NCAA football betting has always been more popular then wagering on the NFL. While both leagues have bye weeks, NFL bye weeks are aimed at television schedules. Conversely, the college football betting bye week is aimed at resting banged up players and practicing kinks in the systems. The bye week in theory is to plan an attack for the next game after the bye week, but it doesn’t always work out that way as some schools overlook upcoming opponents. Here is a look at the college football bye week and its affect on betting.
Over the years of watching college football, fans have become all too familiar with coaches preaching to take the season one game at a time. Yet looking at the big picture has cast terrifying results for fans across the nation when their team has a bye and overlooks their upcoming opponent.
For instance, over the last decade, NCAA football road favorites were an abysmal 106-152- and two against the spread. If we investigate this further, we discover that road team favorites coming off a bye week that were favored by 10 or more points were an atrocious 34-68-and two good enough for a 33 percent winning total.
When looking at such horrific statistics, the biggest issue one should consider is how the bye week affects each team. No matter how much you hear your local college coach build up the benefits to a bye week, you should always remember that the bye week screws up team’s routines. Unless it is after the first week of the season, the bye week is not beneficial at all to teams.
Throughout the season, players get accustomed to routines and practice regimens, and then they get two weeks off and it causes the routine to change. Another telling issue is that teams that are on the road and favored by 10 or more points tend to struggle mightily. We’ve found, that instead of focusing on a weak opponent coming off a bye and taking the games one day at a time, players on a strong road team can’t help but think about the opponent two weeks from the bye.
