How to bet on college football: Guide, how to bet and more

Here's everything you need to know about the basics of college football betting and what you can wager on

College football fans are known for their relentless enthusiasm, and this energy carries over to those who bet on college football. Those who enjoy placing wagers on college football games tend to spend the bulk of their fall Saturdays sweating out any number of wagers.

Below, we'll take a look at all the dynamics in play for college football betting, including the types of wagers offered, the high level of variance compared to its NFL counterpart, and offer college football betting tips and strategies. 

What are the college football betting basics?

There are three basic ways to bet on college football. The college football betting basics include the point spread, money line and over/under for total points scored.

The money line involves simply picking and wagering on a team to win outright based on the odds assigned to each team. For instance, Alabama might be a -250 money-line favorite against Auburn. This means a bettor would have to wager $250 to profit $100 on Alabama to win outright. On the other side, Auburn might have money-line odds of +200, meaning a college football bettor would win $200 for every $100 wagered on the Tigers.

Since college football games often feature double-digit favorites, betting against the spread is generally more popular than betting the money line. 

The college football point spread is simply a mathematical equalizer to provide implied value on both sides of a game. One way sportsbooks can guarantee they make money no matter the result of the game is keeping the vigorish, or juice.

To build on the above example, let's say Alabama is a 7.5-point favorite against Auburn in the college football betting odds. The price on a point spread usually opens at -110 on both sides before betting takes place. This means a bettor would have to wager $110 to win $100 on Alabama -7.5. In "laying the points" with Alabama, the Crimson Tide would have to win by eight or more points for a bet on the favorite to result in a win.

Conversely, an underdog bettor can "take the points" on Auburn +7.5 with the same  -110 odds. Those who wager on the Tigers simply need them to lose by seven or fewer points and, of course, underdog bettors also win their wagers if the underdog wins outright. 

Bettors can also wager on the over/under, a component that is a betting staple of all major sports, including football, basketball, baseball and hockey. The over/under refers to the combined total points scored by both teams. Using the above example, the over/under for Alabama vs. Auburn might be 48.5 points. A bettor who wagers on the Over wins if the two teams combine to score 49 or more points, while Under bettors win if 48 or fewer combined points are scored.  

What is college football prop betting?

Prop betting has become one of the most popular forms of sports wagering for amateur and serious bettors alike and can be found through popular sportsbooks such as FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and others. However, unlike the NFL, its massively popular professional counterpart, college football prop betting has significant limitations.

This is because there are some lawmakers and even sportsbook operators who believe collegiate sports and student athletes could be easier to manipulate by criminal behavior aimed at altering the outcome of games. As a result, many states simply choose to forbid prop bet wagering on college football. According to the Associated Press, last year, U.S. Integrity, a company many teams and leagues use to monitor betting activity, flagged a Temple college basketball game for irregular activity.

NCAA president Charlie Baker is against college prop bets. 

"Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes getting harassed," Baker said last March. "The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets."

Of the 38 states that offer some form of legal sports betting, only 23 of them allow college football prop betting, and they tend to have limited offerings and restricted betting limits. The states that forbid any sort of college football prop betting are Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

States that do offer legal college football prop betting often limit their offerings to high-profile games and the College Football Playoff, though that's not always the case. This past season's CFP Championship Game between Ohio State and Notre Dame saw many outlets offer a prop menu that mirrored one typically available for a Monday Night Football game in the NFL.

For instance, the over/under prop of 81.5 yards for Ohio State standout receiver Jeremiah Smith was a popular wager, with most bettors backing the Over for the explosive playmaker. Smith was quiet for most of the game, but a late 56-yard reception that helped the Buckeyes seal a 34-23 victory gave Smith 88 total receiving yards, and his supporters cashed their tickets.

Other props such as team totals and adjusted over/under totals for the game were also available at many sportsbooks during the CFP.

How do college football futures work?

Future bets on college football remain a staple for college football bettors who are looking for long-term value. Similar to the major pro sports, college football future wagers can be made on teams to win the national championship or their specific conference, along with yes/no props on teams to reach the 12-team CFP field. Over/under season win totals for programs also are available at various sportsbooks.

