College Football Handicapping Articles

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 3
by Aaron Smith - 9/15/2015

The goal of this article is to track how teams in the weekly Top 25 do against the spread. We're here to look a little deeper than most and figure out how the top-ranked teams do at the betting window. In addition, in this weekly article I'll be taking a look at which Top 25 teams I think are best to fade that particular week.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 3 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 9/14/2015

Devastating loss for Notre Dame in Week 2 as quarterback Malik Zaire broke his ankle in Saturday's win at Virginia and will miss the rest of the season. So hopefully you didn't put any money down on his Heisman chances -- or the Irish's national title chances, because I think they just vanished.

NCAA Football Odds: Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 9/11/2015

Welcome to my first late-week college football update story. If you read Doc's every Monday, and you certainly should be doing so, then you know I do an Opening Line NCAA Report that day for the coming week. Obviously, the lines are going to change dramatically on a handful of games from Monday to kickoff on Saturday (I will only look at Saturday games here). Sometimes it's because major injuries are revealed or others simply because bettors are hammering one side with heavy action. Here are a few examples.

Betting Odds and Predictions for the College Football Playoff in 2016
by Trevor Whenham - 9/11/2015

If the first year of the College Football Playoff system last year taught us anything, it is that we need to be patient. There is no point in panicking and reading too much into one week or even one month. It is a very long season, and a whole lot will change between now and when the four playoff teams are known to us.

Free College Football Picks: Oregon Ducks at Michigan State Spartans Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 9/10/2015

Things suddenly get very real for these two National Championship contenders - or at least these two teams that think that they are National Championship contenders. They both won their openers - while making their outmatched opponents look a little better than they probably should have. Now they are playing for national respectability.

NCAA Football Mid-Major Betting Report: Temple Owls Week 2
by Aaron Smith - 9/9/2015

The college football mid-major betting report is back for a fourth season here at Doc's Sports. The goal of this weekly article is to attempt to show that specialization is a profitable betting strategy. For the mid-major betting report, we follow one team all year long and make selections on that particular team's games on a weekly basis. Temple was selected this year because of the intrigue surrounding the team and the American Athletic Conference as a whole.

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 2
by Aaron Smith - 9/8/2015

College football is underway! It was a good first week of college football, and I expect the action to just continue to get better on a weekly basis as we get more meaningful games. The Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks report is back for the third edition. Last year was our first year for this report. Thanks to solid interest and some interesting findings, we wanted to keep this one going again this season.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 2 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 9/7/2015

My biggest takeaways from Week 1 of the college football season? Three national title contenders suffered major injuries, and the Big Ten is not very good. Let's start with the injuries. Notre Dame's leading returning rusher, Tarean Folston, was lost for the season with a knee injury in what was otherwise a thoroughly impressive 38-3 win over Texas on Saturday (may want to update your resume, Charlie Strong). Last year, Folston rushed for 889 yards and six touchdowns.

2015 College Football Betting Advice: What we Learned from Week 1
by Trevor Whenham - 9/7/2015

It's only one week. That's what you need to remind yourself. One week in the college football season is nothing. Some teams that look great now will be nowhere to be seen by December. You can also bet that a team that looked less than average right now will be in the playoff. So, while we don't really know anything yet, we do know more than we did a week ago when all we could do is guess about where teams were going to be at.

Free College Football Picks: Purdue Boilermakers at Marshall Thundering Herd
by Alan Matthews - 9/4/2015

I would argue this Sunday is the worst Sunday for a sports betting fan until Feb. 7. Why? We are on the eve of the NFL football season -- so close yet so far! -- but there's no action among the professionals this Sunday. There will be every Sunday afterward until Feb. 7, which is the Sunday after Super Bowl 50. OK, technically we only get the stupid Pro Bowl in the Sunday in between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, but you have all those Super Bowl props to analyze and tide you over.

Free Expert College Football Picks: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Wisconsin Badgers
by Trevor Whenham - 9/3/2015

How important is a quarterback? That is really what this game comes down to. As I sit writing this just two days before the game is set to kick off, Alabama has not announced who their starting QB will be. This isn't like Michigan, either - Jim Harbaugh isn't announcing his starter because he's Jim Harbaugh, but everyone including his opponents know who it will be. Here we have three guys who could start, and none who have seemingly grabbed the job as their own.

