NCAAF Odds, Spreads, and Betting Lines

Compare odds across legal US sportsbooks at ScoreandOdds.com to help you profit throughout the college football season. Find out how to use the odds comparison tool, along with other college football betting tips below.

Are you in a state or traveling to a state with legal sports betting, such as New Jersey, Indiana or West Virginia? Our odds comparison tool is just for you.

Highlighting the best lines — spreads, totals and moneylines — from multiple sportsbooks across the sports betting industry, use our odds tool to add line-shopping to your sports betting routine. Doing so will save you time and money while betting on college football, NFL, NBA and more! Simply click on spreads, totals or moneylines underneath Bet Type. Highlighting the line in red, the tool will direct you to best sportsbook for all of your favorite college football picks. And of course, start by learning how to read lines if you’re new to sports betting.

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Of course, if you are new to college football betting, or sports betting in general, you first need to understand what you are looking at in terms of NCAAF spreads, moneylines and point totals.

NCAAF Betting Glossary & Tips

Spread – The most popular way to bet on college football is by picking a team against the spread (ATS). You will either wager on the favorite or the underdog to cover the spread. The Favorite is the team giving or laying points (ex: Alabama -13.5). The underdog is the team getting points (ex: Notre Dame +13.5).

By betting on the underdog, the team does not have to win the game outright for you to win your bet. The team you bet on need to lose by less than the spread, i.e, the number of points they are getting. An outright win will cash your bet as well, but a win isn’t necessary. Example: If you bet on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish +13.5, the bet wins if the Irish lose by 13 points or less (or win outright. If the odds tool showed a sportsbook had the spread at +14, that’s where you want to place the bet. An extra half-point can be the difference between a losing wager and a push (a tie, in which a bettor neither loses nor wins money).

College Betting Tip: Key numbers are not as important in college football as they are in the NFL. College football games often have larger point spreads, and there’s more parity between teams. Still, finding the best lines by using an odds comparison tool and all the legal US sportsbooks available to you is vital if you want to profit betting against the spread.

Money Line – By betting on the moneyline, you are only wagering on what college football team will win. Large favorites require you to risk more money than you will win (ex: Oklahoma Sooners -450 requires you to risk $45 to win $10). Conversely, betting on underdogs will earn bettors more money than they risk (ex: Texas Longhorns +400, a $10 bet will earn you $40 profit).

College Betting Tip: Moneyline betting in college football is even less popular than it is in the NFL. For a lot of games with larger spreads, moneylines aren’t even available. With public bettors leaning towards favorites, there is generally more value betting on underdogs, specifically underdogs that are getting 2-6.5 points on the spread.

Total (Over/Under) – Betting on the Over/Under or point total means you’re placing bets on the total number of points scored by both teams. So if a game has a total (or Over/Under) of 65 points before kickoff, you can bet on Over or Under 65 total combined points between the two teams for the entire game. Points scored in overtime are included, which can really rack up in a college football overtime. Additionally, there are point totals for quarters and halves.

College Betting Tip: Focus on a conference or a few specific teams when handicapping college football point totals. With so many college football teams and games, oddsmakers are at a disadvantage. You don’t have to beat them on every game, you just need to pick a few spots where you think they’re wrong, which happens a lot more on a college football betting slate than say an NFL Sunday.

Vigorish (vig) or Juice – Ever wonder how sportsbooks turn a profit? It’s the vigorish or juice, i.e., the fee sportsbooks take when sports bettors place wagers. This fee is imbedded in the betting ling, giving sportsbooks a mathematical advantage. Sportsbooks typically have a vig of -110 on both sides of a bet, meaning you have to risk $110 for every $100 you want to win. Taking into account the vigorish, you need to win not half of your bets but at least 52.4% to break even. While -110 is typical, some sportsbooks are nicer than others when it comes to charging bettors juice. You will want to use SAO’s odds tool to find which sportsbooks are charging the least amount for all of your college football picks.

College Betting Tip: College football is a softer betting market than the NFL, making it easier to win over 52.4% of your bets.

Other College Football Betting Terms

Parlay – A parlay involves two or more picks, all of which have to win outright to payout. You have a five-team parlay, and all but one game wins? You hit 80% of your bets, but your parlay still loses just the same as if you went 0-for-5. Two-team parlays traditionally pay 2.6-to-1, three-team parlays pay 6-to-1, four-team parlays pay 10-to-1, etc. Though we refer to these as “two-team parlays,” parlays can consist of picks on the point totals and sometimes even props. Use our parlay calculator for your convenience.

College Betting Tip: Parlays attract bettors, especially beginning bettors, with large payouts. But don’t be fooled. Unless you’re confident you have a large edge in two or more games, betting parlays will eat away your sports betting bankroll.

Teasers – Like a parlay, teasers require more than one pick, and all picks in your teaser must hit. Teasers are a way college football bettors can move multiple point spreads (or totals) to their favor. Since the points are adjusted for the bettor, teasers do not have the large payouts that parlays do.

College Betting Tip: College football games tend to have larger point totals and spreads than NFL games. You can find point totals anywhere from 60-80 points, especially in a pass-happy conference like the Big 12. College football scores are much more volatile than NFL scores, making college football teasers less advantageous.

Live Betting – Live betting occurs after a game starts. Did you sleep in and miss the kickoff of an early 11 am college football game? Don’t tilt! Most US sportsbooks will have live lines available for you to bet on while the game is still in progress.

College Betting Tip: Your team takes an early lead, but an injury or specific scheme leaves you concerned about your bet? Use live lines to hedge your original pre-game bet, minimizing your potential losses. In some cases, you can use live lines to find “middling” opportunities. A “middle” is when you use two different spreads to bet on and against the same team. You can win both bets if the scoring margin falls in between the two spreads. Bettors can also use live lines to middle the Over/Under.