Betting College Football Underdogs
A number of years ago the Gold Sheet's Mort Olshan developed the term "Power Underdogs," which was simply a system of betting on good teams when they were underdogs. The premise was that when programs which consistently fielded good teams were made an underdog they had a good chance of covering the point spread, as they were capable of winning the game outright, or at least play tough enough to cover the point spread.While a number of programs which were once usually among the elite have fallen off in recent years, the premise of taking a good team as an underdog still stands. One rule many longtime sports bettors adhere to is taking underdogs that have a chance to win the game outright.
Teams today tend to be a bit more inconsistent than they were when Olshan first developed the theory, so we'll use teams that are ranked in the polls for the purpose of this article.
Ranked Teams as Underdogs
Ranked teams have fared extremely well against the point spread over the years when made an underdog. Since 1985, these teams are 168-115-6 against the point spread, which is 59.4 percent winners. These teams are also 147-141-1 straight up.Over the past 10 yea
Betting College Football Underdogs
A number of years ago the Gold Sheet's Mort Olshan developed the term "Power Underdogs," which was simply a system of betting on good teams when they were underdogs. The premise was that when programs which consistently fielded good teams were made an underdog they had a good chance of covering the point spread, as they were capable of winning the game outright, or at least play tough enough to cover the point spread.While a number of programs which were once usually among the elite have fallen off in recent years, the premise of taking a good team as an underdog still stands. One rule many longtime sports bettors adhere to is taking underdogs that have a chance to win the game outright.
Teams today tend to be a bit more inconsistent than they were when Olshan first developed the theory, so we'll use teams that are ranked in the polls for the purpose of this article.
Ranked Teams as Underdogs
Ranked teams have fared extremely well against the point spread over the years when made an underdog. Since 1985, these teams are 168-115-6 against the point spread, which is 59.4 percent winners. These teams are also 147-141-1 straight up.Over the past 10 years, these teams are 80-56-4 against the number and 40-30-4 over the past five years. Remember that many of the point spread ties could probably become wins if the bettor is willing to shop a bit for the best available line. rs, these teams are 80-56-4 against the number and 40-30-4 over the past five years. Remember that many of the point spread ties could probably become wins if the bettor is willing to shop a bit for the best available line. These numbers are through the end of the 2010 season and are the correct figures. A bug in our database program previously gave results that were much better, but the problem has been corrected and the system is still a worthwhile addition to any handicapping arsenal.