Free NCAA Football Picks: Virginia at UCLA Expert Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 9/3/2015

I'd argue the Bruins have the one of the most talented teams in the nation and the most in the Pac-12 with 18 starters back. There are future NFL players all over the field, coached by Mora, a past and likely future NFL coach. Just one problem: UCLA is starting a true freshman under center, and the only true freshman quarterback to win a National Championship was Oklahoma's Jamelle Holieway in 1985.

College Football Expert Betting Advice: Ranked Teams to be Wary of
by Trevor Whenham - 9/3/2015

No college football games have been played yet, so countless fan bases around the country believe that their team couldn't possibly be better. Many public betters believe the same -- especially when it comes to highly-ranked teams. Every year, though, we see teams start the season near the top of the rankings only to go on and crush the financial hopes and dreams of those who bet on them.

NCAA Football Betting Advice: Under-the-Radar Quarterbacks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/3/2015

Ever since Johnny Manziel won his Heisman we have been reminded that totally off-the-radar quarterbacks can do amazing things if they land in a perfect situation. Beyond the freakishness of that story, though, every year we see players who don't get much attention nationally heading into a season put together some very nice numbers - and win some games for their teams and cover some spreads, too. Here are six guys this year who have a chance to far outperform the amount of buzz they are currently receiving on the national stage:

College Football Handicapping and Betting: Neutral-Site Games
by Trevor Whenham - 9/3/2015

Who doesn't like neutral-site games in college football? The season ticket holders who miss out on a prime game, for one. I could take them or leave them - the novelty of them is long since gone, and seeing games played on a home field is more fun to watch. The schools love, them, though - especially when they pick up their paychecks. Whether you love them, hate them, or don't really care, you can't really ignore them as bettors - the matchups are typically too intriguing, and that goes for this year as well. Neutral-site games are somewhat unique for bettors.

NCAA Football Mid-Major Betting Report: Temple Owls Week 1
by Aaron Smith - 9/3/2015

The college football season is here! The college football mid-major betting report returns for another season here at Doc's Sports. The goal of this weekly article is to attempt to show that specialization is a profitable betting strategy. For the mid-major betting report, we follow one team all year long and make selections on that particular team's games on a weekly basis.

Free College Football Picks: Michigan State at Western Michigan Odds
by Alan Matthews - 9/2/2015

It's one of the biggest games in school history at Western Michigan on Friday night as Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo will host a rare sellout -- it probably will be the biggest crowd in school history; the stadium attendance record is 36,361 set in 2000 -- when No. 5 Michigan State comes down the road to visit the Mid-American Conference Broncos. Obviously, ranked Power 5 conference teams don't visit MAC schools very often. The game kicks at 7 p.m. ET and will be shown on ESPNU.

College Football Betting Advice: Games to Watch
by Trevor Whenham - 9/2/2015

It is finally almost here! Football season. Summer is great and all -- really great, mostly -- but by August I'm always in internal turmoil. I want it to last forever, but I also want it to end so we can get to watching some football. Well, starting Thursday the wait ends. We have a very strong selection of college football games to get us rolling this year. Here are nine games which stand out not only because they could be great but because they should teach us something about at least one team that will be useful for bettors (odds are from BetOnline):

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 1
by Aaron Smith - 9/2/2015

It's time for the second edition of the Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks report. This is something we started last year. Thanks to solid interest and some interesting findings, we wanted to keep this one going again this season. In last week's article, we took a broad look at the season and some teams that might be a good fade throughout the course of the year. With this week's article, we'll start things off with some individual game selections.

Free NCAA Football Picks: UTSA Roadrunners at Arizona Wildcats
by Alan Matthews - 9/1/2015

The final ranked team in action on Thursday, the opening night of college football season, is No. 22 Arizona, the reigning Pac-12 South champion and one of the NCAA's pleasant surprises last season. It's the first time the Wildcats have been ranked in the preseason since 1999.