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 With
the NCAA
college football bowl season just around the corner, it makes sense to
talk a bit about how to bet on college football and why it's quite
different than betting on NFL football.
This article will deal
with some of the basic differences and offer tips on what what to look
for when handicapping.
Unlike the NFL, parity is not as common and there are a ton more games
to bet on. It's not uncommon to see teams favored by 30
points or
more early in the season. Playing this kind of spread should
be
avoided. It may be tempting to take the points and hope the
over
matched underdog can pull an upset. Save your money, there
are
plenty of better picks out there in any given week. Don't bet
willy nilly on anything that comes down the pike. Establish a
spread limit whereby you don't bet games if the spread is over a
certain number. Some good advice, pick 2 or 3 conferences
that
you're interested in, or that you may already follow and become an
expert on them. Cutting down on the number of games to
consider
can save you a fair amount of time and money.
Where the NFL has fewer games and very savvy bettors in the mix,
betting lines become extremely tight. College football on the
other hand sees softer lines at times that present some great
opportunity and value. Success in beating college football
lies
mainly in the stats. Specifically, you'll want to look at
rushing
offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover
margins. Finding spreads that don't accurately factor these
in
lead to value picks.
A team's ability to run the ball well and/or stop it well has always
been a compelling argument for how strong the team really is.
If
the spread does not accurately depict this, you may have a soft line
and an opportunity. Passing efficiency should be looked at
more
so than raw passing yardage numbers. Take this and also
factor in
personnell on the field, injuries, power ratings and strength of
schedule. You'll find this will give you a clearer picture of
a
teams ability to pass and defend against it. Turnovers can be
habit forming for a team over several games, so watch this closely and
also take into account under what circumstances they
occurred.
Use as much past performance data as you can find. Have a
good
handle on coaching match-ups and experience level of the teams at key
positions. Some coaches have a history of running the score
up
and some don't. Make sure you know what the injury report
looks
like. If a key player is out and the line does not account
for
this you may have a pick. If the teams have played each other
many times, statistically revisit some of those games and apply the
above stat analysis.
In the end, you're looking for small anomalies in the spread.
If
you have done you're homework on a core group of teams and take the
time to study some of the key stats, you can be successful.
If
you are reading this article you have the most powerful information
tool in the world, the Internet, at your disposal. Use it to
your
advantage, use it to win!
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