NCAA Football Picks & Predictions

In this guide, we’ll discuss some critical information and strategies so that you can make the most informed decisions and get the most value from the 2026/27 college football season.

NCAA Football Season Picks and Betting Tips

This has already been a college football season like no other, and it’s going to continue to be that way. This is now the second season of the new format, with the playoff being expanded to 12 teams, which means that every power conference as well as the best Group of 5 champion, will have a spot in the main tournament.

The injustice that happened to Florida State in the 2023-2024 season, when the Seminoles finished the year undefeated but didn’t get a shot at the championship, won’t be possible this season. 

And that means there are a lot of new bets to make and a lot of strategies to consider when it comes to how to approach your NCAA football betting strategy. No longer can you simply take a team that’s riding high and figure that it’s going to have to win two games in the playoff and call it a day. This season begins with some changes, as the first-round byes are awarded to the top four seeds overall, no matter of their conference champion status. Previously, the first four highest-ranked conference champion teams were awarded the byes. 

National Championship Prediction: Who will win the 2025-26 College Football Playoff?

Picking a National Championship winner before Week 1 of the season even starts is a tough ask, as there are plenty of unknowns to consider. One of these factors is injuries, which can plague a team at any point during the long season. Another is the strength of schedule for any given team, or simply a team not living up to expectations.

Take Texas, for example, who have had sky-high expectations the last couple of seasons. That being said, they simply have not been able to win the most important games. The Longhorns have the same expectations this season, but considering they play in the SEC, we are hesitant to back them to win the National Championship.

Another team that plays in the SEC is Georgia. The Bulldogs are a National Championship contender almost every season and have had success in recent seasons. Georgia won back-to-back National Championships during the 2021-2022 season and the 2022-2023 season. 

However, since the 12-team College Football Playoff was implemented, Georgia has been eliminated in the quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons. They have, however, won the SEC Championship the last two seasons in a row.

This season, Georgia returns a large number of starters, including their quarterback, Gunner Stockton. They also have a gauntlet of a schedule, but they also have one of the best head coaches in the country, Kirby Smart.

While other teams, such as Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas, and Indiana, could pose a threat, we like Georgia to get back to the top this season, as they will be tested nearly every week, preparing them for the College Football Playoffs.  

Our pick for the College Football National Championship is: Georgia

NCAAF Futures

• Ohio State +550
• Texas +600
• Georgia +650
• Notre Dame +700
• Miami Florida +800
• Indiana +850
• LSU +1000
• Alabama +2200
• Ole Miss +2500
• Texas A&M +2500
• Oregon +2500
• Texas Tech +3000
• USC +3300
• Tennessee +4000
• Oklahoma +4500
• Florida +5500
• Penn State +7000
• Missouri +8000

Odds courtesy of FanDuel

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National Championship Contenders: Who are the top NCAAF teams this year?

As with nearly every College Football season, it seems like only a handful of teams actually have the chance to compete for a National Championship. To that point, we occasionally see teams have a breakout season, but ultimately there are likely only a few teams who should be considered contenders.

When looking for contenders, you should start by considering the conference in which the team plays. The Big Ten has had increased success over the last three seasons (Indiana winning in 2025-2026, Ohio State winning in 2024-2025, and Michigan winning in 2023-2024). 

That said, the SEC is still considered one of the strongest conferences and will be looking to end their ‘drought’. Then you have a team like Notre Dame, which is considered an Independent. This means they do not have the same strength of schedule and cannot afford many mistakes.

Looking at the overall field this season, we have narrowed down our list of contenders to about five teams. This includes Ohio State (Big Ten), Notre Dame (Independent), Oregon (Big Ten), Georgia (SEC), and Texas (SEC). 

We would also consider Indiana (Big Ten) as an honorable mention, seeing that they won the National Championship last season. However, the Hoosiers have had much more to their roster compared to the other teams on our list, so they are more likely to show some regression.

Heisman Trophy Picks

When it comes to player awards in College Football, there is one that is above the rest, this being the Heisman Trophy.

Below, we have listed a handful of players (and their odds per FanDuel Sportsbook) to keep an eye on as it pertains to winning the 2026-2027 Heisman Trophy.

