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NCAA College Football Rivalries
Handicapping College Football Rivalry Games
College football rivalry games present both a unique challenge and a lucrative wagering opportunity for the savvy sports bettor. When handicapping regular season college football games, bettors can use the traditional handicapping factors and sharp betting angles to make excellent value bets. With rivalry week and other intense rivalry games, the normal handicapping methods can basically be tossed aside. When it comes to handicapping and betting on college football rivalry games, we recommend taking a contrarian approach.
For starters, in rivalry games home field advantage plays a reduced role than it does in a normal game. Rivalry games are about emotion and intensity. This is The Game that teams get up for. For lesser teams, it is their bowl game. For the seniors on the respective teams, it may be the last college football game they every play in, unless their team is fortunate enough to win a berth in a bowl game. All of these factors trump advantages or disadvantages that teams have in terms of talent. What we're saying is that when it comes to handicapping rivalry games, you can throw conventional handicapping out the window.
So where does all of this lead? You guessed it, to the underdog. Whereas with regular season college games we prefer our underdogs when they are at home, we will gladly take the points during Rivalry Week and in other rivalry games. The beautiful part in taking the points in a rivalry game is that a road underdog will receive lots of points. Handicapping rivalry games really boils down to throwing caution to the wind and taking the generous allotment of points that will be given to the underdog.
Please take note, however, that when adopting the above strategy we will accept fewer points depending upon the nature of the rivalry. For example, in the Michigan-Ohio State Big Ten Rivalry, the underdog is likely to receive only a few points as incentive to play their side. When it comes to a rivalry of this magnitude we will accept fewer points on the premise that the underdog has a better than average chance of winning the game outright. The flip side of this example is a rivalry such as the North Carolina-Duke game. As far as great football rivalries go this one is an excellent basketball rivalry. In this time of game, we will prefer the underdog but expect to get a lot of points in exchange for our risk.
The Makings of Strong College Football Rivalries
In order to be one of the very best college football rivalry games, a few conditions need to be met. First, the games between the teams should have been played for many years. Second, there should be some strong feelings, not necessarily hatred, but strong feelings between the schools and their fans. To be one of the few select rivalries, there should be some semblance of parity between the teams. Either team should have a chance to win the game in any given year regardless of where the game is played. Finally, the rivalry should have national prominence - many people should care about the game and want to watch it even if they have not association with the schools involved. In our opinion, the following rivalries are the best in college football.
| Find Out About the Best College Football Rivalries |
College Football's Very Best Rivalries - Some college football rivalries stand above the rest. Our top rivalry games include a mix of in-state and interstate college football rivalries. Their common theme is that the teams and schools hate each other.
College Football's Next Best Rivalries - Some rivalries seem to always generate a great game and have lots of history, but lack the pure hatred of the opponent necessary to make the top of our rivalry list. These rivalries involve great teams and great schools.
College Football's Best In-State Rivalries - In-state college rivalry games sometimes involve a trophy, but always involve bragging rights. State rivalry games are wonderful in that they are both entertaining and important even if one team, or both teams, is having poor seasons. State rivalry games also have great names like the Apple Cup and Civil War.
College Football's Best Interstate Rivalries - Interstate rivalries are part of what makes college football such a great sport. Our great interstate college football rivalries include Notre Dame-USC and Boston College-Notre Dame.
Lesser Known College Football Rivalries - Every college football rivalry game has an interest to some fans, even if it is only to the fans of the school involved in the rivalry game. Just because a rivalry game does not capture national attention, doesn't mean that it can't be a great game.
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