College Bowl Game Betting Guide

College football bowl games coincide with one of the most feverish times for NJ sports betting.

This year’s edition might be exceptional due to the spread of legal sports betting across the country. For people who would like to wager on these traditional clashes, here is a quick guide of the ins and outs of college bowl game betting.

Best NJ sportsbooks for college bowl betting

 

Where to bet on college football bowl games in New Jersey

There are 16 online and 10 land-based sportsbooks in New Jersey. Presumably, all of them will have wagering options on various NCAA football bowl games.

The 17 online sportsbooks are:

• DraftKings Sportsbook
• BetStars NJ
• FanDuel Sportsbook
• SugarHouse Sportsbook
• 888 Sport NJ
• Caesars sportsbook
• playMGM Sportsbook
• William Hill NJ
• Resorts sportsbook
• Golden Nugget sports
• BetAmerica Sportsbook
• PointsBet NJ
• Borgata Sports
• TheScore Bet
• Bet365 NJ
• Hard Rock online
• Unibet Sportsbook

The 10 retail sportsbooks are:

• William Hill Sportsbook at Monmouth Park
• FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands
• Borgata Race & Sports Bar/Moneyline Bar & Book
• The Book at Harrah’s
• The Sportsbook at Golden Nugget
• DraftKings Sportsbook at Resorts AC
• The Book at Bally’s
• William Hill Sportsbook at Ocean Casino
• William Hill Sportsbook at Tropicana
• The Sportsbook at Hard Rock

New Jersey regulations prohibit wagers on games that either take place in New Jersey or involve New Jersey teams. However, there are no scheduled bowls in state.

Ways to bet on college football bowl games

Point spreads

A point spread is a wager on the expected margin of victory in a game. The sportsbook establishes which team will likely win and by how many points.

Then, bettors have two options to wager. They can either predict that the favorite will exceed the given margin of victory, or the underdog will lose by less or win outright (also known as covering).

Moneyline

A moneyline bet is on the outright winner of the contest. The three-digit number next to each team’s name specifies what a winning bet will pay out.

A positive number is an amount that a $100 bet on that team will pay. A negative number is an amount one must bet to receive $100 as their payout.

Totals

Totals bets are better known as wagers on the over/under. The sportsbook establishes its estimate for the anticipated combined total of points the teams will score in a given match.

Players then bet on whether or not the combined total will exceed or fail to reach that mark. Betting that the teams will score more than the over/under is called “taking the over” and the opposite bet is known as “taking the under.”

Futures

Futures bets are wagers on the probability of a long-term event occurring. Many times, these sorts of bets will revolve around eventual champions of a particular sport or league.

These types of bets for college bowl games will likely pertain to the playoff games at the end of the season. Sportsbooks will offer odds for each playoff game team and its likelihood of winning the championship.

Propositions

Proposition bets are wagers on the possibilities of specific events occurring, either within a single game or within an entire season. Prop bets usually focus on specific player goals, rather than team ones.

Any bet about which player will score the first touchdown or whether a player will rush for a certain amount of yards is a prop bet. The possibilities for these types of bets are broader than other bet types and tend to be more granular.

Parlays

Parlays are nothing more than a combination of the above betting types. Players cast bets on more than one event or team at a time.

The catch is that all of the player’s choices must be accurate to pay out. So, parlays tend to be more challenging to win.

Bowl Pick’em contests

Bowl Pick’em contests tend to show up on various popular websites this time of year. ESPN, Yahoo, and other wide-distribution sites often run them for free. Sometimes, the sites will offer huge payouts if anyone can correctly select the entire set of bowl winners.

They can be a fun way to increase involvement in the complete slate of bowl games. There are so many bowl games these days that only the most diehard of fans can remain engaged throughout.

It is possible that DraftKings, FanDuel, or one of the other online sportsbooks in New Jersey will offer a Bowl Pick’em contest. However, it is unclear what the buy-in or prize structure for this kind of contest would be.

College football bowl game schedule

There are 41 games in this 2019-2020 bowl season. Bettors will have wagering options for two+ weeks, so there is no shortage of opportunity.

