Texas College Football Betting

There are 47 college football programs in Texas, including 12 that compete at the highest level of NCAA football: the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Every game in the state draws big crowds and huge television audiences.

When live online sportsbooks hit Texas, residents and many visitors will bet on college football in a very big way. Here’s how to find the best college football betting sites in Texas when legal sports betting arrives.

Best college football betting sites in Texas

The following list of popular college football betting apps offer all the best NCAA football bets and promos for sports bettors.

DraftKings Sportsbook Texas

Once known only as a daily fantasy sports powerhouse, DraftKings has expanded aggressively and is now available in more than a dozen states. A very slick and user-friendly app combined with a great welcome bonus bet + bonus has helped DK gain a ton of new customers, which leads to even more lines and odds offered for every NCAAF game.

College football game lines and futures odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook site include:

Moneylines
Point spreads
Totals (over/under)
College Football Playoff National Championship odds
The biggest list of live NCAAF betting markets around

FanDuel Sportsbook Texas

The leading online sportsbook app in more than a dozen states, FanDuel offers a very good betting experience on a smooth platform. There’s also usually a great “bet & get” welcome bonus and ongoing promos.

College football game lines and futures odds on the FanDuel Sportsbook app include the usual:

Moneylines
Point spreads
Totals for every game
Conference title odds
College Football Playoff National Championship odds

Also of note, FanDuel’s college football betting odds are the most competitive around.

BetMGM Sportsbook Texas

BetMGM Sportsbook is in more than a dozen states. Plenty of ongoing promotions and a valuable sign-up offer are a big reason. College football game lines and futures odds include everything you’d expect from a brand this well known.

The BetMGM betting site stands above the competition when it comes to:

Banking options
Customer service

Caesars Sportsbook Texas

Caesars’ entry into sports betting is now in a dozen states and counting. The signup offer is generous, and ongoing promotions are

plentiful. College football odds include all the typical game lines and futures odds.

On a general note, Caesars online sportsbook does a little of everything a little better than most of the competition.

Live betting on NCAA football

Live college football betting lets you wager on games that are already underway. The odds change based on what’s happening on the field. With live betting, the odds change as fast as the game, so a sports betting app is the preferred way to get bets down for most sports bettors.

How to bet on college football online in Texas

You’ll have to set up an account with a licensed online sportsbook before you can bet on college football in Texas. Here’s how to do that in four easy steps:

Look for a link to the licensed online and mobile sportsbook you want to sign up with on this page and click on it. Just take note of any required sports betting promo code or bonus code before you do.
Look for the signup or registration tab on that licensed sportsbook’s homepage, and click on it.
Fill out the registration forms with all the required personal and account information, including your email, cell number, date of birth and last four digits of your SSN. Here’s where you’ll also need to enter that promo code or bonus code info you took note of earlier.
Accept any terms and conditions, and confirm all the info you entered is correct.

How to read college football betting lines

A typical set of college football game lines and sports betting odds might look like this:

Texas +17.5 (-110) +700 O 56.5 (-110)
Alabama -17.5 (-110) -1250 U 56.5 (-110)

The first numbers are the spread with the odds in brackets. Here, the Longhorns are massive 17.5-point underdogs to Alabama. That means Texas must win the game outright or lose by 17 or fewer for spread bets on Texas to win. If they can manage that, Texas +17.5 bets will pay $100, plus the bet back, for every $110 bet.

The next numbers represent the moneyline. Here, the Longhorns are big +700 underdogs. That means if Texas wins outright, +700 moneyline bets will pay $700, plus the stake back, for every $100 bet. As -1250 moneyline favorites, Alabama bettors get paid $100, plus the bet back, for every $1,250 bet, as long as the Crimson Tide win.

The final set of numbers is the total with the odds in brackets. You bet the total combined score will land over or under 56.5 points. The half-point ensures there is no push. The over wins on 57 points or more and the under at 56 points or less. The vast majority of totals bets pay $100, plus the bet back, for every $110 bet.

Can I bet on NCAA football futures and props?

Props are bets on games within a game, typically surrounding certain in-game occurrences, statistical milestones and scoring by teams and players. Various team and player prop markets should be available for each college football game, like a player to score a TD or a quarterback to pass for a certain number of yards.

