THE FOOTBALL GUIDE

The SEC is good again. USC has a team with tons of talent. Ohio State looks strong but folds in big games. Some things stay pretty consistent each and every year in college football. Want another one to add to the list? How about that big upsets will happen, every single week, in college football. That means you can’t just bet on the favorites. Sometimes you have to bet on your instincts (and be prepared to be made fun of when they backfire completely!)

Most of us have our own way to bet on college football. One good thing to remember is that we should expect upsets to happen. Here are a few situations to keep in mind in regard to upsets when you make your picks.

If a team has just won a game important to them, they might be too happy, relaxed and confident to prepare properly for the next game.
If the opponent is from the conference and is unranked, they know the opponent very well even if they’re not a BCS Bull team.
If a team is playing a primetime game on national TV with all the attention on them and they’re not used to the stage, watch out. There are more situations to pay attention to, but these are good ones to start with.

In the 2008 season, upsets have already begun to happen. For example, Oregon State beat USC even though everybody thought USC was going to be in the BCS Championship game. In fact, everyone thought that playing Oregon State was going to be a letdown for USC. In fact, this was true. Florida was beaten by Mississippi because Mississippi made some big plays and had some luck. That said, though, anything is possible in the SEC. What do both of the games just discussed have in common? Both involved conference opponents who were unranked.

Sometimes it’s harder to predict unranked upsets. This is especially true if an unranked team doesn’t play in the Bull Subdivision. In fact, last season, Michigan was beaten by Appalachian State in the “Big House.” Bowl games, too, are protected from upsets. If anyone remembers the incredible game played between Oklahoma and Boise State, that’s one example. That totally debunks the theory that the big program will always win the big game.

Now that we have some Top 25 powers which are not traditionally seen there, there could be more BCS Bowl game upsets in store for this year. Boise State, Utah and BYU are all contenders and could really surprise a national audience by coming out on top if some of the traditional SEC leaders. Connecticut and Wake Forest aren’t really known for their football programs, but these teams have more than enough talent on board that there could easily be some bowl game upsets this year.

This is my point ? you need to be prepared for upsets. Keep an eye out for the common upset scenarios I described above and never operate on autopilot when placing your bets online. There are no 100% guarantees in life or in college football. Think carefully about the matchup and try to identify likely upsets before the game and you could bring in some serious cash by betting wisely.