The most popular individual player college football future bet involves odds for the Heisman Trophy, which recognizes the nation's most outstanding player. Before the 2024 season, the Heisman odds on Travis Hunter, Colorado's dual-threat receiver and defensive back, were available at +2000 (20-1) or better at many sportsbooks. Bettors who foresaw Hunter's big season cashed a lucrative ticket. 

What are some other college football betting options?

In addition to straight point-spread bets and over/under wagers, there are plenty of other ways to bet on college football.

Parlays

Parlays remain a popular part of the landscape of college football betting. A parlay involves multiple legs or picks tied into one wager, and all the picks must win for the parlay to be graded a winner. This style of betting finds appeal across nearly all team sports because bettors are drawn to the concept of placing a modest wager that will return a potentially handsome reward.

The standard payout for a two-team, against-the-spread parlay is +260. If a sportsbook customer placed a $100 wager on a college football two-team parlay that wins, they would win $260 for a total return of $360. Although odds can vary by sportsbook, the standard payout for a three-team parlay is +600 and +1000 for a four-team parlay.

Teasers

A teaser refers to a parlay in which the bettor can manipulate the point spread in their favor on two or more teams, though such wagers pay much lower odds than a standard parlay. Although more popular in NFL betting, 6- and 7-point teasers are the most common teaser wagers in college football.

Pleasers

A pleaser is basically a reverse teaser in which bettors place a parlay with two or more teams against an adjusted point spread that adds points against the chosen teams, For instance, if Alabama is a 7-point favorite, its teaser number might be -14, forcing the Crimson Tide to cover the larger number for the leg to win. Pleaser bets tend to pay lucrative odds, but these bets are low percentage for the player, and pleaser bets are still not widely available.  

Round-robin parlay

A round-robin parlay combines multiple parlays onto one ticket. Additionally, not all legs have to hit in order for the ticket to win, though it pays out less than a standard parlay. An example would be a bettor likes five teams against the spread on the same Saturday, and they want to tie the teams together in different parlays on a single ticket. A round-robin parlay would then allow for that bettor to make a five-leg parlay by two, which means they'd have a parlay of every possible two-team combination on their ticket. Check your preferred sportsbook for round-robin parlay odds and options.  

Can you live bet on college football?

Yes. Live betting refers to the practice of betting on the point spread, total or other wager options while a game is in progress, as both essentially become moving targets as the game progresses. 

For example, if Alabama is a 14.5-point favorite against Florida but the Gators score first to go up 7-0, the live college football betting line might be Alabama -10.5. This live point spread might be appealing to would-be Crimson Tide backers who didn't like the original number but are willing to bet the in-game number at a discount despite the early deficit for their team.  

What to know about betting on the college football postseason

Buyer beware. The onset of the NIL (name, image and likeness) era, which essentially allows players to be compensated for their services, combined with loosening transfer rules has greatly impacted postseason games, particularly bowls that are not part of the 12-team playoff.

Teams often see massive roster turnover among players and coaches during the bowl season. The personnel uncertainty combined with the annual coaching carousel makes bowl games extremely difficult for college football bettors to handicap.

Roster integrity also tends to remain high among the CFP playoff participants because the players are incentivized to stay with their current programs in large part because of the extra exposure the playoff games will provide. Top-tier programs also tend to see less roster turnover in general. 

What are some college football betting tips and strategies?

Here are two sports betting strategies for college football I have considered in the past:

Avoid death by volume

With the bulk of the 134 FBS football programs playing every Saturday, even after you account for bye weeks and weeknights games, there are usually 60 or more college football games on the board during Saturdays in the fall. Narrow your focus to the teams and conferences with which you have the most knowledge and familiarity. A lower-volume approach tends to be better for long-term results due to having more familiarity and comfortability with your wagers and the ability to do more research on a specific topic.

Bet on good teams

This might sound oversimplified, but it's one axiom for betting college football that will pay off on an annual basis. The bottom line is talent-rich and well-coached teams simply cover the college football point spread at a much higher rate than their counterparts. To illustrate, last season's CFP finalists, Ohio State and Notre Dame, went 25-6-1 ATS combined, including the playoffs. Oregon, which spent most of the season as the No. 1-ranked team nationally, went 9-5 ATS for the season. 

