College Football Handicapping Articles

Disappointing College Teams Against the Spread
by T.O. Whenham - 10/7/2009

With so many high profile college football teams out there it is inevitable that there will be several that wind up being big betting disappointments. Some teams win but aren't as dominant as people expect so they can't cover spreads. Others just struggle when people expect them to excel. Here's a look at five teams that have been particularly frustrating and damaging to the bankroll this year:

Thursday Night Football Preview: No. 21 Nebraska at No. 24 Missouri
by Matt Severance - 10/6/2009

Last year, Mizzou scored 52 points and crushed Nebraska, 52-17. It was the most points the Tigers had scored against the Cornhuskers since 1943 and was the Huskers' most lopsided home loss in 53 years and fifth-worst in Lincoln in the program's 119-year history. And if you go back two seasons, Mizzou has outscored Nebraska 95-23 in the past two meetings. Yet the host Tigers are three-point dogs this week on BetUS.

College Football Handicapping: West Virginia Seeks Revenge
by Matt Severance - 9/30/2009

West Virginia’s defense has been even worse than Colorado’s so far, at least points-wise, allowing an average of 27.0 per game. The last time out the Mountaineers were beaten 41-30 by Auburn. The reason for that was six turnovers, including five by QB Jarrett Brown. But when WVU wins the turnover battle it has won 50 of the past 53 games.

College Football Handicapping: Betting Large Spreads
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/30/2009

College football is the home of rivalries, rankings, upsets and the four-touchdown plus point spread. As more and more teams open their season with sacrificial lamb opponents scattered throughout the first two months of the schedule, oddsmakers have been forced to inflate lines all the way up to 72 this season. Likewise bettors looking for action in these frays have had to wager while calculating things like second team defenses and a coaches tendency to run up the score.

College Football Handicapping: Iowa Heads To White House
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/24/2009

It will be no different at 8 p.m. this Saturday inside college football’s largest stadium when Penn State, a 9.5-point favorite, hosts Iowa. The Penn State faithful, the players, and Joe Paterno himself might have a little something extra for Iowa after the Hawkeyes dealt Penn State its lone defeat last regular season and what possibly cost JoePa his last chance at a national title.

College Football Handicapping: After The Trojans Break
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/24/2009

These midseason hiccups are almost a rite of autumn. Besides USC’s two trips to the National Championship game in 2004 and 2005 each Pete Carroll season has featured a major upset. Here is a recap of each one and what became of the Trojans the next week and the remainder of the season.

College Football Handicapping: Nonconference Vs. Conference Betting Differences
by T.O. Whenham - 9/23/2009

It's overly simplified and inaccurate to say that the nonconference schedule is like the preseason, but there is no question that games carry a bit more weight when they are against conference opponents. Teams approach the conference schedule differently than the rest of their games, and that means that successful handicappers need to make adjustments to thrive as the season progresses. Here's a look at five ways that you need to adjust to find success in nonconference play:

Football Betting: Early Week Line Movements
by Robert Ferringo - 9/22/2009

Once again, those people late to the party came up short on the early line movements. Last week the college teams we tracked went just 2-4 against the spread while the NFL teams went 1-1. For the season, the heavy line moves are just 7-13 ATS in college and 10-15 ATS overall. Here is this week’s action:

College Football Handicapping: West Virginia in an Uncommon Situation
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/17/2009

In case West Virginia was not in for enough culture shock when it ventures down south to take on the Auburn Tigers of the SEC in 87,451-seat Jordan-Hare Stadium under the lights at 7:45 p.m. Saturday night, it has to deal with another unlikely scenario.

College Football Handicapping: Big 12 Top Teams Take Step Back
by T.O. Whenham - 9/16/2009

We came into the current college football season with positively giddy expectations for the Big 12, but the first two weeks of the season have significantly challenged those expectations. First, Oklahoma not only lost to another upstart non-BCS team but also lost their Heisman Trophy-winning QB in the process.

College Football Betting: Week 3s Best Non Top-25 Matchups
by Strike Point Sports - 9/16/2009

College Football is all about prestige and power rankings. Florida, USC, Penn State, etc.: Everyone is tuning in to see how the best in the land fare each Saturday and how they stack up against each other. But rarely is that the case, because most of the time these Top 10 powers are playing competition that never usually measures up.

College Football Handicapping: Michigan Resurgence
by T.O. Whenham - 9/16/2009

I bleed Maize and Blue, so the last two weeks have been blissful relief after two years of increasing agony. Michigan hasn't proven anything yet, and there is still ample time for this season to fall way off the rails, but what we have seen in the Wolverines' first two weeks is enough to give even the most defeated pessimist hope.

Thursday NCAA Preview: No. 14 Georgia Tech at No. 20 Miami
by Alan Matthews - 9/15/2009

The Hurricanes, who are 4.5-point favorites on JustBet, are in the midst of the toughest opening four-game stretch in college football this season. UM went up to Tallahassee and upset Florida State last Monday, and they follow this game with tough matchups against Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.

College Football Teams That Start Off With Cupcakes
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/11/2009

Some teams like to schedule huge conference or inter-conference games to kick off the season. Just last week two Top-10 ranked teams, Alabama and Virginia Tech, squared off on national TV in front of 75,000 fans. On Monday night Florida State and Miami put on a classic in a 38-34 thriller that has been a Labor Day tradition for over two decades now.

College Football Handicapping: Can Oregon Recover?
by T.O. Whenham - 9/11/2009

The first game of the Chip Kelly era at Oregon pretty much couldn't have gone worse, could it? Oregon got systematically manhandled by Boise State, the much-praised Oregon offense was nowhere to be seen, and then things really got ugly after the final whistle.

Where Does Oklahoma Go From Here?
by T.O. Whenham - 9/11/2009

What's the worst thing that could possibly have happened to the Oklahoma Sooners? Not much question that that would be losing Sam Bradford for an extended time to injury. What's the second worst thing? Perhaps losing tight end Jermaine Gresham, a potential All-American who was likely to be the pass-heavy team's likely leading passer.

Thursday NCAA Preview: Clemson at No. 15 Georgia Tech
by Matt Severance - 9/9/2009

If you like running games, tune in for Thursday night’s ACC battle between Clemson and Georgia Tech (-5Ѕ on Bodog), which features the two best running backs in the conference if not the country in the Tigers’ C.J. Spiller and Tech’s Jonathan Dwyer.

Notre Dame at Michigan Betting Preview
by Strike Point Sports - 9/8/2009

There’s no second-guessing which premier matchup takes the cake in college football’s second week. Southern Cal travels to Columbus to take on Ohio State at the Horseshoe, so there will be enough coverage of this Top-10 collision.

College Football Handicapping: Week 1 Surprises
by T.O. Whenham - 9/8/2009

One of the biggest of the many, many joys of college football is that we can never really know what we have until we see the teams play. We can spend the whole offseason analyzing the players that have left the team and those that have joined it, the ways the coaching staff has changed, and so on. The problem, though, is that so much of what we think we know is just pure speculation.

Sunday College Football Betting Preview
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 9/4/2009

It has been all Ole Miss recently in this series with the Rebels winning eight of 10 dating back to 1995. This game will also mark the 10th time out of the past 11 games where they have played the role of the favorites. The over is 4-2-1 in recent meetings between Ole Miss and Memphis.