Sam Houston vs. Air Force: College Football Week 2 Odds & Picks (2023)

Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Below are our top picks and predictions for Saturday’s Week 2 game: Sam Houston vs. Air Force.

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Top College Football Odds & Picks: Sam Houston vs. Air Force

Sam Houston (+15) at Air Force (Under 37.5)

Sam Houston HC KC Keeler is a two-time FCS national title winner – in 2020 for Sam Houston, and 2007 for Delaware. The Bearkats went 21-1 in the FCS between 2020-2021, but last year, after deciding to redshirt key players for the move to the FBS, went 5-4.

Sam Houston returned 16 starters heading into this year. Last week, in Sam Houston’s first game as an FBS member, the Bearkats covered as 20-point underdogs despite losing the turnover battle 3-0 in a 14-0 rockfight loss to BYU. BYU QB Kedon Slovis was held to 4.4 YPA, and BYU gained a mere 257 yards.

Sam Houston’s offense was terrible in that game and very well may be going forward. But the defense is for real. That’s enough to get us to the window on this game, both taking the points and the under.

Air Force’s defense is one of the G5’s best. But I continue to be concerned about the efficacy of flexbone offenses following the NCAA’s ban of outside-the-tackle-box cut blocks. Meanwhile, the NCAA’s change to the clock rules particularly shortens games of methodical, run-dominant offenses like this.

Even prior to the change, backing service academies as double-digit underdogs was a losing proposition. Since 2005, service academies have covered only 41.8% of games as favorites of 14 or more.

The picks: Sam Houston +15 and Under 37.5 (play to +13/u35.5)

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Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners

Game Total

Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that’s it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it’s called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.

ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42

tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.

Moneyline

The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That’s it. The moneyline doesn’t use favorites or underdogs, it’s totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they’re weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.

For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don’t matter, they just need to win the game. But because it’s safer to take them straight-up without points, you’ll have to risk more when you make the bet — remember, they’re seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it’s a riskier bet — they’re seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog — +220 on the moneyline. You’d win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.

ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)

tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.

Player Props

Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they’re also easy to understand. For major conferences, you’ll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It’s simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don’t vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.

ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California?  Over 250 or Under 250 

tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they’re going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.

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