College Football Point Spread Odds The point spread allows you to back either side even in situations where the sides aren’t closely matched. Select “spread” to see the odds for this week’s college football spreads. When betting the spread, the favorite “gives” points while the underdog “gets” points added to their final score.

1. Espn Ncaa Football Point Spreads
2. Ncaa Football Point Spreads Week 13
3. Ncaa Football Point Spreads 2019
4. Ncaa Football Point Spreads Week 11

NCAA College Football Scores & Matchups. Welcome to our all new College Football Scoreboard! We took all of your favorite pages - College Football Scores, Odds, Team Stats & Public Betting Information and combined them into this all new mobile friendly page. What will happen over the next three weeks in college football? No one knows, but it probably won’t be any less wild than the previous 16 weeks. As bowl game matchups are being announced, we’re starting to get point spreads and totals for the games. These numbers start out as a mix of Circa Sports and DraftKings Sportsbook lines. Get the latest College Football odds, point spreads, money lines and over/unders for popular sportsbooks and view SportsLine's expert analysis of each upcoming game.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL POINT SPREADS EXPLAINED:

While the NFL is the most wagered upon sport in North America, college football is the most exciting brand of football you can watch on TV. The passion these kids play with is second to none and the century old rivalries amongst some of college's elite programs makes that one game a season sometime mean so much more than a national title. Since Michigan is generally out of the CFP discussion by November, there game against Ohio State is the be all and end all of their season. Michigan wants to beat Ohio State so badly, that some of the fan base would be considered there season a success if that's the only marquee win on the schedule.

If you don't know some of the history of college football, I suggest looking into it. If you are like everyone else who reads this piece and want to understand how to bet on the basic college football options, you can keep reading. If you are a little more seasoned, you can skip down to the advanced wagering options by clicking here. If you want to know how to lay a few bets down on the futures market, I suggest you click here.

Betting on the Money Line in College Football

As a concept, this is the simplest wager you can make on any game in any sport. The money line betting option allows you to place a bet on the team you think is simply going to win the game. In college, this bet includes overtime. Unlike the NFL, college football games cannot end in a tie due to their overtime format.

Example:

Alabama Crimson Tide: -450 ML
Kentucky: Wildcats +300 ML

The money line betting odds correlate to the listed point spread. In this example, Alabama are the favorites and you must wager $450 dollars to turn a profit of $100. If you are a homer or love betting on the underdog, the Wildcats will return you $300 for every $100 you wager on them if they pull off the upset.

Betting on the Point Spread

Regardless of if I am talking about the NFL, CFL, NCAA, Arena League or upcoming XFL, the point spread is the most popular wagering option for bettors who love to test football betting skills. The point spread is an indication of which team is the favorite and underdog heading into their matchup.

A negative betting line such as -7.5 indicates that the favorite team is expected to not only win the game outright, but win by eight or more points. On the flip side, positive betting lines such as +7.5 indicate a team's underdog status. Not only is the underdog expected to lose, but they are expected to lose by at least eight points.

When looking over betting options for the college football, you will come across lines that look like the following:

Alabama Crimson Tide -7.5 (-110)
Kentucky Wildcats: +7.5 (-110)

Depending on which side you select, your team must 'cover the spread' in order for your wager to be graded a winner.

If you choose to take Kentucky +7.5, you will be a winner if either of these two scenarios play out. The first being Kentucky wins the game outright by any score. The second being Kentucky loses by seven or fewer points, thus 'covering' the +7.5-spread.

If you decided to wager on Alabama as -7.5-point favorites, they must win by eight or more points in order for wager to be graded as a winner.

One thing to keep in mind when betting on the point spread is that the point spread moves up or down depending on how much action a certain side is receiving. If you are able to lock in your bet at -7.5 and the line goes down to -5.5, your ticket would only be a winner if your team won by eight or more points. If they won six or seven, they would have beat the closing spread of -5.5, but your odds are locked in from the time your ticket is printed or you click place bet.

