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Steve Janus on Betting College Football Rivalries

June 5, 2008

In the last few years NCAA Football has transformed from a Saturday morning/evening event to holding quality games nearly every day of the week. This is great news for fans and for NCAA Football betting! With more options, as long as you are only betting on quality opportunities, you stand to build your bankroll to new heights!

 

One of the best aspects of the NCAA Football season is the scope of diversity and parody available almost every single week. With the traditions and rivalries that have been built over the years, coupled with some very strong up-and-coming programs, we get the formula for exciting matchups week after week. This isn’t to say the league is without some very dominant programs that will come out and blow teams away, which, when bet on at the right time, can be another excellent time to cash a winning ticket. However, let’s go back to rivalry game for awhile. The reason that rivalry games are so interesting and important when providing NCAA Football picks, is that they so very important in insuring a successful NCAA Football betting season. There are always exceptions to the rule and we do the best to weed those games out, but, for the most part, rivalry games are a completely different animal than non-rivalry games, both within and outside of the conference.

 

Teams in the same state, teams with a long history of playing each other, teams that played each other in a bowl game within the last few years, and some teams in the same conference all have the potential to be rivalry games. So, what does this mean to you? There are always several factors to consider, but there is a short-list of things you can expect with most rivalry games. First, they are more likely to be defense-oriented, that is, they are more likely to be low-scoring. This is because the defensive side of the ball thrives on the intensity that can come from a rivalry game, while the offenses typically struggle with increased emotional intensity because they, more often than not, thrive on planning, execution, and efficiency. Another factor to consider in these rivalry games is the turnover factor.

 

There are several reasons for this factor alone. Players are more likely to make mistakes playing with raw emotion, this includes fumbles, throwing interceptions, and even blocked or botched kicks on special teams. The final factor we will explore with rivalry games is the idea that you can pretty much throw out much of past history (with a true rivalry). This includes the teams’ records against each other and their current season record. Many NCAA football bettors think that a heavily favored team in a rivalry game is an easy winner, otherwise why would they be favored? This is one of the biggest misconceptions in sports. Rivalry games have a more frequent chance of being upsets and a more frequent chance of being close games, even when the point spread heavily favors one team.

 

Exploring the ins and outs of rivalries in NCAA Football is just one of the many variables we consider when making our NCAA Football picks. In the near future we will be providing even more insights into NCAA Football betting, including NCAA Football predictions each season!

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Written by Steve Janus

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