Then, futures look toward the season’s end. They’ll focus on which team will win the College Football Playoff National Championship, a conference title or a certain number of games in an entire season. They may also surround player awards like the Heisman Trophy.

Futures markets open before the season starts, but you lock in the currently posted odds when you place a bet. The NCAA Football odds adjust as the season moves forward, which typically means the earlier you can get a bet down on a true favorite, the better those odds will be.

Betting on the College Football Playoff and Bowl games

In college football’s Division 1, 130 FBS teams play in 10 conferences. Each fights for one of four spots in the College Football Playoff and a shot at the College Football Playoff National Championship, or invites to other major bowl games.

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee ranks the top four teams at the end of the regular season and invites them to compete in two bowls that act as the CFP Semifinals. The winners then go on to play for the National Championship.

This season, the CFP National Championship game is set for Jan. 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The College Football Playoff Semifinals involve an annual rotation among six bowl games. In 2022, these games will be the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.

The other Selection Committee bowl games (out of CFP rotation this year) are as follows:

Orange Bowl (Dec. 30)
Sugar Bowl (Dec. 31)
Rose Bowl (Jan. 2)
Cotton Bowl (Jan. 2)

Finally, don’t forget the more than 30 other high-profile FBS bowl games (not part of the College Football Playoff) scheduled from late December through early January.

How does NCAAF betting differ from the NFL?

First off, there are a lot more teams in college football than in the NFL. That means a big disparity between the most successful and least successful schools. This can translate into pretty hefty odds and massive NCAAF spreads when you bet on college football games.

While you might typically bet on three to seven-point spreads in the NFL, double-digit spreads and big moneyline numbers are more common in NCAA football betting.

More teams also mean more information to process. That makes college matchups more difficult to handicap than pro ones. But it also means more mistakes by sportsbooks in setting the odds. Betting college football successfully is often about identifying those mistakes, as they are so much harder to find in NFL lines.

Why do college football betting sites remove moneylines and spreads?

As we said above, double-digit spreads and big moneyline numbers are quite common in NCAA football betting, as are underdogs that don’t really stand a chance. While sportsbooks will move spread and moneyline numbers to even out the betting, it’s not always possible.

As a last resort, when there’s heavy betting and the risk/reward ratio gets out of whack on big favorites, sportsbooks may go as far as taking the moneyline or spread bets off the board.

Sportsbook rules for NCAA football

Online sportsbooks publish house rules for how to handle various situations that arise in college football betting. These may include things like:

A prohibition on Texas NCAA team and game betting
A prohibition on live betting on Texas NCAA football teams
A palp rule voiding bets posted as a result of an obvious error
Rules handling game forfeits, delays or reschedulings
No Action rules that cancel college football bets for various reasons
Rules surrounding when college football results are considered official and what stats are used to settle bets

Top college football programs in TX

Here’s a quick look at the 12 FBS teams in Texas:

Team	Stadium/Location	Conference
Houston Cougars	TDECU Stadium/University of Houston	American Athletic Conference
Baylor Bears	McLane Stadium/Baylor University in Waco Big 12 Conference	Big 12
Texas A&M Aggies	Kyle Field/Texas A&M University in College Station	Big 12
UTSA Roadrunners	Alamodome/University of Texas at San Antonio	Conference USA
Texas Longhorns	Campbell-Williams Field/University of Texas at Austin	Big 12
North Texas Mean Green	Apogee Stadium/University of North Texas in Denton	Conference USA
SMU Mustangs	Gerald J. Ford Stadium/Southern Methodist University in University Park	American Athletic Conference
TCU Horned Frogs	Amon G. Carter Stadium/Texas Christian University in Fort Worth	Big 12
Texas Tech Red Raiders	Jones AT&T Stadium/Texas Tech University in Lubbock	Big 12
UTEP Miners	Sun Bowl/University of Texas at El Paso	Conference USA
Texas State Bobcats	Bobcat Stadium/Texas State University in San Marcos	Sun Belt Conference
Rice Owls	Rice Stadium/Rice University in Houston	Conference USA