The popularity of college football betting has never been higher. Almost no other sport comes close to matching the attention it receives. After NFL betting, there’s NCAA football betting. That’s the pecking order in North America. And the popularity is understandable. College football deals with a scarcity of games. Teams play only so many everywhere, so they will always be a hot-ticket item with meaningful consequences. And, of course, there are plenty of NCAAF betting odds.

The team to beat in the NCAAF is the Alabama Crimson Tide, which is reflected in the NCAAF betting odds. While they are the strongest team in the league, the odds posted by bookmakers don’t represent the best college football bets for this season. The season kicks off on August 27, with the teams already in pre-season.

Navigating the world of college football betting sites, though, can be a minefield. There are no specific college football sportsbooks. Odds are offered everywhere, by everyone. It can also be tough to get your foot in the door. If you don’t understand the game or the online college football betting options available to you, it can take a while to optimize your approach. Let’s change that, shall we?

The odds for the NCAAF 2023/24 title were last updated on November 14, 2023:

NCAAF Championship 2024 BetUS
Michigan +250
Georgia +250
Florida State +900
Ohio State +800
Alabama +600
Oregon +800
Washington +1200
Texas +2000
Penn State -
Louisville +15000

Best NCAAF Bets, November 2023

  • Ohio State is +700 to win the 2024 NCAAF Championship at XBet.
  • Georgia has +250 odds to take home the title at BetUS.
  • Washington is a longshot at +1400 odds to clinch the championship at BetOnline.
  • Oregon has +1400 odds to lift the trophy at Bovada.
  • Air Force is -120 favored to win the Mountain West Conference at XBet.
  • Boise State has +350 odds to win the MWC at BetUS.
  • Jayden Daniels is +400 to win the 2023/24 Heisman Trophy at BetOnline.
  • Jordan Travis has +800 odds for the Heisman at Bovada.

Best Online Sportsbooks for NCAAF betting

We have examined hundreds of online sportsbooks looking for the best ones just for NCAAF bettors. Here we present the very best ones in terms of bonuses, college football betting odds, and variety betting options.

You may notice some big names like FanDuel and DraftKings missing from our list of recommended NCAAF betting sites. That’s because we do not just listen to the advertisements. Rather, we research the sportsbooks thoroughly, so the media blitzes from companies such as Unibet, BetMGM, Caesars, Fox Bet, PointsBet, and BetRiver. When we heard their advertisements, we already knew them. We already knew their expensive odds and stingy bonuses. Don’t listen to the adds. Read the detailed reviews of NCAAF sportsbooks and sign up at one of the recommended bookies above. 

How to Bet on NCAAF Games?

Many people are asking “How to be bet on NCAAF games?” College football has become one of the biggest sports betting markets in the United States. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governs collegiate athletics at both the Division I and II levels. There are currently over 2,500 colleges and universities participating in NCAA competition.

If you want to bet on NCAAF games, it can be a great way to earn extra income or even turn a profit. If you want to bet on college football, here are some things you should consider before you bet on NCAAF games:

  • Who is the favorite and are they overvalued?
  • Who is the underdog and are they actually more likely to win?
  • Is this an intense rivalry that could affect the NCAAF betting markets?
  • What is the best NCAAF game to bet on?
  • What are the NCAAF betting trends?
  • Which NCAAF bet is the best for this game?

NCAAF Betting Types

It is important to know all of the different types of NCAAF wagers available. The more betting types you understand, the more betting options you will have. This will make you the best prepared bettor you can be.

NCAAF Futures

Betting on college football futures tends to be more lucrative. Granted, this isn’t all that true on the win-totals front. They pay out a return that’s similar to standard over/under wagers. But everything changes when you’re handicapping bowl-game and National Championship winners. If you make those picks during the preseason, before getting to watch any games, even the heaviest favorites will provide a nice payout. Maybe the University of Georgia is the overwhelming consensus pick to win it all in the upcoming season. Their odds won’t be as enticing as the average school’s, but they could still yield something like +500 or better.

