite they’ll be on the point spread as well. Money line betting comes with different strategies than point spread betting. On a money line, you might be more inclined to back a conservative defensive-minded team that will grind out games, but not win them by large margins.'
If you’ve ever had a bet on a college football game it will most likely have been on the point spread. Bookmakers offer one of the teams with a head-start of a certain number of points, if the underdogs win or lose by fewer points than the spread, you win. If you back the favorites, they need to win by more than the line for you to cash your ticket. Handicaps are often framed with half-point lines, to avoid the possibility of a tie (eg Oklahoma +3.5 wins if they win or lose by three or fewer points) but when full-point lines are offered, ties are generally declared a push and voided (you get your money back).
Point spreads in college football shift throughout the week, and can be quite volatile. College football betting is like any other financial market, price point is everything. Getting the best number on a point spread is the key to long-term success.
Sometimes when handicapping a game you might have a good idea about whether it will be high-scoring or low-scoring, but no such strong opinion about which team will win. In those cases a bet on the total points might be your best option. Oddsmakers will give their assessment of how many total points the teams will score between them and you bet higher (over) or lower (under). The figure can vary by a fair amount, even more so in college football than in the NFL.
In the NFL a total usually won't get higher than the upper 50s, but it's not uncommon to see totals in the 70s for college games. Factors include the weather (bad weather tends towards fewer points, clear skies and indoor stadiums produce more shootouts), the strength of the offenses and defenses in the game, and the playing styles of the teams. A run-heavy team that relies on their defense will see their totals set quite a bit lower than a pass-happy team that loves to run and gun.
Player prop markets are offered by an increasing number of sportsbooks and present a chance to support a player to have a good or bad game. Oddsmakers offer over/under prices on individual players’ total receiving yards, rushing yards, and passing yards. Pretty much everything you can imagine. There are also the longest reception, longest run, longest successful field goal for the kickers props and so on. If you think a team has a weak defensive front and is poised to get gashed on the ground, taking the over on the opposing running back's rushing yards might make sense. It’s another area where knowledge of the individual match-ups can pay off.
For offensive players, it’s all about opportunity. If Penn State suffers injuries to their top two receivers, the over on their third receiver might be worth a look since his volume will increase dramatically. Prop betting isn't quite as popular in college football as it is in the NFL, but it's getting there.
In addition to player prop bets, you can also make team prop bets in college football. Those include things like how many total points just one team will score, or how many field goals they'll make in a game. They can also include alternate spreads. An alternate spread allows you to alter the point spread, while getting better or worse odds depending on if you gain points or lose points. If Ohio State is -4 over Rutgers, a sportsbook might allow you to bet an alternate spread of Ohio State -7.5 at +200 odds. Team prop bets aren’t quite as common as player prop bets, but there are still plenty of opportunities for value.'
Futures bets allow you to invest long-term. Rather than finding out if you win or lose on any given Saturday, a futures bet allows you to ride with a wager for the whole season. You can of course bet on the national championship winner at any point, but there are a ton of other markets. You can bet on a team to win their conference, or make the College Football Playoff.