• CJ Carr (QB - Notre Dame): +700
• Arch Manning (QB - Texas): +850 
• Darian Mensah (QB - Miami): +950
• Dante Moore (QB - Oregon): +1100
• Julian Sayin (QB - Ohio State): +1300
• Jeremiah Smith (WR - Ohio State): +1500
• Josh Hoover (QB - Indiana): +1500
• Trinidad Chambliss (QB - Ole Miss): +1500
• Gunner Stockton (QB - Georgia): +220
• Jayden Maiava (QB - USC): +2500

As we have noted, the vast majority of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy in 2026-2027 are quarterbacks. In fact, 8 of the last 10 Heisman winners have been quarterbacks, with the exceptions being DeVonta Smith (WR - Alabama) in 2020 and Travis Hunter (WR/CB - Colorado) in 2024.

To that point, it is recommended to target the player on a team that is likely to be in the National Championship conversation at the end of the year and on a team that does not rely too heavily on running the football.

Making the College Football Playoff

For the College Football Playoff, you only need to consider how likely a team is to make the playoff. The best way to do this is to group teams into two groups. In the first group, you should have the strongest teams that would likely make the playoff without winning their conference. The top seven teams who did not win a conference title are eligible for at-large bids. 

This is where you can put a second or third team from the SEC or Big Ten on your bet slip. However, be warned: since a team doesn’t have to win its conference to qualify, you’ll get much lower odds.

The second group is teams that aren’t getting in without winning their conference. This group will mostly be teams from the ACC or Big 12, plus the occasional Group of 5 team. For this group, you should consider odds carefully and ask if they have any real shot at qualifying without winning the league. If they don’t, you can get a better price by taking them to win their conference. It’s the same outcome in the end, but it pays higher.

How to Bet on College Football

Before you start betting on college football, you need to know what the rules look like in your state. In some states, there are limitations on college sports that do not exist in professional sports. 

Some states, for example, don’t allow prop betting on college sports at all. If you want to bet on any props beyond quarter and half betting or team total points, you can’t. Other states will let you bet on props, but won’t offer any action on any game played by a team from that state. For example, if you’re in Virginia, you can never bet on games involving Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison, Liberty or Old Dominion unless you visit a neighboring state and place your bet there. 

Otherwise, you should find all the bets you’d expect from a standard American football game, with spreads, totals, and moneylines the most common. Bowl bids and College Football Playoff spots will be handed out after the first Saturday in December, so you can cash some of your futures bets then.

Popular College Football Bets

There are several different ways to make predictions for the college football season. These will mostly break down into two areas:

• Single-game betting 
• Season-long betting, also known as futures betting

Single-game bets are exactly what they sound like, making a bet on any one game. When the game ends, you’ve either won or lost based on your prediction, and you’ll collect any winnings accordingly. 

Futures betting can be tough on the average bettor because it requires you to tie up your bankroll for several months at a time. If you want to get a bet in on who’s going to win the national championship, for example, you’re going to have to wait until mid-January before you even get a chance to collect winnings from your bet. And to collect, your team will have to survive the season, get picked to be in the playoff and win the requisite games to claim the crown.

That’s why futures bets are so lucrative when you hit one: they require you to put up cash right away and then wait out any potential land mines. Singles bets simply end once the game is over, so if you’re not feeling so great about a certain team after seeing them in action, you can bet against them the next week with no worries.

But the lure of the big win is always going to draw in casual bettors. After all, you can usually turn $10 into $50-100 or more simply by rooting for your favorite team if this is their season. Most college football fans would gladly sign up for that, which leads to a key strategy when deciding who to bet and who to fade.

College Football Betting Tips for Beginner Bettors

If you’re just getting started with college football betting this season, it’s understandable if this feels overwhelming. There’s a lot of information here, and the games come on the schedule quickly. When Saturday rolls around, there’s a window of about 10 hours where every major network is showing football of some kind. So it’s a good idea to simplify things and figure out the best ways to approach each game. Here are our top 5 tips for college football betting:

• Stick to Teams You Know
• Know the Critical Numbers
• Don’t Chase Losses
• Consider Rivalry Games Carefully
• Consider the Coaches

Tip #1: Stick to Teams You Know

College football doesn’t have quite as many teams as college basketball, as only 134 teams play college football at the FBS level. So it’s a little easier to get to know teams, especially as there’s only ever one game per week per team. But there’s still a lot of information out there, and you’ll have a much easier time if you bet on teams you watch on a regular basis.

Tip #2: Know the Critical Numbers

In the era of analytics and next-gen stats, the critical numbers are becoming less critical than they once were, because coaches now might go for a 2-point conversion at earlier points in the game. But with the way points are scored in football, 3, 6 and 7 are crucial numbers in terms of the spread. For the total, multiples of seven are crucial to navigate properly.