Here’s the rub: Forecasting futures is extremely difficult. You’re basically committing to a loss if your team doesn’t win the national title. The field is safer for obvious reasons. But if you’re looking to maximize your winnings without having to bet lump sums on individual games, futures are a way to do it.

Single-Game NCAAF Wagers

Single-game wagers are the most popular type of college football betting.  Does that also mean those wagers are the most profitable?

Not necessarily. There are more games than futures to bet on per team, but they’re seldom lucrative. Moneylines for favorites typically yield super low-end returns, and hitting on the spread or over/under bets usually only brings back between -105 and -115.

Investing in underdog moneylines can flip this narrative on its head, but that’s hardly foolproof. Teams are underdogs for a reason. And some games really are foregone conclusions. You’re not picking Appalachian State (+15000) to beat Alabama (-3500), because you know the former isn’t winning.

NCAAF Parlays

If you’re looking to elevate the stakes of your single-game bets without increasing your overhead, you’ll want to try your hands at parlay wagers. Looping three, four, five, or even more lines together significantly beefs up your prospective payout. Of course, it also comes with heightened risk. Parlays mandate you hit on every level of your wager. If you go 4-1 on your picks in a five-line parlay, you still lose.

Some gamblers swear by building step-ladder parlays. These are essentially a larger collection of lower-risk bets packaged together to increase prospective returns.

For example, instead of betting Boston University (-1100), Penn State University (-1500), Ohio State (-1000) or Oregon (-2100), you could combine all four of those lines into one parlay to drive up your payout without forking over a ransom as your initial investments.

Even in this scenario, you’re not looking at a 3-to-1 payout or anything crazy like that. But you’re getting closer, if not exceeding, even money when you package four or more heavy-favorite moneylines together. That should always be the goal.

NCAAF Prop Bets

NCAAF prop bets are all those bets that do not deal directly with the end result of the game. Instead, they ask you to be on all kinds of fun and whacky things that may or may not happen along the way. They are normally divided into two sections: NCAAF player props and NCAAF team props.

In player props, you bet on whether or not individuals will do certain thing. For example, you can bet on if Bryce Young will rush for more than 40 yards in the game.

In team props, the object of the wager is the team. One example would be if the Crimson Tide will be the first to score.

NCAAF Betting Trends

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the number of college football betting strategies and NCAA football betting trends at your disposal. Different experts have different approaches, and even how-to sites will relay disparate information.

That ends now. We want you to profit off your NCAA football betting. So, let's put all the cards on the table. How do you find the best college football sportsbooks? Where are the best places to search for advice? Is it more profitable to wager on single-game outcomes or big-picture lines? When's the best time to bet? What are the best sites to bet? We're here to help.

NCAAF betting sites

NCAAF Online Betting Odds

With a ton of contests being played out every week, NCAAF betting lines take a little more time to handicap. Some sports are able to release lines immediately after one game ends. College football typically must wait for the entire slate each to conclude, and certain sportsbooks won't publish odds until after the AP adjusts its top 25 rankings.

That's not really a problem. You're not waiting on newspapers to break the lines anymore. Online sportsbooks can publish lines at the drop of the at, and most will have them up and running by Monday afternoon. Anyone of our approved odds-providers can be considered a reliable source, but if you're looking for an edge, consider checking out sites that aggregate lines from the most popular sportsbooks so that you can compare and contrast while also tracking any sudden movement.

NCAAF Betting Picks

Among the most valuable college football betting advice out there is the idea that should you make your picks as early as possible. There is an obvious risk in rushing your decision, and it's important to wait for clarification on major injuries or lineup decisions. If you're not waiting on any groundbreaking developments, though, it's best to jump on the lines as soon as possible, before oddsmakers have a chance to adjust them based on how NCAA football's public betting goes.

This is most important when viewing primetime games. Take the following hypothetical matchup: LSU (-110) vs. Clemson (+105). If the odds for this game are released Monday before a Saturday kickoff, you can bet they'll be different and less gambler-friendly by Thursday or Friday. The public could flock to Clemson, which would in turn damage their payout. The same could happen for LSU's side.