Here is the schedule and matchups for 2019:

Date	Bowl	Time (ET)	TV	Matchup
December 20	Bahamas	2 p.m.	ESPN	C-USA vs. MAC
December 20	Frisco	7:30 p.m.	ESPN2	AAC vs. Sun Belt
December 21	Celebration	Noon	ABC	MEAC vs. SWAC
December 21	New Mexico	2 p.m.	ESPN	C-USA vs. Mountain West
December 21	Cure	2:30 p.m.	CBSSN	AAC vs. Sun Belt
December 21	Boca Raton	3:30 p.m.	ABC	MAC vs. AAC
December 21	Camellia	5:30 p.m.	ESPN	MAC vs. Sun Belt
December 21	Las Vegas	7:30 p.m.	ABC	Pac-12 vs. Mountain West
December 21	New Orleans	9 p.m.	ESPN	C-USA vs. AAC
December 23	Gasparilla	2:30 p.m.	ESPN	C-USA vs. ACC/AAC
December 24	Hawaii	8 p.m.	ESPN	BYU vs. AAC
December 26	Independence	4 p.m.	ESPN	SEC vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 26	Quick Lane	8 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 27	Military	Noon	ESPN	American vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 27	Pinstripe	3:20 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 27	Texas	6:45 p.m.	ESPN	Big 12 vs. SEC
December 27	Holiday	8 p.m.	FS1	Big Ten vs. Pac-12
December 27	Cheez-It	10:15 p.m.	ESPN	Big 12 vs. Pac-12
December 28	Camping World	Noon	ABC	Big 12 vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 28	Cotton	Noon	ESPN	At-large vs. At-large
December 28	Fiesta (semifinal)	4 p.m. or 8 p.m.	ESPN	TBA vs. TBA
December 28	Peach (semifinal)	4 p.m. or 8 p.m.	ESPN	TBA vs. TBA
December 30	First Responder	12:30 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. C-USA/ACC
December 30	Music City	4 p.m.	ESPN	SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten/Notre Dame
December 30	Redbox	4 p.m.	Fox	Big Ten vs. Pac-12
December 30	Orange	8 p.m.	ESPN	ACC vs. Big Ten/SEC/Notre Dame
December 31	Belk	Noon	ESPN	SEC vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 31	Sun	2 p.m.	CBS	Pac-12 vs. ACC/Notre Dame
December 31	Liberty	3:45 p.m.	ESPN	Big 12 vs. SEC
December 31	Arizona	4:30 p.m.	CBSSN	Mountain West vs. Sun Belt
December 31	Alamo	7:30 p.m.	ESPN	Big 12 vs. Pac-12
January 1	Citrus	1 p.m.	ABC	Big Ten vs. SEC
January 1	Outback	1 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. SEC
January 1	Rose	5 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. Pac-12
January 1	Sugar	8:45 p.m.	ESPN	Big 12 vs. SEC
January 2	Gator	7 p.m.	ESPN	SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten/Notre Dame
January 2	Birmingham	3 p.m.	ESPN	SEC vs. AAC
January 3	Famous Idaho Potato	3:30 p.m.	ESPN	MAC vs. Mountain West
January 4	Armed Forces	11:30 a.m.	ESPN	Mountain West vs. Big Ten
January 6	Mobile Alabama	7:30 p.m.	ESPN	MAC vs. Sun Belt
January 13	National Championship	TBA	ESPN	Semifinal winners

College football playoff game schedule

A few years back, the NCAA instituted a limited playoff system to determine an outright champion for that year. Four teams that the selection committee judges to be this year’s best will play two semifinals and a final game.

Here is the schedule for the NCAA football playoff games:

Dec. 28, 2019

• College Football Playoff Semifinal
  Playstation Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, AZ)
• College Football Playoff Semifinal
  Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA)

Jan. 13, 2020

• College Football Playoff National Championship
  (Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans)

Make sure to tune in to all the great action.

And don’t forget to place your bets!