This is why you’ll often see spreads of 3.5 in close games: the book is trying to cover itself by adding the half-point hook to the favorite’s expected margin of victory. If they win on a last-second field goal, they win by three and the book makes money on the cover. Make sure to pay attention and get on the right side of the hook if possible.

Tip #3: Don’t Chase Losses

There’s a running gag in the sports betting community that when Hawai’i plays at home, it’s your last chance to make up for any losses you had that week. (Hawai’i home games usually kick off around 11 p.m. to midnight eastern, as the islands are either five or six hours behind Eastern time). But this is a really bad strategy, because when you’ve had a tough day, you’re more likely to bet with emotion. You should always bet strategically, not emotionally. Wait to make a bet until you’ve had a chance to approach it with a clear head.

Tip #4: Consider Rivalry Games Carefully

Rivalries are a huge part of college sports, and the emotions are naturally much higher when a rivalry game is involved. If the teams play for a traveling trophy or if it’s a traditional rivalry like Michigan vs. Ohio State, there’s going to be a lot of emotion involved on both sides. This can lead to surprising outcomes, so be careful.

Tip #5: Consider the Coaches

A good coach can win a game or two for their team each season by making smart play calls and using timeouts effectively. A bad coach tends to lose a game or two with undisciplined play from their team. When a team commits a lot of penalties, that’s a sign that it’s poorly coached.

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What not to do for College Football Predictions

College football betting is difficult, and it’s inevitable that you’re going to lose a few bets here and there. The best thing you can do is reduce your risk by studying your bets and making intelligent plays. And the best way to do that is to avoid making easily avoidable errors. 

Remember, sportsbooks study each game carefully before setting a line. They usually don’t make mistakes, and their line is set where it is for a reason. So you want to make sure you don’t rush your bets. Here are a few mistakes to avoid:

• Ignore the injury report: No sport has more injuries than football, and no sport can be impacted faster by injury than football. Be sure that you know who’s going to be playing, especially at the skill positions. Remember, no position in football means more than quarterback.
• Forget about location: Knowing where the game is being played is part of the equation. 100,000 people can be intimidating for a visiting team, and a fired-up home crowd can spur an underdog to victory. Tread carefully with road favorites.
• Blindly bet favorites: Favorites are not a sure thing, even on the moneyline. When you make a play on the favorite, you’re doing so at a steeper price to cover the higher probability of their victory. But upsets happen in college sports, and backing a favorite for no reason other than probability isn’t a good strategy.
• Betting teams you don’t know: When you don’t know how teams play, it’s difficult to make an informed wager on or against them. Don’t rush into a game just because it’s on television.
• Playing too many parlays: Parlay bets are difficult to win. Don’t try to play them too often, and when you do, don’t put too many legs in a parlay.
• Not comparing odds: Make sure to compare different sportsbooks to each other to get the best price. A half-point on the spread or a line of -105 instead of -110 might seem small, but they add up over time.

Stats and facts to consider for NCAAF picks

Betting on any given College Football game throughout the season can be difficult, especially if you are not familiar with some of the trends and statistics.

While these trends and statistics are never absolute and do not guarantee long-term success, they can be used as a starting point to help decide which bets to make and which bets to leave alone.

To this end, we have included some of the trends and statistics that we feel will be the most helpful for the upcoming season. Note that all of these statistics were taken from the 2025-2026 College Football season.

• Average Number of Total Points Per Game: 55.0
• Average Home Win %: 61.8%
• Average Away Win %: 38.2%
• Home Against the Spread %: 49.8%
• Away Against the Spread %: 50.2
• Favorites Against the Spread %: 50.4%
• Underdogs Against the Spread %: 49.6%

To reiterate, these trends and stats should only be used as a guide to make your bets, as they are likely to change for the 2026-2027 season.

Conclusion: How to Get Your College Football Predictions Right

Knowing your information and sticking to your process will lead you to success more often than not. Remember, the season is a marathon, not a sprint, and there will always be chances to make up for a bad bet. If you lose a tough bet on Saturday night, there will be another game on Thursday to make it up after you can clear your mind. In some parts of the season, you’ll even have that option on Tuesdays. 

If you’re trying to find information, we’ve got everything you’ll need here. Our sports experts provide free picks for most college football games every week, based on analytics, key statistics and their own analysis of what’s happening each week. You can trust you’re getting the same information they use themselves, and you can use it to find the play you want. 

Once you take a look at the information we have available to you, you’ll be ready to scan the sportsbooks for a wager that looks good to you and take advantage of what you know about the matchup.

Top odds with Caesars

Our current NCAAF Picks

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NCAAF: Best Odds

Odds are not yet available for this competition.