While the NFL for football and the NBA for basketball still brings in the majority of the action for online sportsbooks catering to US players, the college ranks for each sport still attracts quite a bit of attention from both recreational and professional sports bettors. As the equivalent to college basketball’s March Madness, the month of December is at the top of the list for betting college football with 39 games on the slate for its annual bowl season that runs right through New Year’s Day. This includes the two matchups in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 29.
Online sportsbooks are the easiest and safest way to bet on any sporting event, but the top offshore books taking action online will go the extra mile to make the college bowl season one of their signature times of the year in conjunction with gift giving throughout the Holiday Season.
The welcome bonuses are a bit fatter this time of year with expanded incentives through college bowl betting contests and betting pools. Even if you already have a betting account at your favorite online betting venue or multiple accounts at a few online books, it could still be worth your time to shop around for the holiday bonus offers up for grabs over the next few weeks.
Another good reason to shop the online books in December is the huge fluctuation in the actual betting lines for many of the college football bowl games. Given the longer amount of time from when the betting spreads and totals were first released to the actual kickoff in each of these bowl game matchups, the numbers can move a few points either way.
One of the growing trends during the college bowl season in recent years is a marquee player opting out of his team’s bowl game to focus his energy on a pending NFL career. This is especially true for a Power 5 team playing in a mid-level bowl game.
Heading into this year’s games, we have already seen West Virginia quarterback Will Grier turn his attention to next year’s NFL draft as opposed to facing Syracuse in this year’s Camping World Bowl on Friday, December 28. The Mountaineers opened as 6.5-point favorites in that game before his decision. The spread now stands at -1.5 points on most of the betting boards at the online books.
There are a number of factors that can impact the outcome of college bowl games and shopping the lines while tracking the daily movement is a great way to find an edge betting the games. Some books are slower to react than others, which could lead to a high-valued play if the timing is right.
One of the biggest advantages of betting on college bowls at online books is the wider array of betting options on the board. Along with pointspreads, total lines and moneyline odds, you can also find futures odds for the College Football Playoff and CFP Championship Game on Monday, Jan. 7 as well as a full set of prop bet odds for all 40 college football games on the board to close out the 2018 betting season.
Whether you are in the black for college football this season or trying to close the gap from some losses during the previous 14-week schedule of games, college bowls offer that one last chance to cash a few winners before the season comes to a close. Next September is a long way off, so now is the time to ramp up your A-Game when it comes to breaking down the matchups to uncover the best value picks over the next four weeks of bowl game betting action.