Betting Game Totals

Despite being classified as the same sport, NFL and college football totals are apples and oranges. In college, it's easy to spot the teams that play absolutely zero defense. The scores from their games are typically in the 70's/80's on a consistent basis. In the NFL, there were only a handful of games that games that reached those totals. College football is more receptive to the spread offense, which is why sportsbooks have no choice but to inflate totals to try and cover their own butts.

Let's look at an example of a game total:

Texas Tech Red Raiders/Oklahoma Sooners – 'Over' 78.5 -110, 'Under' 78.5 -110

If you bet the 'over' 78.5, there must be a total of 79 points or more scored in the game in order for you to be a winner. If there are 78 or fewer points scored, then those who bet on the 'under' will cash their tickets.

If totals are whole numbers such as 78 or 80 and the total happens to land exactly on the number, your bet, regardless whether it's an 'over' or 'under' bet, will be graded as a push and your money will be returned to you.

Advanced College Football Wagering Options

Advanced wagering options in college football are nearly identical to those of the NFL. The only thing you will not find in a sportsbook in relation to college football is the 'First Touchdown Scorer or Anytime Touchdown Scorer' market. Below are some of the more popular wagering options.

Team totals

This works almost exactly like the game total, but revolves around one team instead of both. With the 'team total' wagering option, you are essentially betting on whether you think Team X will score more or less than the line given out by the sportsbooks.

Example:

Texas Tech Team Total: 'Over' 35.5 -110, 'Under' 35.5 -110.

In this case you have two options. You can bet them to score 36 or more points or 35 or fewer. The decision is ultimately up to you. This bet also includes overtime, unless otherwise stated in the betting rules provided by your sportsbook of choice.

First Half Spread

The 'first half spread' betting option is a trickier form of betting the full-game point spread. This option takes into account the score at half time in order to determine a winner. The first half spread is usually half of what the full game spread is.

Example:

Alabama -3.5 1H
Kentucky +3.5 1H

Depending on what side you are on, the score going into half time is what is used to determine a winner. If the score is 31-21 in favor of Alabama, bettors holding an Alabama -3.5 1H ticket are winners since they were able to cover the -3.5- first-half spread.

As I mentioned above, the first half point spread is typically half of what the full game line is.

Player Props

There are only a handful of sportsbooks that offer up player props in college football, but they are nowhere near as extensive as the NFL player props. Typically, there will be props offered on one or two superstars per team and the lines will typically be inflated depending on who is playing.

Examples:

Jalen Hurts: 'Over' 18.5 completions -110, 'Under' 18.5 completions -110
Nick Chubb: 'Over' 74.5 rushing yards -110, 'Under' 74.5 rushing yards -110
Calvin Ridley: 'Over' 4.5 receptions -110, 'Under' 4.5 receptions -110

For each of these three player prop options, each player must go 'over' or 'under' the posted line. If you think Hurts will complete at least 19 passes, you would take the 'over'. If you think Ridley will be held to four or fewer catches, you would bet the 'under'.

A futures bet is a wager placed in the time leading up to the start of the event on a team or player that you believe is going to win their respective competition. Heading into the 2018/19 College Football season, the CFP futures odds look like this:

2019 College Football Champions: Alabama +200, Clemson +700, Georgia +700, Ohio State +700, Michigan +1400, Penn State +1600, Oklahoma +2500, Wisconsin +2500, Florida State +2800, etc.

In order for you to successfully cash your ticket, you must correctly choose the team that will hoist the CFP trophy at the conclusion of next year's College Football Playoffs.

Team Win Totals

This is another popular type of futures bet amongst pro handicappers. The concept is straight forward. Every sportsbook will put out a 'win total' for every team long before the season begins. Handicappers must simply decide whether they believe that team will exceed the posted win total or fall short of it.

Example:

Alabama Crimson Tide Win Total: 'Over' 11.5 wins -110, 'Under' 11.5 wins -110

If Alabama wins at least 12 games, the 'over' would cash. If they win 11 or fewer, the 'under' would cash.