Similar logic applies to making college football futures picks. If you're betting on win totals or trying to handicap the National Championship in advance, the preseason is the best time to do it. Once again, this allows less bandwidth for oddsmakers to adjust based on inbound wagers. Your goal should always be to spot the most appealing lines yourself as early as possible.

ncaaf gambling

NCAAF Sports Betting Sites

We make betting on college football games and futures easy with a complete list of approved sportsbooks you can use to place your wagers. They’re all trustworthy, well-established, and best of all, committed to offering you plenty of different bet types:

NCAAF Betting Tips

No singular set of NCAA football betting tips suits everyone. You're not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution. You just want to suss out a strategy that works for you. Let's run through some of the more popular ones in the hopes you stumble across one that works for you.

Projection Models

Many bettors live by projection models that predict the outcome of a game given the spread and participating teams. Most sites will make you charge for access to these, but there are public forecasts, such as those done by FiveThirtyEight, you can check out.

There are also projection models for futures like win totals, conference champions, and National Championship victors. These tend to be less reliable, though. The single-game forecasts are your best bet unless you're betting on the same future across multiple teams.

Using The Current Season to Inform Predictions

Select bettors like to place wagers best based on current-season evidence.

These inquiries include: What's Alabama's margin of victory at home? What's Texas A&M's record against above-.500 opponents? Is either team working off a loss?

One potential hangup here is the lack of repeat matchups between the same teams. College football traffics in an even smaller scarcity of games than the NFL, which means the same schools aren't facing each other more than once during the regular season. That forces you to base decisions off information that isn't related directly to the matchup, which can as always, be a little risky.

Betting with TV Analysts

There are even gamblers who just go with the national analyst consensus. They watch college football programs on television, listen to what on-screen personalities have to say, and build their bets from there.

This is...mostly fine. We don't recommend trusting analysts with all of your spread or over/under picks. However, paid experts do tend to be pretty good at forecasting outright winners and could, therefore, be used as a semi-dependable source when betting moneylines.

The Intuitive Bettor

And then, finally, there are college football enthusiasts who trust their own intuition. They watch the games. They study the stats. They look at track records. They consider the environment and the stakes and then go from there.

This strategy entails a lot of leg work and is entirely subjective. Picks suddenly come down to a matter of preference, and decisions will be made on the nuts and bolts of a team's play style. If you like run-heavy attacks over pass-heavy machines, then you'll be more inclined to roll with the former when two such offenses collide.

It's Your Decision

Really, when it comes to betting strategies, there's not a wrong answer. (The on-screen analyst approach is admittedly flimsy.) It's all about finding the approach that makes you most comfortable.

Chief among the circumstances that should factor into your decision would be your preferred wager types (futures, spreads, moneylines, etc.) and, most critically, the amount you're investing in each wager. High rollers will favor one strategy over another. Ditto for those who prefer futures to single-game gambles.

Betting NCAAF Bowl Games

Even the most accomplished college football bettors have to change their approach for bowl games. The competition is generally higher and equally important, they're dealing with an influx of public action. Bowl games bring out the one-off NCAA bettors—those who wager on games only once or twice a year.

Accounting for that extra attention is paramount. Lines are prone to wilder swings when they open because the action is so fast and furious. If you're going to bet on bowl games, you should do so either immediately upon opening or a few days after they're released, once the turbulent odds swings have settled down.

There are no exceptions to this rule. Not every bowl game is created equally, but they're all subjected to the same level of heightened attention. With that said, these are the most popular bowl games right now, which means they're the ones that will demand the most commitment to proper timing.

Peach Bowl

The Peach Bowl was established in 1962 and is held in Atlanta. It is considered one of the six major bowl games—also known as the New Year's Six—and is subsequently a member of the college football playoff on a rotating basis. It will once again be a playoff semifinal in 2022 and then again in 2025.

