College Football Betting Odds

College football betting is probably second only to NFL betting in terms of popularity. College football betting is mainly done in terms of point spreads. The point spread is intended to level the playing field between the two teams and if the oddsmaker does his job right, make it so both sides are attractive to potential bettors. The goal for the oddsmaker is to make it so an equal amount of money comes in on both sides of the game.

In a point spread bet, the team perceived to have less of a chance of winning will have points added to their score and the team expected to win will have the same number of points subtracted from their score. These points are known as the point spread and are often referred to as the football betting line or price on the game. The point spread makes it so even if a team like Oklahoma is playing Baylor, you will still get people betting on Baylor because they are getting 35 points or so. Without the point spread you would never see any wagers on a team like Baylor.

Point spreads are also not solid. They move up and down all week long depending upon the bets on the game. If bettors are pounding one particular side, then sportsbooks have no choice but to move the point spread in favor of that team. This does two things. It makes the opposite side more attractive, and it also makes the popular side receive less of a bargain. For example, if Oklahoma was laying 35 points to Baylor and everyone was in love with the Sooners, the line might go up to -37. Now people might be more inclined to take Baylor, but even if they don’t, now the Sooners must win by more than 37 to cover the point spread.

Another factor that influences college football betting is the sheer number of games on the board. College football has so many more games than the NFL that oddsmakers face a more difficult task of putting out an accurate line on each game. For this reason the limits on college football betting are lower than what you see in the NFL. For example, instead of $10,000 a game on the NFL, it might be only half that in college football. Sportsbooks set their own limits, but usually the college limits are always lower than the NFL.

College football betting will always be very popular among bettors for the simple fact that it is football betting. It also doesn’t hurt that most of the games are on Saturdays, a day made for football betting.