How to read College Football Las Vegas Money Line Odds

When looking over betting options for the college football, you will come across lines that look like the following: Alabama Crimson Tide -7.5 (-110) Kentucky Wildcats: +7.5 (-110). College Football Odds, NCAA Betting 2021 National Championship Game Odds & News. How to Bet on the College Football National Championship: The College Football Playoff began in 2014 and is a four-team postseason tournament for NCAA FBS schools. College football junkies, take heart! The season really didn’t end when Alabama ripped Ohio State in the FBS title game back on Jan. The lower divisions are ready to give it a go in a truncated campaign to commence this weekend (weather permitting) in some conferences, and tentatively scheduled into May.

If your team wins, you win!

A college football money line wager means you’re simply picking a side. The betting term Against the Spread (ATS) is tossed out the window for these types of wagers since the spread is no factor.

Similar to our Spread and 1st Half Odds, every matchup is listed in order of Rotation and those numbers are preceded by the Date and Time of the College Football game, every matchup is listed in order of Rotation and those numbers are preceded by the Date and Time of the College Football game.

The Rotation for college football games typically lists them by scheduled starting time, which can lead to some confusion since the number will remain the same even if the games wind up changing due to television networks often shifting around action to present more attractive matchups. Home teams are listed at the bottom and will therefore be your even-numbered squad.

The numbers next to the teams are based on a scale where $100 is the key figure. Favorites are the teams with the minus (-) sign next to their figure, which represents what it would take to win yourself $100 with the favored group. The team in the Underdog role has the plus (+) symbol next to the amount you would be able to win by wagering $100.

For an example, the Ohio State Buckeyes were heavily favored over the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2019 Big Ten Championship game.

Ohio State -727 (Bet $727 to win $100, Betting $100 wins only $13.76)
Wisconsin +494 (Bet $100 to win $494)

That number is often set by oddsmakers after the spread is established and released on Sunday afternoons but similarly fluctuates throughout the week based on the amount of money coming in on bets.

How to bet College Football Las Vegas Money Line Odds

The skill in betting the money line in college football is to try and avoid pitfalls when backing the favorites and to zero in on upsets to cash in on spots where you believe the underdog will rise up. Because the majority of spreads end up being double-digits at this level, money lines for favorites are often very high.

Consider that in last season’s Big 12 Championship, which involved two of the teams that had college football’s most successful seasons, Oklahoma was still a double-digit favorite over Baylor despite winning by just a field goal against them in their first meeting of the season, so bettors might have been hesitant to lay 10 points.

Oklahoma -325 (Bet $325 to win $100, Betting $100 wins only $30.27)
Baylor +260 (Bet $100 to win $260)

Vegas Money Line College Football Picks

The Sooners won the second matchup 30-23, so only bettors who backed the money line prevailed with them since Baylor covered. The Bears were a popular Money Line bet due to Oklahoma’s tendency to lose late in the season, but those hoping to win via the underdog ultimately went home with empty pockets as well. Betting the money line in games where you don’t want to lay three points for fear of pushing on a field goal and not cashing after 60 minutes of action is a popular reason to ride a money line favorite.

Wake Forest -152 (Bet $152 to win $100)
Utah State +138 (Bet $100 to win $138)

In the 2019 college footba season’s opener for both teams, Wake Forest defeated Utah State 38-35 in a crazy rollercoaster of a game. Wake bettors who laid the 3/3.5 points didn’t cash despite the team they backed pulling out the win. Money Line bettors prevailed, albeit nervously.

A popular wager for college football bettors is to pick a handful of heavy favorites in looking to hit a big ticket while avoiding the heavy point spreads.

The VegasInsider.com Parlay Calculator is a great tool to see what kind of return you can create while avoiding the pitfalls of risk. Just avoid the upset.

Underdogs rise up often in the college game, so pinpointing a handful of spots and attempting to cash in a few winners is also capable of yielding success. Backing heavy ‘dogs isn’t advisable but Georgia State’s upset of Tennessee to open the 2019 season cashed +1138 ($100 won $1138).

Vegas Money Line College Football Schedule

• Point Spread: Also known as the line or spread, it is a number chosen by Las Vegas and overseas oddsmakers that will encourage an equal number of people to wager on the underdog as on the favorite. If fans believe that Team A is two touchdowns better than Team B, they may bet them as 14-point favorites. In a point spread, the negative value (-14) indicates the favorite and the positive value (+14) indicates the underdog. Betting a -14 favorite means the team must win by at least 15 points to cover the point spread. The +14 underdog team can lose by 13 points and still cover the spread. Notice as well a moneyline value connected with the spread (such as -14, -115). This is known as the vig or juice and is the percentage commission paid to the sportsbook to handle the bet. It means you have to risk $115 to win $100. The underdog may see a value such as +14, +105. This means you risk $100 to win $105 if your team covers the spread.

• Total: Widely known as over/unders, it is basically a wager on whether the total points scored by both teams combined will be under or over a certain number. If that number is 52.5, you need 52 points or less to win an under bet (example 30-17 final = 47 points which is under 52.5) and 53 points or more to win over (example a 40-21 final = 61 points which is over 52.5).

Vegas Money Line College Football Odds

• Money Line: Usually reserved for baseball and hockey wagering in the old days, college football moneylines have grown in popularity. There is no spread, so your team just has to win the game, not win by a certain number of points. Like the spread, a negative value means a favorite (-180) and a positive value indicates a dog (+160). Picture the number 100 sitting in the middle of these two values. Example: if you want to back a -180 favorite, you risk $180 to win $100. On the +160 dog, you risk $100 and win $160 if the underdog wins.