Sugar Bowl

First played in 1934, the Sugar Bowl is college football's second-oldest bowl game. It is also a member of the New Year's Six, which means it makes up one of the two college football playoff games every three years. All Sugar Bowl games are currently held in New Orleans.

Orange Bowl

Much like the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl first kicked off in the 1930s, making it one of college football's three oldest season finales. As another member of the New Year's Six, it will count as one of the two college football playoff games every three years. Games are presently played in Miami Gardens, Florida, usually just before or after the turn of the calendar.

Fiesta Bowl

Founded in 1971, the Fiesta Bowl currently holds court in Glendale, Arizona. It is also a part of the college football playoff six, so it has a say in shaping the National Championship participants every three years. It's semifinals schedule is aligned with the Peach Bowl, so during those years, the winner of the Fiesta Bowl squares off against the winner of the former for all college football's marbles.

Cotton Bowl

Yet another end-of-the-year game that began in the 1930s, the Cotton Bowl is the fifth of our five college football playoff-eligible tilts. It registers as a semifinals match-up every three years, and its games are played in Arlington, Texas.

Rose Bowl

Our final installment from the New Year's Six. The Rose Bowl is the eldest of the bowl games, having started in 1902. It continues to be played in Pasadena, California, and will, like its sister bowls, count towards the college football playoff every three years. In the seasons it does not, the Rose Bowl usually features a showdown between the conference champions from the Pac-12 and Big 10—unless either qualifies for the playoff themselves.

Celebration Bowl

On to the second-tier bowl games!

The Celebration Bowl holds a special place in the heart of non-powerhouses. As of now, it's the only bowl game that chooses its participants, on a varying basis, from conferences that aren't part of the college football playoff pool.

Las Vegas Bowl

After debuting in 1992, the Las Vegas Bowl has since become a haven for non-conference champions from the Pac-12, SEC, and Big 10. In years past, it has also pulled squads from the MAC and Big West.

Holiday Bowl

The Holiday Bowl is still played where it debuted in 1978: San Diego. However, the parameters of its participants have changed since then. As the powerhouse pool in the Pac-12 and Big 10 has increased, the Holiday Bowl has become another head-to-head for teams from the two conferences—though, again, neither will be their division's champion.

Citrus Bowl

Often confused with the Orange Bowl, the Citrus Bowl started operations in 1947 and is currently played in Gainesville, Florida. Initially, it accepted participants from conferences all over. Now, however, it pulls one team apiece from the SEC and Big 10.

Alamo Bowl

First played in 1993, the Alamo Bowl quickly became an annual meeting for teams from the Pac-12 and Big 12. It broke away from this format for a little while in the mid-1990s in favor of a Big 12 vs. Big 10 format, but it returned to its original structure in 2010.

Music City Bowl

One of the new bowl games, the Music City Bowl has been played in Nashville, Tennessee since 1998. Though it once culled schools from four different conferences—including the ACC, Big East, and Big 10—it now features an annual meetup between a team from just the Big 10 and SEC.

Belk Bowl

Unveiled in 2002, the Belk Bowl breaks the mold and pulls its participants from the ACC and SEC, in addition to the Big 10. It is played in North Carolina and also promises one of the higher school payouts among the second-tier bowl games ($4.8 million).

ReliaQuest Bowl

The ReliaQuest Bowl is a billboard for tradition. It was first played in 1986 and has yet to move locations or change the participation pool. It is still held in Tampa Bay, Florida, and its two challengers continue to come from the Big 10 and SEC.

Army-Navy

This is self-explanatory. The Army-Navy Game isn't so much a bowl matchup as a storied affair. Every year, it features a square-off between the Army Black Knights and United States Military Academy. No prize pool is involved, but the winner does receive the Secretary's Trophy—in addition to an entire year's worth of bragging rights over its arch-rival.

NCAAF Betting

 

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Meet the author

Eric Uribe

Eric has been passionate about sports since he was 10 years old. He brings over 10 years of sports journalism experience to his expert coverage of sports betting. Hailing from the US, Eric leverages his diverse expertise covering sports at all levels – from high sch...