Here is a list of our other betting lines and odds pages.
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NCAA Football Betting Strategies: Guide to the Top Systems

College Football Betting Intro

When we talk about football, we usually think first of the NFL. It is after all America’s most popular sports organization.

As we discussed in our Intro to NFL Betting, the American Gaming Association estimated bettors to have wagered upwards of $4.7 billion dollars on the nation’s most-watched sporting event this past year—the Super Bowl.

And that’s just one estimate. When you look at the global numbers, this figure nearly doubles. Mint, a prominent financial planning website, estimates that bettors stake more than $8 billion every year on the Super Bowl alone.

But the NFL is not the only league to garner such attention from bettors.

NCAA football is right up there with it.

In 2014, Super Bowl XLIX only generated about 10,000 more bets than the most heavily bet college football game

In 2014, Super Bowl XLIX only generated about 10,000 more bets than the most heavily bet college football game: 122,370 compared to 112,644. And, according to CNBC, bettors stake between $60-70 billion in illegal wages on college football each year.

Since the NCAA decided to establish and expand their playoff format, bowl games and championships have proven to be hot opportunities for bettors.

Unlike the NFL, which plays almost all its games on Sunday, college football offers bettors the chance to wage on matchups happening throughout the week, including thirty plus matchups on Saturdays.

A greater slate of games means more money lines, more spreads, more chances to get some bang for your buck.

According to SportsInsights there was a point spread listed for 894 college football games in 2015. Meanwhile, in merely a handful of offshore sportsbooks, a grand total of 12,774,988 bets were placed during the college football season.

With so many options it’s easy to see why college football ranks as one of the most bet-on sports in America.

As part of this article, we will discuss the different types of bets you can make on college games as well as some helpful tips and strategies for maximizing your returns.

But before we get into all that, let’s first take a look at the basics of our very own predictive wager system.

The Sports Analytics Simulator

The Simulator is built based on a predictive model created by a doctor with an extensive background in mathematics, psychology, and operations research.

The best networks were able to correctly predict the winning team 74.33 percent of the time (on average) as compared to the experts who were correct 68.67 percent of the time.

This individual has worked with multiple professional and collegiate sports organizations, player agents, sports data agencies and a top-ranked fantasy website. His work with professional sports organizations includes optimizing scout travel, in-depth player analysis and lineup configurations.

Among his greatest innovations was the discovery of neural networks as a powerful tool for sports betting.

A neural network is defined as a computer system modeled on the human brain and nervous system. Using this technology, the good doctor found that “the best networks were able to correctly predict the winning team 74.33 percent of the time (on average) as compared to the experts who were correct 68.67 percent of the time.”

While the model was initially developed around NBA betting, it has since been applied to other sports — chief among them, college football.

What makes the Sports Analytics Simulator unique is that it relies not on data inputs (statistics) from previous seasons, but on continuous game-to-game updates.

The Simulator’s specific algorithms run through up to forty different stat categories to create the most efficient model possible. From this model, we derive our picks for each game. And the best part is, our system is a living, breathing predictive model — it possesses machine learning capacities that allow to detect trends and potentials that we mere humans could only dream of finding.

For more information, check out this handy dandy video on how it works:

College Football Betting

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the fundamentals of college football betting. Much like the NFL, college football offers the standard bets: spread, moneyline, totals, parlays, and teasers. Unique to college football are the 1st quarter and halftime bets. Let’s take a look at each type.

Spread Bet

Just like the NFL, college football’s most popular wager is the spread bet.

With spreads, bookmakers set a spread with a favorite and an underdog. This type of bet equalizes the chance of winning a wager.

In order for you to win on a bet of this nature, one team must cover the spread — so if the spread is -7 in favor of the Florida State over Oregon, the Sentinels must win by seven points or more. Whereas in order for the Ducks to cover the spread, they must either lose by less than seven points, or win.

