NCAA College Football is a sport for action fans, college kids and alumni, and for people who enjoy betting on football. With dozens of games to choose from every weekend during the college football season, its almost an embarrassment of riches for gamblers.As Las Vegas odds makers establish betting lines every week for the seemingly countless games that are played on Saturday all over the country, are always based on a number of factors.

For example:A team from the Big 10 Conference, like Northwestern, for instance, may be favored over a team from a lesser conference , even if Northwestern comes into the game with a losing record and its opponent has a winning record. Why would the odds makers establish Northwestern as the favorite? They consider Strength of Schedule and Northwestern, because it has to play other teams in its conference, like perennial powerhouses Michigan and Ohio State, is considered to have played more difficult teams than the team with a winning record that may have beaten really poor teams.Additionally, home field advantage is huge in college football. A top team like the Michigan Woverines plays home games in front of about 100,000 screaming, crazy fans. These passionate fans make lots of noise for the home team and often intimidate and disrupt the play calling of the visiting team. In general, even when there are not tens of thousands of screaming fans, there is a home field advantage. In the NFL, it is worth about three points; the same is generally true for college football games maybe a bit more for some stadiums.

Coaching is also an important factor used by odds makers to create a betting line on a game. Some teams have nationally known and respected Head Coaches who have established themselves over long and successful careers. A case in point is Head Coach Joe Paterno of Penn State University PSU. In a career spanning well over 40 years, pappa has turned his team into a national power and has won more games than virtually any other coach in the history of college football. That impressive resume is worth something to odds makers and is usually reflected in the point spread.Naturally, winning and losing streaks are other factors that are used to establish a betting favorite for an upcoming game. Injuries are another very important consideration, as well.

Clearly, there are many factors that are used to establish a weekly betting line on the hundreds of college football games that are played every Saturday in autumn.However, there is always one thing that cant be measured or factored into a point spread. Thats the heart, grit and determination of the players who will be on the field when the whistle blows to start the game. Remember that when you look at a point spread for a college game and before you put your money on the line and at-risk.