588   Notre Dame +7 -110   Over 48 -110
589   Texas A&M  -7 -110    Under 48 -110

The very first number is called the rotation number and it is simply a number that the sportsbook assigns to each team.  This comes from the physical sportsbooks in Las Vegas (or wherever else there might be one), where they assign numbers to each team to make it easier to place a wager (“$500 on 588, please!”).  These numbers aren’t used as much at online sportsbooks, but most of them still list them just in case you’d rather look games up using the rotation number.

The first number after the team name is always the point spread.  Positive numbers indicate and underdog, negative numbers indicate the favorite.  In the example above, Texas A&M is favored by 7 points.  Easy, right?

The second number (-110) is the one that most people don’t understand right away.  That’s what the industry refers to as the juice or vigorish (vig) and it is a representation of the percentage of risk you are taking with you wager (which is what gives sportsbooks the “edge” over their players, but that’s another post).  The standard for US odds is to post juice based on $100 bets.  With the example above (-110) you would need to risk $110 for every $100 you want to win ($220 to win $200, $330 to win $300, etc.).  It’s crucial to understand this number because the lower juice you can find on the game, the more you can minimize your risk.

The Over & Under are fairly self-explanatory.  This is the number of total points scored in the game (both teams combined).  You bet on whether you think the actual total will be greater than (Over) or less than (Under) the projected total made by the sportsbook.  Again, there will be a vig attached to this number (-110 in the example) and it operates in the same way as it does with the point spread.

Tip #1: Returning Starters

This tip is primarily for early in the season, but it can also be important late in the season if you are looking at two teams that played each other last season.  What you’re looking for isn’t neccessary the quantity of returning starters, rather, you want to find out which team is returning the highest quality crop of players.  It might sound like common sense, but some amateur bettors see that one team beat another by 21 points last season and immediately jump on that team, failing to realize that last year’s winning team is missing several players at key positions.

Similarly, there are bettors who see that a team returns all of their starters playing a team with only one or two returning starters and they jump to the conclusion that the team with more returners is automatically going to be the better team.  What they forget is that if a team wasn’t very good with their starters last season, it’s unlikely they are going to improve dramatically in another season.  Yes, they may be slightly better, but typically a bad team will be bad in their second year together if they were bad in their first season.

Tip #2: Recent History

Recent success against another team doesn’t always translate into present-day success, but it is always worth looking at.  If one program always seems to beat up on another, there’s a good chance that trend will continue, provided there are still some of the same key players on the team (see above).  At the same time, you should be aware that an upset victory by a team the previous year leads to a great chance for a revenge situation for that losing team in the current year.  Any time you have a significant loss, particularly when the losing team came in expecting to win, they tend to be super-focused the next time they play that team.

Tip #3: Strength of Schedule

Who have both teams played and who have they lost to?  You should always explore these questions when looking at possibly betting on a team.  A team that is 6-0 isn’t automatically better than a 2-4 team, it all depends on who they’ve played.  This is harder to quantify at the beginning of the season, because nobody has really seen what each team can do, however, as the season progresses you’ll find that you can spot teams that have good records, but no quality wins.  This can give you great value when you see a team that has lost to quality opponents playing a team with a great record, but who hasn’t really had to earn a victory.

All of these tips for handicapping college football are interlinked in someway and there really isn’t one that’s more important than the others.  If you are serious about making money by betting on sports, you need to arm yourself with as much information as possible.  We hope these tips will help you make better college football picks season after season.

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Two teams headed in completely opposite directions meet as the Arkansas Razorbacks host the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

No one can look at this out of conference game on Arkansas’ schedule and say the Razorbacks have taken the easy way out. Arkansas has played the toughest schedule in the country for at least two years running. The Razorbacks have played the number one and two teams in the country as opposed to last season when they played one, two, and three in consecutive weeks. Even after this game Arkansas has some tough sledding ahead of them but this game should be an easy one for them. Ryam Mallett has proved to be a gutsy gunslinger under center and the defense backs down from no one. Arkansas has played tough, even in defeat and nearly knocked off number one Florida a few weeks back. This game shouldn’t even prove to be more difficult than an inter squad scrimmage for the Hogs.

Eastern Michigan has gone from bad to worse as QB Andy Schmitt went down for the season. Last week EMU lost to previously winless Ball State in a battle of two of the worst teams in the country. If Eastern Michigan isn’t the worst team in the country, they are definitely in the bottom two or three as they have a lifeless offense and a pathetic defense. Eastern Michigan is 119th in points scored and 107th in points allowed which appears to be a magical formula for losing every game this season. This one should be one of the worst losses they take.

Normally I go to trends here but there is no reason to waste and more time or effort on this game nor waste any of your time reading something that in this case won’t carry a shred of importance. Eastern Michigan just stinks and has no chance. This is one of those games where people not familiar with the college game look at the scoreboard and their eyes pop open. I can see a 60-70 point win here for Arkansas if they take it easy on the Eagles in the second half, otherwise it could be even worse.

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