For any spread, the underdog is indicated by a “+” while the favorite is indicated by a “-”. To make it simpler, the spread gives the underdog a ‘head start’. In this case, the Ducks have a +7 head start in points to kick off the game.

Also, when looking at spreads, you’ll see a larger number next to the actual spread. It might look like this:

• Florida State -7 -115
• Oregon +7 -105

The larger number is what’s called the Juice. It’s basically the fee that bookmakers charge for you to place a bet. In our example, if Florida State covers the spread a winning bet of $115 will yield $100 profit. Now, if you simply want to bet on the winner of the game you’ll want to place a…

Moneyline Bet

Moneyline betting is an equally common form of sports betting as spread bets. The difference is that with moneylines, bookmakers will set lines representing the favorite and the underdog. Let’s go back to this Florida State-Oregon matchup.

Let’s say the Sentinels have a favored line of -150 and the Ducks have an underdog line of +125. What this means is that in order to win a hundred dollars on the Sentinels, you must wage $150.

As for the underdogs, if you wage $100 you will win $125. Generally, the moneyline reflects the spread.

With the sheer number of available bets on a given Saturday, a bettor may choose to parlay (see below) several big favorites, which will increase the risk AND the payout of the wager. So that’s that.

Totals Bet

Totals betting is rather self-explanatory.

Also known as over/under, this form of betting involves placing a wager on the total number of points scored by both teams combined in a game.

Let’s say bookmakers set an over/under of 32 points for the Sentinels and Ducks. Your job as a bettor is to decide whether the score will be… over or under 32 points.

Prop Bet

A prop bet is a special kind of bet that has nothing to do with the outcome or final score of a game.

Prop bets come in many different forms. Some of them are player-based — how many yards or touchdowns a specific player scores. Some of them are based in live betting, i.e. if a team scores on a specific drive.

During bowl games you’ll see all sorts of fun prop bets like coin toss wagers.

Parlay Bet

You might have seen a parlay bet featured in the film, Silver Linings Playbook, (or read it in the book), wherein Pat Solitano’s father, Patrizio Sr., places a bet on the Eagles-Cowboys game and the judging outcome of Pat and Tiffany’s dance number in a local dance-off.

In order for Patrizio to win the bet, the Eagles must win their game against Dallas and Tiffany and Pat must score 5 out of 10 in their dance competition.

This is what’s known as a parlay bet, wherein various games and outcomes are rubber-banded together into one single bet.

In order for the bettor to win the wager, all outcomes must unfold accordingly. This might involve a handful of other bets such as a totals bet and a moneyline bet. In college football, this is a common form of betting to increase risk and reward for your wagers.

Teaser Bet

A teaser bet is a form of parlay that involves a combination of two to ten wagers in which you adjust the point spreads and/or totals in your favor in exchange for a lower payout.

When your teaser includes a point spread, you have the option to decrease the spread for the favorite or increase the spread for the underdog.

When you’re teasing a total, you can increase the under or decrease the over.

Like a parlay, winning the bet is dependent on all of the wagers winning.

Standard teasers are 6, 6.5 and 7-point. There’s also a sweetheart teaser, which offers you have the choice to tease a line by 10 or 13 points. It’s basically a parlay with a little bit of zazz.

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 spread for a game is -7 and you place a 3-point teaser bet, your new line is -4. This 3-point advantage applies to each aspect of the teaser play.

College Football Betting Stats

Now that you know the basics of college football betting, let’s touch on some important factors to consider when handicapping games.

First and foremost, you’ve got to understand the nature of college football. In the NFL, all 32 teams are relatively equal in stature. Size, speed, skill—the NFL is filled with ever-tight competition.

But in college football, the stakes are different. Emotions run high. Motivations change week-to-week, game-to-game.

Up to 70 players can impact the outcome of a given matchup.

Experts have a lot of ideas about what statistics most impact a college football game. The following five, derived from numbers from the 2016 season, have consistently proven their influence on a team’s odds.

