There are generally three ways to bet a college football game: pointspread, game totals, and the moneyline. Here we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each option to give you the greatest winning edge this college football season.
The most popular form of college football betting is using the pointspread. Here, the sportsbooks will designate a favorite and underdog in a game matchup. The concept behind the pointspread is that the favorite is the ‘better’ team most likely to win the game, so to make the contest even out, a set number of points will have to be subtracted from the favorite’s final score or added to the underdog’s final score. Then the game matchup can be viewed as being even. In order for a favorite to win, they must beat their opponent by more than the set pointspread. For an underdog bet to win, they can either win straight up or lose by less than the set pointspread.
Another popular form of college football betting is playing the game total. Here, a number is set by a sportsbook representing the total combined score (number of points scored by both teams) in the game and bettors choose whether they believe the actual combined number of points scored in the game will be higher (go over) or lower (go under) the set game total. Totals in college football are not always available, especially when a highly ranked team is facing a much lower ranked opponent. These types of games usually have very high pointspreads reach 30+ points, so setting a total is more risk than sportsbooks want to take on, so they withhold setting a betting game total.
A third form of college football betting is the moneyline. This is generally considered the least popular of the three types of bets mentioned here. This is due in part to the fact that the average bettor many not fully understand how the moneyline functions and also because moneylines are not available for every college football game. To win a moneyline bet, a player must simply pick the team they believe is going to win the game outright / straight up. However, moneyline favorites carry a greater risk because you must lay more money than your are going to win. On the other hand, moneyline underdogs will payoff more money than you have to risk, making them a highly profitable option.