College football is all about the home team and how rowdy the crowd can get in an effort to throw off the opposition. The louder the venue, the harder it is for the road team.
Odds-makers understand this field advantage and adjust the lines accordingly, so that it will attract an even amount of action on each side. But it still should make bettors think twice about which side they want to back based upon the home team.
So far this season, the top five loudest venues are Penn State, which is 3-1 ATS at home, Oregon, 2-3 ATS at home, LSU, 5-1 ATS at home, Clemson 3-2 ATS at home and Washington 2-3 ATS at home.
These five teams all have a significant advantage when they are playing in front of their home crowd and they seem to feed off of that noise and play off the emotion of the crowd.
In this mix of teams, both Penn State and LSU have been solid at home as both the favorite and the underdog. LSU has defended their home field at 4-1 as a home fav, which demonstrates to football bettors the ability to cover a spread at home, while Penn State has covered as both the home fav and underdog.
Conversely, some of college football’s bottom dwellers who are yet to cover a spread at home include UCLA, SMU, New Mexico, S Alabama, UConn, BYU and Old Dominion. These teams have not shown any ability to cover a spread on their home turf, and bettors should look to avoid them at all costs. College football bettors can look at these teams to possibly fade when they are the home team, and pound even more when they are the home favorites as they are yet to cash a ticket this year.
Finally, home field advantage gets the whole city involved and the energy in unmatched. And bettors should continue to see these teams come out inspired and play with an out of body experience when all is going well.
However, bettors also need to tread lightly when they are looking to play a team solely because they are a home team, especially, the teams that seem to have the golden. But when that perfect play comes on the teams who have been defending their home turf, pull that trigger on one and watch the money roll in.
