The start of the 2017 College Football Bowl Season is right around the corner and this year’s schedule features over 40 betting opportunities to cash in on the games. One of the most unique aspects of betting on college football bowl games is the amount of time between the opening and closing pointspread and total lines for the actual games. At the very least, there is at least a two week gap for the early games on the schedule leading up to four weeks for all the major bowl games surrounding the New Year’s Day holiday.
Starting with a list of the opening betting lines across any number of the top online sportsbooks taking action on the games, you should be closely tracking and monitoring any line movements for the games that are on your betting radar. It is not all that uncommon to see some big moves on either the spread, total line or both.
The first question you have to ask yourself in light of a big change in any betting line is why? Quite a few behind the scene issues could impact any bowl team. Coaching changes, changes in a key player’s injury status, off field issues and disciplinary suspensions etc. You should always keep a close ear to the ground for both national and local news when it comes to any team you are looking to bet on or against in their upcoming bowl game.
For example, this season’s Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 19 opened with the Florida Atlantic Owls listed as 17.5-point favorites against the Akron Zips. That spread has jumped to 22.5 points on most betting boards. There does not appear to be any tangible reasons why the line has moved five points in favor of the Owls, but it could open up a great opportunity to go with the Zips if there are no extenuating circumstances with either team. Once again, you should always know what is going on with the bowl games you are looking to bet on right up until kickoff.
Another important reason to track bowl game line movements early and often is to find the betting odds that are moving in your favor. If you had your eyes on a bowl game matchup at a number you really liked, then you should have probably already pulled the trigger on an actual bet. This is especially true if the spread or total line has already moved in the other direction. If you are tracking the betting line changes on a game that is moving in your favor, then you will probably want to wait until closer to kickoff to see just how good a number you can get.
College bowl season is a once a year betting event so it might make sense to expand your betting options with a deposit or two at a few additional online books taking action on the games. Finding the best betting line on the board goes hand-in-hand with the betting strategy of tracking line movements to get the number you are looking for. Given the sheer number of sports information betting websites it is rather easy to track betting lines across a number of the top offshore sportsbooks taking action online. There is no excuse not to know exactly where the best value lies for the games you plan to bet on.
Betting on college football bowl games does add some more excitement to the action on the field, but you always want to give yourself the best chance in the world to win any bet you place. There are reasons why a betting line moves in one direction or the other, but be careful to assume that it is always attributed to the betting action coming in. Understanding why a line is moving can be the golden key that unlocks the best value plays in this extended schedule of games.