Betting NCAA Football totals account for about 30% of all college football bets.
Key Points
– Betting NCAA football totals is exciting and can be profitable.
– NCAA football totals bettors should arm themselves with knowledge of trends and factors that influence game totals.
Betting NCAA Football Totals
Over the past decade, the amount of money wagered on all sports has increased exponentially. Betting on college football has become even more popular in the U.S. as more states legalize sports betting.
Of the college football bets, betting NCAA football totals is one of the more popular wagers. Offshore sportsbooks offer the very best in OVER UNDER odds.
Betting totals can be very profitable too, especially for those that know what they are doing. Whether you are an experienced bettor or one that is more casual, winning an NCAA football totals bet is always the goal.
Here’s how you can prepare for greater success.
The Totals Bet
If you want to win more college football totals bets, you need to start with a clear understanding of what the wager is. Betting on a game total is simply predicting whether the final score of a game will go Over or Under a point total set by oddsmakers. That’s it.
It doesn’t matter which team wins the game. Bettors also are not predicting the exact final score. If it did happen that the score did land on the set total, the result is a Push which means bets are refunded and there are no winners.
If you had placed a bet on a game to go Over the set total of 51 and the final score ended up 28-24, you would be a winner.
NEED TO KNOW > WHAT IS A PROFESSIONAL HANDICAPPER?
What Influences Betting NCAA Football Totals
There are a number of variables that will affect scoring in a college football game. The most basic is the abilities of the respective offenses and defenses in a given game. If you have a team that is among the top-10 teams in the country in scoring, you might lean toward the Over. However, the fact that a team can produce points will lead oddsmakers to factor that into a game total.
It’s the same on the other end. Teams with great defenses don’t allow a lot of points. That’s typically factored into a total as well. So is playing at home.
Playing at home in college is a much bigger deal than it is in the NFL. Playing in front of a home crowd of 90,000 to 100,000 people can be a boost for a home team. When a road team is on offense, it’s much harder to navigate a scoring drive with tens of thousands of fans screaming at you. That can have an effect on game totals.
Weather is also a huge factor. One weather phenomenon plays a huge role in college football game totals. We look at that next.
Wind & NCAAF Totals
Players, coaches, and college football bettors cannot control the weather. One element they cannot control that plays a huge role in determining totals is wind speed. Wind has always had an impact on games, but even more so today with teams relying on the pass so much.
When wind speeds reach 8 mph, the effects are noticeable. In a sample of several thousand NCAA football games over the past few years, the Under is 1587-1380 when the wind speed is measured at 8 mph or higher. These are examples of college football betting trends to keep an eye on.
Stronger winds have an even greater impact on the Under. In over 700 games in the past several years with a recorded wind speed of 13 mph or higher, the Under is 449-332. These are significant numbers and they are something totals bettors should be aware of.
Scoring Average > Game Total
Let’s say you have two teams that are very high-scoring. The inexperienced bettor will jump on the Over. Imagine two teams that score roughly 40 points per game. That’s about 80 total. The number really doesn’t have to be that high, but you get the idea.
In a sample of 1500-plus games where the two teams’ scoring averages added up to more than the game total, the Under is the way to go. In these games over the past several years, the Under is 898-646-28. That’s a winning percentage of 58.2 percent. Once again, it’s something anyone betting NCAA football totals should know.
The same thought process works in the opposite direction. Let’s take two teams whose scoring averages add up to less than the set game total. In that case, the Over is the better play.
In a sample of over 1200 college football games with a total of 52 or higher (and the two teams’ scoring averages were less than 52), the average final combined score was 64.2. The Over hit 55.8 percent of the time.
These are all valuable pieces of information for the NCAA football totals bettor.