Key college football betting terms to know

Vigorish/juice
The vigorish, or juice, is a tax sports bettors pay on every wager and serves as the primary source of the house edge in sports betting. For example, betting $110 to win $100 on a point-spread wager involves $10 of juice. If two sportsbook customers bet the opposite side of a game, the sportsbook will accept a total of $220 while paying out $210 to the winner, taking the $10 juice in profit.

Bad beat 
Though the term is open to subjective interpretation, a bad beat conceptually describes an unlikely event, usually late in a game or contest, that causes a sports bettor to lose a wager that they believed had a high percentage of winning. For example, if a bettor was backing Alabama at -6.5 and the Crimson Tide scored a late touchdown to go up ahead but missed the extra point, that bettor's slip would fail just because of that missed kick. That'd go down as a bad beat. 

Cover
The term used to describe when a team or entity covers the point spread. For example, Alabama covered the 6-point spread in its 28-20 victory over Auburn. 

Backdoor cover
The term used to describe when a betting underdog scores enough points late in the game to achieve an unlikely point-spread cover. Say you were betting on Ohio State versus Northwestern and the Wildcats were +13.5 underdogs and were trailing 40-20, but they scored a late touchdown as the Buckeyes had the game well within grasp. That would push Northwestern to trailing by 13, thus anyone backing the Wildcats at +13.5 would secure a late win. 

Line
A commonly-used synonym for the point spread in a given contest. For example, the line for the CFP title game was Ohio State -8.5 against Notre Dame. 

Buying points
A term used for when a sportsbook customer alters the point spread of a game by paying a higher vigorish to the sportsbook. For example, Ohio State was favored by 7 points against Tennessee, but Bob Smith bought Tennessee to +7.5. In this instance, the bettor would likely pay -125 instead of the standard -110 in order to "buy" the .5 on Tennessee. 

Action 
A bet of any denomination on any sporting contest is considering having action on said event or contest. For example, "Jim Smith had just $5 left to his name, but he used it to get some action on the CFP title game." 

Handle
The total amount wagered on a specific event or sport at a sportsbook. For example, the state of Nevada's legal sportsbooks reported a handle of $151.6 million on the 2024 Super Bowl.

Chalk
A commonly-used synonym for betting on the favorite in a game or another sporting event. For example, Ohio State was an 8.5-point chalk against Notre Dame. 

Underdog 
The team, individual or entity that is assigned odds by sportsbooks and oddsmakers to delineate that they are a mathematical longshot to win the game or event.

Favorite 
The team, individual or entity that is assigned odds by sportsbooks and oddsmakers to delineate that they are mathematically favored to win the game or event.

Even money
A bet that requires no vig or juice is considered even money. For example, Jim Smith bet $300 to win $300 on Colorado at even-money odds against Baylor. 

Push
A term used to describe when a sports wager is declared a tie due to the outcome of the game or event, resulting in a refund on such wagers. For example, Texas beat Oklahoma 31-28 as a 3-point favorite, so all point-spread wagers on the game were graded a push and all bets were refunded.

Sharp
A term used to describe the real or imagined advantage that a serious sports bettor has over both casual bettors and the sportsbook. It can also be used as a noun. Proper usage includes examples such as, "Bob Smith found a sharp angle in the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame CFP game and wagered accordingly," or "Bob Smith believes he is a sharp bettor, but the sportsbook supervisor where he plays does not agree." 

FAQ

How do I bet on college football games?

You can bet on college football games at any legal land-based or online sportsbook operation.

Is betting on college football props legal?

Prop betting on college football is currently allowed in only 23 states. Check the rules and regulations in your state for details and restrictions.

How does college football betting differ from NFL betting?

Betting on college football is very similar to NFL betting. The primary difference lies in both quantity of teams and bigger point spreads due to high variance in talent levels of college programs. There are 32 NFL teams and 134 FBS college football teams, so college football bettors will always have more point-spread and over/under betting options.

Can you live bet on college football?

Yes. Most reputed betting apps offer some live-betting options. Live betting is most commonly done on mobile betting applications but can also be done at land-based sportsbooks.

Can you bet on the College Football Playoff?

Yes. Almost every legitimate sportsbook offers wagering on the College Football Playoff. 

Josh Nagel

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