NCAAF Betting Odds

That's the first number you'll see beside the matchup between two teams. The point spread is the most commonly deployed bet, particularly for beginners, because it's designed to level the playing field regardless of which side of the spread you bet on.

Favored teams will have a minus sign next to their spread (e.g. -6), and underdogs will have a plus sign (e.g. +6). The numbers represent the number of points the favorite must win in order to pay out a winning bet. The greater the favorite, the more points they must win in order to cover the spread.

On the other side, the underdog team has a bit of a cushion. They don't have to win to give you a successful point spread wager. Rather, they must lose by fewer points than the proposed spread in order to yield a winning bet.

Every college football contest is likely to have a slightly different spread, as opposed to other major leagues such as MLB or NHL, where the main spread for all games is fixed at plus or minus 1.5. It's nice to have a greater margin for error when it comes to college football betting. It's markedly different than, say, horse racing, where you're betting on individual horses to win or to finish in a particular place.

There isn't much of a difference between bets on NFL and college football. However, one key distinction is that the powerhouse, elite college programs will have massive point spreads — sometimes up around 30 or more — when they're facing far inferior opponents. It's uncommon to see football spreads much higher than 15 in the NFL.

When you look at the odds, lines for NBA games will have a number that's approximately at -110. What is this, exactly? It's what's known in sports betting lingo as "juice" or "vig" (short for vigorish). All this means is the sportsbook is shaving a little bit off the top of your wager as a sort of tax that you pay on your bet.

The reason for this is the sportsbook is already offering you a bargain by posting a spread. That's typically easier than picking an outright winner, especially if it's an underdog. In the case of betting the favorite, the oddsmaker is providing the bettor a chance to win more than a moneyline wager. Thus, you don't often see "even money" or +100 odds attached to a spread unless the sportsbook is encouraging action on that side of the spread.

If you're not crazy about betting on the spread, don't worry about it. When it comes to moneyline odds, they're a little easier to follow. No "juice" to be concerned with, nor scoring margin. A moneyline bet means you're simply selecting the outright winner of the game, regardless of the score.

Going this route is certainly a little less forgiving than picking the spread when you're betting on the underdog. If you feel really good that an upset is going to happen, though, go ahead and take the flier on the less favored team to win. Perhaps you'd consider hedging a bet on the spread if you go the underdog moneyline route. That way, there's some built-in insurance in case the outright win doesn't happen.

Moneylines are designed to reward bold underdog picks. Say there's a huge favorite, and the spread is something like -7.5 points. That'll usually translate to -300 moneyline odds — or even higher. To circle back to our spread bet example in relation to $100, you'd need to wager $300 to win a mere $100 in that scenario or $30 to win $10, and so on. It's a big risk for not such a great reward.

The phrase "any given Sunday" really does apply to the NFL, and does to the college level, albeit to a slightly lesser degree. Although the worst teams can beat the best in any given game, it's far less likely in, say, a cupcake opponent for a Power 5 conference program early in the season.

That said, it's hard to expect even heavy favorites to come out on top all the time, especially if it's a showdown between conference rivals. If you do go for a big favorite with -300 odds, it may be worth making that part of a larger parlay, or a betting ticket that features wagers on two or more games that all must hit in order for you to win. If you have a three-team parlay of heavy favorites, the odds will lengthen, although if you're going that route, it might be worth just picking one winner for a single contest.

In the last column of each game, you'll see the Over/Under or Total. This figure is the baseline the oddsmakers have set for the betting lines, and you have to predict whether the teams will combine to hit the Over or the Under of that total.

We mentioned the push phenomenon a little earlier. That's possible if the Over/Under odds give you a whole number, but there will usually be a half-point in there to avoid that scenario. Say the Total for a game is at 59.5. It'd take a final score of, say, 31-28 (59 points) or less to hit the Under, whereas a more decisive 38-22 final tally, or a higher combined point total, would result in an Over winning bet.

That whole juice/vig concept from earlier comes back into play pertaining to the Over/Under. The lines will usually be in the neighborhood of -110, but during live betting, you can get slightly better odds.

It's tricky to nail the Over/Under, especially with the college football overtime rules, where teams start so close to the end zone that Under bettors can see scores balloon before their eyes. The prominence of spread offenses is pervading even pro football, but its roots are in the high-octane passing attacks on the college gridiron.

Savvy bettors look to see how teams are trending and which side of the Total they hit more often. That's a great starting point for deciding before you throw down money, and hitting the moving Over/Under target once the game is live is even harder.

It used to be that friends would take trips to Las Vegas and bet on their favorite team to win the national championship while frequenting the casinos. Now that legal sports betting is picking up across the U.S., that's no longer really the case, because major sportsbooks offer what are called futures, which are, to put it succinctly, long-term investments that won't pay off until a while into the future.

When it comes to college football, futures wagers are most frequently placed on who will win the College Football Playoff championship. It takes a disciplined and patient bettor to take the plunge on futures odds, though. They're very different from regular odds because when you're betting on pro football on a weekly basis, you get the instant gratification of a winning payout. The action is happening now, and the wagers pertain to what's going on in that particular game or week of the league's schedule.

The odds for futures are far longer than single games. It's a lot harder to predict who will win the national title than, say, who will win an individual game. Futures odds are constantly shifting throughout the season, but the sooner you jump on an eventual winner, chances are, the better bargain you'll get, which will increase your payout in the end if that franchise hoists the national championship trophy.

Be sure to visit our college football odds page throughout the 2020-21 season and beyond, and also check out our "How to Bet" hub for more sports betting tutorials that cover many of the other major sports and leagues to help you increase your betting upside.