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 several online and land-based sportsbooks in New Jersey. Al of them will have wagering options on various NCAA football bowl games.

The current list of online sportsbooks includes:

• 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

Retail sportsbooks include:

• 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.

College football bowl game schedule

There are 43 games in this 2020-2021 bowl season. Bettors will have wagering options for two+ weeks, so there is no shortage of opportunity.

However, the lineup of games this year is still quite hazy. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown off plans for everyone, including in college football. So, we will be updating this table as more information comes to us.

Nevertheless, here is the schedule and matchups for 2020:

January 1, 1970	Bowl	Time (ET)	TV	Conference Matchup
December 19, 2020	FBC Mortgage Cure	TBA	CBSSN	American/MAC/Sun Belt
December 29, 2020	Valero Alamo	TBA	ESPN	Big 12 vs. Pac-12
December 30, 2020	Goodyear Cotton	TBA	ESPN	At-large vs. At-large
December 31, 2020	Tony the Tiger Sun	2 p.m.	CBS	ACC vs. Pac-12
January 1, 2021	Vrbo Citrus	1 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. SEC
January 1, 2021	Outback	1 p.m.	ESPN	Big Ten vs. SEC
January 1, 2021	Chick Fil-A Peach	4 p.m.	ESPN	At-large vs. At-large
January 1, 2021	Rose	5 p.m.	ESPN	Semifinal Game
January 1, 2021	Allstate Sugar	8 p.m.	ESPN	Semifinal Game
January 2, 2021	Playstation Fiesta	TBA	ESPN	At-large vs. At-large
January 2, 2021	Capital One Orange	TBA	ESPN	ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten/SEC
January 11, 2021	CFP National Championship	8 p.m.	ESPN	Semifinal Winners
TBA	Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas	TBA	ESPN	Big 12 vs. SEC
TBA	Autozone Liberty	TBA	ESPN	Big 12 vs. SEC
TBA	Bahamas	TBA	ESPN	C-USA vs. MAC
TBA	Cactus	TBA	ESPN	Big 12 vs. Big Ten
TBA	Camellia	TBA	ESPN	MAC vs. Sun Belt
TBA	Celebration	TBA	ABC	MEAC vs. SWAC
TBA	Cheribundi Boca Raton	TBA	ESPN	American/C-USA/MAC
TBA	Duke's Mayo	TBA	ESPN	ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten
TBA	Famous Idaho Potato	TBA	ESPN	MAC vs. MWC
TBA	Fenway	TBA	ESPN	ACC/Notre Dame vs. American
TBA	Gasparilla	TBA	ESPN	American/ACC/SEC
TBA	LA	TBA	ESPN	Pac-12 vs. MWC
TBA	LendingTree	TBA	ESPN	MAC vs. Sun Belt
TBA	Lockheed Martin Armed Forces	TBA	ESPN	American/Army/C-USA
TBA	Military	TBA	ESPN	ACC vs. American
TBA	Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas	TBA	ESPN	Pac-12 vs. SEC
TBA	Myrtle Beach	TBA	ESPN	American/MAC/Sun Belt
TBA	NOVA Home Loans Arizona	TBA	CBSSN	MAC vs. MWC
TBA	New Era Pinstripe	TBA	ESPN	ACC vs. Big Ten
TBA	New Mexico	TBA	ESPN	American/C-USA/MWC
TBA	Quick Lane	TBA	ESPN	Big Ten vs. MAC
TBA	R+L Carriers New Orleans	TBA	ESPN	C-USA vs. Sun Belt
TBA	Radiance Technologies Independence	TBA	ESPN	Army vs. Pac-12
TBA	Redbox	TBA	FOX/FS1	Big Ten vs. Pac-12
TBA	SDCCU Holiday	TBA	FOX/FS1	ACC vs. Pac-12
TBA	SERVPRO First Responder	TBA	ESPN	American/ACC/Big 12
TBA	Sofi Hawai'i	TBA	ESPN	MWC vs. AAC/C-USA
TBA	Taxslayer Gator	TBA	ESPN	ACC vs. SEC
TBA	Ticketsmarter Birmingham	TBA	ESPN	ACC/American/SEC
TBA	Transperfect Music City	TBA	ESPN	Big Ten vs. SEC
TBA	Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco	TBA	ESPN	American/C-USA/MAC/MWC

College bowl game odds 2020-21

Here’s a sample of the current odds at New Jersey sportsbooks for the New Year’s five bowl games:

Citrus Bowl odds 2020-21

Outback Bowl odds 2020-21

Peach Bowl odds 2020-21

Rose Bowl odds 2020-21

Sugar Bowl odds 2020-21

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:

Jan. 1, 2021

• College Football Playoff Semifinal
  Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)
• College Football Playoff Semifinal
  Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA)

Jan. 11, 2021

• College Football Playoff National Championship
  Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)

Make sure to tune in to all the great action. And don’t forget to place your bets.

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.