Wild Wagering Trends for College Football Week 1

The start of football season is both incredibly exciting, but also potentially overwhelming for many newer bettors.

With more states offering legal betting options than ever before, there's never been more anticipation for enhancing your football viewing experience with a few wagers.

But where do you start? For many bettors, a bet could be a few bucks on the team you plan to root for, adding a little more juice on the matchup. Some of you may do your own research entirely, or perhaps you arrived at a community like BetSided for information to help make a decision on where you plan to build your bets.

The amount of information to pick and choose from can be incredibly overwhelming. Some stats may sound great, but are they actually helpful in picking winners?

WynnBET Lead Trader and College Football insider Matt Lindeman said there are several things he takes into deciding where an advantage may be:

“Ultimately, that comes down to each bettor," Lindeman said.

"Everyone has a unique process that takes awhile to refine. A few things I value are recent play, coaching tendencies, series history, situational advantages and statistical mismatches.”

With that criteria in mind, here are several "wild wagering trends" that may surprise you, but could also be an effective tool in helping you choose which route to go before you finalize your bets.

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 14 Miami-Florida (+19.5) | 61.5 - Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA

Nick Saban has never lost a neutral-site opener while at Alabama.

The Crimson Tide are 19.5-point favorites against the Hurricanes, so Saban's dominance is largely factored into the spread. But this is on a whole other level. Alabama is 15-1 overall in the city of Atlanta and is undefeated in neutral site openers while Saban has been the head man.

If you're curious as to how 'Bama has done against the spread in those situations, they're 22-16-0 since 2007. They also don't let teams hang around, winning by an average margin of victory of 22.1 points from 2007-2018.

No. 17 Indiana vs. No. 18 Iowa (-3.5) | 45.0 - Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA

The Hoosiers covered the spread more than any college football team in 2020

As a Hoosier football fan, I don't typically bet the teams I root for, but boy was that a mistake last year. Indiana covered the spread in EVERY REGULAR SEASON GAME in 2020, including against Ohio State when they were down by 28 points early through the third quarter before nearly coming all the way back. Indiana has also covered in their last five road games and have a potential dark horse Heisman candidate back in quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes were also a top-10 team in the country covering the spread last year, going 5-2-1 in their eight games.

No. 19 Penn State vs. No. 12 Wisconsin (-5.5) | 50.0 - Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI

The Badgers are just 3-8 against ranked teams both straight up, and against the spread since 2018.

The Badgers are 22-12-0 since 2018, but they've struggled when top teams match up against them.

Despite Penn State being 5.5-point underdogs in this matchup, historical trends remain in their favor, especially in this particular matchup. The Nittany Lions are 6-1, both ATS and SU against the Badgers in their last seven meetings.

Which trends stand out most to you? Any of them worth betting this week?

Check out the brand new WynnBET app and site and start making picks today!