How To Make Winning College Football Picks

10 Tips for Making Winning College Football Bets

The college football season offers sports bettors hundreds upon hundreds of wagering opportunities during the regular season and more than 30 bowl games on which to bet in the postseason. There’s a lot of money to be made on college football especially due to the fact that there are so many mismatches that a smart sports bettor can exploit.

Prior to wagering on college football, you must understand the game and how different it is from professional football. Besides the lack of parity in NCAA football, you’ll also find that teams are inclined to win by as large a margin as possible as this can really help them earn a higher spot in the polls or BCS rankings or take the wind out of the sails of a team that is ranked high. Also, college football has a very different overtime procedure that actually gives each team an equal shot at winning. This can certainly affect the outcome of a close game and games that are lined with point spreads in the 1 to 8 point range.

Along with knowing and understanding how the game works, how it differs from the NFL and the strengths and weakness of each club (there are over 100 of them), there are 10 basic winning tips that can go a long way to ensuring your success. Here they are.

First, be sure to bet on nonconference games. A large majority of college football’s nonconference matchups occur during the first half of the season. Often these games will feature a powerhouse from one of the top conferences against a much weaker team from a less powerful league. The underdog may be given a large number of points, ranging from 20 to more than 40.

If you’re used to the NFL, you may find a spread like that ridiculous. However, more often than not the favorite will cover those huge spreads. Coaches from big programs use these early games as tune ups and confidence builders and more often than not laying the points is often a very good propostition.

If you are considering taking the large number of points, one thing to look for in this case is team’s from smaller, less impressive conferences that have over the years done well in this situation by consistently beating the spread. They may not lay down and take their beating as the favorite had hoped they would making them a good bet as a big underdog.

Try to bet early lines and spreads. Odds for the next week of college football games are posted by some sportsbooks on Sunday night and by all books early Monday morning. As time goes on, these odds, which at first are very soft, will change and sharpen up. This happens as it becomes clearer to the bookmakers what the outcome will be because sharp money is being put on one team, which means the point spread is off and there is money to be made. You want to bet before that happens. Try to wager on games as early as possible as you can get great bets in early in the week that will disappear by Thursday after most of the wiseguys have sharpened up the lines.

Matchups are key to a sports bettor’s success. That means a gambler must do their homework and that includes evaluating matchups and creating power rankings. This is key in understanding the possible outcome of a given game and the accuracy of a point spread. If a topnotch quarterback is tossing into a weak secondary that may be all you need to know to make your decision.

You also have to be sure to keep up on current events such as injuries, suspensions and illnesses. Any and all of these can influence the outcome of a game greatly. Read sports blogs, news sites and team websites for information and use it in your matchups and projections.

After two to four weeks, a knowledgeable sports bettor who has been paying close attention to specific teams and conferences will start to have a great feel for the inner workings of most teams. Seeing the positive and negatives of each team that other handicappers aren’t seeing can lead you to betting against or for the same team during three, four or even five successive weeks netting a boatload of wealth if you outlook of the team is solid.

If a highly ranked team was surprised last week and lost to a much weaker team, you should be ready for them to make a major comeback the next week by annihilating their opponent. This is not a sure thing, but it is an occurrence to which you want to give careful consideration.

In addition, as the season gets to around its sixth week, be sure to keep your eyes on undefeated teams that are highly ranked. The fact is every one of their upcoming opponents is going to want to knock them off their pedestal and they might just do that or they may, at least, keep the game close and cover the point spread. Try to figure out when the time is right for a major upset.

A team with an intimidating, fast and intelligent defense can simply win a game on their own. Partway through the regular season about 10 teams will be on the radar that have major shutdown defensive prowess. These types of teams are great bets as underdogs and could be good bets as favorites as well depending on circumstances and matchups.

With each bet and during every week, take time to analyze your results and to make appropriate adjustments. No handicapping system is perfect and teams change a lot during the season. It’s okay to make some mistakes but it’s not okay to ignore them.

Finally, you should consider utilizing a premium handicapper and follow their advice. A smart college football handicapper can be the difference between a sports bettor losing and making money or between that bettor making some and making a lot of money. A great handicapper can really be worth their weight in gold and winning sports bets.

Use the 10 tips outlined in this article to make winning college football bets on spreads, lines and over/unders. You should be able to beat college football odds a majority of the time if you commit to these tips.