With 119 teams each in NCAA Division I-A and Division II-A to make your college football picks from, you need to create a good selection strategy, and then concentrate on the very best NCAA football picks available. Let’s take a look at ten ways to win more often with your college football picks.
1. So much information is available that you need some filters. Early in the season, limit your college football picks to the top schools, a few conferences or a single region. As the season progresses, you can expend your range of college football picks nationwide.
2. Defense rules early in the season. It takes time for teams to find their rhythm. This is so true that you can expect many top-ranked teams to stumble during the first few weeks. Choose your football picks accordingly.
3. Include streaking teams among your NCAA football picks. Nothing succeeds like success and the best football picks just keep in winning. What’s more, once a good team drops a game, they often wake up and run the table. Try to catch the streak early and ride it to the end.
4. Rivalries are a big part of collegiate football. Expect home teams that lost to in-state schools last year to rise to the challenge for their fans. They make great NCAA football picks, whether favored or not.
5. Not all the action in college takes place on the field. Watch closely for player scandals, ineligibilities, recruiting violations, suspensions, injuries, coaching changes and academic issues that might distract players and alter your college football picks.
6. Weather and field conditions affect college play far more than the pros. Games are played outdoors, frequently on real turf, so if you see storms rolling in or gusty winds, it could very well give you some great opportunities to bet the under on total score. Not all of your college football picks have to be about beating the spread.
7. Consider using teasers to supplement your college football picks. Sports books will allow you to move the line 6.5 or 7 points when you bet two teams in tandem. You can adjust it by up to 10 points when choosing a trio of football picks. Odds reduce accordingly to 10:12~10:13.
8. When the bowls arrive, your strategy for college football picks needs to change slightly. Betting favorites can be a quick road to ruin, because so many underdogs are out to prove their worth. This is especially true of the team seeking to dethrone the winner of the Heisman Trophy and smaller schools looking to make a statement in their first nationally televised games. “Live” underdogs are always the best college football picks.
9. Although home field advantage supposedly disappears at neutral bowl venues, the team closest to the site typically brings more support. They even may have played on the field before during the regular season. Make your college football picks accordingly.
10. More than a few coaches will have their jobs on the line on bowl day. Some may have already indicated they will be moving on next season. This works on the psyche of the team. Factor into your bowl-game football picks which coach is more likely to need the victory. Few retiring coaches go out with a bang.
One last caution: Futures are risky in making college football picks, because the way the NCAA chooses its annual champion is questionable. Polls and computer rankings determine which teams play in big four bowls: the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. A nationwide single-elimination tournament has been proposed many times, but there are no signs of change on the horizon. You may wish to limit your NCAA football picks to week by week handicapping, where the outcome is purely objective.