Understanding Football Odds
Written July 22, 2009 by Jack Jones
Understanding the football odds posted each week isn’t that hard to do, but being able to produce winning college football picks and NFL picks each week is. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s make sure you understand just how football betting works so you are not intimidated when you are ready to start making your bets. Once you are ready to lay down your actoin, BetUS offers our readers a $500 signup bonus for a $500 deposit!
Point Spreads – The first thing you need to know about is the point spread and luckily it’s the easiest way to bet on sports. Most of the bets that you will make and the general public makes comes on the spread. This is how the sportsbooks even out the teams and get their action on both sides of the game since it’s rare that two teams will be evenly matched and the game marked as a pick em.
The point spread is basically a handicap that the favorite has to overcome to win the game. The more heavily favored a team is, the more points they will be laying. If someone tells you that Colorado is a seven point favorite, the line will be listed Colorado -7. The (-) minus sign always tells you who the favorite is and how many points they have to win by. If Colorado wins by seven the game is a push, if they win by more than seven their backers get paid, and if they win by less than seven, or lose then the teams taking Colorado’s opponent ends up profiting. An easy way to look at this would be to adjust the score from the beginning, so at kickoff Colorado is already down 0-7. If you do that then you can keep score in your head all game long and know what you need to be routing for to happen.
The point spreads are set by the football sportsbooks. Even though lines can change throughout the week you are locked in to whatever the odds are when you place your bet. If the line moves afterwards you don’t have to worry about it, since the number you got stays the same. The books are looking to balance the action on both sides of the game so if Colorado is getting heavy action at -7 they will move the line to -7.5 to back people away from taking them and to encourgage action on the other team at +7.5.
Totals – Another popular wager in football is on totals or over/unders. This number simply reflects the total points that will be scored by both teams so if the total on the Colorado game is 46, both teams combined have to score more than 46 points for the “over” bet to be a winner, and less than 46 for the “under” bettor to cash his ticket.
Money Lines – People don’t bet as much on money lines in football as they do in other sports like baseball and hockey, but it’s still an option. The favorite is once again listed with the (-) sign but this time it’s a much higher number, like -225. That would mean that you have to bet $225 on that team to win $100 (plus your $225 risked is returned). The underdog is listed with a (+) plus sign, such as +175. That would signal a $100 bet earns a payback of $175.
Parlays & Teasers – Another popular option is to combine your wagers into a parlay, which means all of your games have to win, but you get a much higher payout when they do. For teasers you get to move the point spread six points in your favor (on a 6-point teaser) but you get a much lower payout.
If you want help in beating the football spreads this fall then take a look at the football betting picks offered for sale by our handicappers!
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- Understanding NFL Odds
- Colorado at Oklahoma State College Football Odds
- Colorado vs Texas Football Betting Odds
- Colorado at Texas Free Football Picks
- Colorado State at Colorado Football Picks
Got something to say?
- Betting on Football
- College Football Odds
- Understanding Football Odds
- Football Gambling
- College Bowl Betting
- Football Betting Forum
- Football Sportsbooks
No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!