Explosiveness – as measured by PPP (points per play)

This one is simple. If a team makes more big plays than their opponent, they’re likely to win the game.

According to statistics, if a team leads in PPP they will win 86 percent of their matchups.

So look for a team with a penchant for big plays, and keep an eye on their opponents’ defensive stats.

If they’re giving up high PPP numbers each week, there’s a good chance they’ll lose.

Efficiency – as measured by success rate.

Success rate is measured by a number of baselines: 50% of needed yards on first down, 70% on second down, and 100% on third or fourth down.

This stat is similar to on-base percentage in baseball.

If a team has a high efficiency rating, they’re likely to avoid drive-crippling passing downs and, beyond that, stay on schedule, control the clock, and wear down their opponent’s defenses by keeping on the field.

If a team can best their opponent in efficiency, they’ll also win the game 83 percent of the time.

Field Position – as measured by average starting field position

They say special teams wins games. That’s what makes them so special.

Sure, it’s always a boost when a return man can return a kick or a punt for a touchdown. But it’s his ability to consistently provide his team with outstanding starting field position that determines his worth. Hence why good return men are so highly coveted in football.

They are often their team’s x-factor—the difference between having to drive 75 yards or 65 yards to the end zone.

As such, the team who wins the battle for field position wins the game 72 percent of the time.

Finishing Drives – as measured by points per trip inside the 40

Espn Ncaa Football Point Spreads

Finish what you’ve started.

At this point you might find these tips a bit formulaic. It stands to reason that if a team creates big scoring plays, controls the clock, manages the ball, establishes solid field position, minimizes turnovers, and maximizes scoring drives, they’ll likely win the game.

When it comes to finishing drives, it’s less about how many opportunities you get inside the red zone, and more about how many points you can score once inside the 40.

There are numerous examples of teams creating more red zone opportunities but fewer scores than their opponent.

In 2012, Hawaii created 12 scoring opportunities against Colorado State’s four on October 27. They outgained the Rams by 102 yards, but still lost, 42-27. Talk about demoralizing.

The Warriors lost three turnovers (at the CSU 30, 31, and 33), punted twice (at the CSU 39 and 40), attempted three field goals (missing one), and turned the ball over on downs at the 2. Not to mention one of those three turnovers was an interception returned for a touchdown.

The point is straightforward: teams must score touchdowns on the majority of their drives that reach beyond their opponent’s 40.

Field goals will not cut it.

Basically, if a team can still put points on the board despite fewer scoring opportunities, they’ll win the game 72 percent of the time.

Turnovers – as measured by turnover margin

If we’re not beating a dead horse by now I don’t know what we’re doing.

Surprisingly enough turnovers are not the biggest factor to consider when handicapping games. But they still matter.

If you can minimize the amount of times you give up the ball, you’re obviously going to increase your chances of capitalizing on offense.

Keep the ball in your possession, and the game is likely yours—assuming you can put the ball in the end zone. The team that wins the turnover battle wins the game 73 percent of the time.

Ncaa Football Point Spreads Week 13

While mastering these five aspects will go a long way towards helping a team win, bettors must not solely rely on them for handicapping games. College football outcomes swing like a loose pendulum.

Cellar dwellers beat good teams when they’re not looking, or at the very least beat the spread. Slumping squads can come out strong against rivals or must-wins.

Ncaa Football Point Spreads 2019

Oh, and there are other conferences besides the big ones (SEC, Big 12, Big 10, ACC, Pac 12).

Oddsmakers tend to look at the big TV games and the big conference matchups—the ones they know the betting public will be going heavy on.

This means, smaller conference games will likely slip through the cracks. If you’re betting ‘over/unders,’ look at the smaller conferences as value could be there because of the lack of two-way action.

There is big money to be made in smaller-market games. One thing I’ve learned in life is never to follow the crowd. If you want to outsmart oddsmakers and increase your returns, be your own advocate, look for the games people are sleeping on.

Ncaa Football Point Spreads Week 11

Thankfully, they’re not hard to find in the NCAA.