College Football Handicapping
Here are some angles when college football handicapping to consider courtesy of AceFootballPicks.com. Remember if you haven’t had the success you had hoped for to pick up our expert picks after we have handicapped all the college football games for the week. Check out our 2007 College football preview for some expert advise.
Betting on college football is a little different than betting on football in the NFL. One of the reasons is that the players are more subject to their emotions and off field occurrences than the players in the NFL are (think of it this way; college football is for very young men, while the NFL is made up of pros- guys who will play rain or shine and get a paycheck).
This difference comes in very important when you are handicapping your college football bets. There is quite a list of factors that may affect the outcome of a game; personnel changes, suspensions, off field injuries, scandals, how the players relate to each other, home coming grudge matches, and family matters all relate as important college football handicapping factors.
Right away, you can put grudge matches and home comings down at the bottom of the list; they are not as important as other factors, simply because everyone else, including the line makers, know about them too and have factored them into the lines. This is angle we almost always throw out the window when releasing our premium college football picks to members. Most college football handicappers tend to over-emphasize these situations, but remember these well-known situations are already built into the betting line and often offer no value what so ever.
Knowing how the players are relating to each other is something that can be very important. Having two or three stars on a team can either be a blessing or a curse; it depends on how their attitude is about it. Guys that get are likely to be drafted early into the NFL traditionally don’t play as hard for their college teams, taking on a primadonna attitude and driving everyone around them crazy. Teams with a few stars have internal problems if ego gets in the way, and this shows on the field. Check out newspapers, if you are reading about a scuffle before the game, fights in practice are a sign of a bad game ahead!
Personnel changes, especially the loss of a coach, will also effect how the players play. College teams will often announce the imminent ending of a coach’s career, and this can sometimes give the players an extra boost of motivation. There are a number of situations where the coach is going to be fired because he wasn’t well liked by anyone but the players. Often teams as high as 7 point underdogs, win straight up; as they are playing for their coach.
A good example of this angle was when the Miami Hurricanes and Larry Coker took on the ranked Boston College Eagles. The Hurricanes had lost 4 in a row and were in a tail spin. It was a done deal that Coker would be let go at seasons end but watching the game you could see that the Canes had some extra motivation as they were playing for their coach. End results was an outright win for Miami over the Eagles.
Knowing what is going on off the field can help a lot when you are handicapping your college football bets. Emotional factors almost always come into play, and knowing how a group of guys will react to a situation is the key to winning.
