Games Review Blog

The SEC is looking exciting again. USC has a great team this year; Ohio State looks good on paper but seems to fold when it really counts. Some things stay the same in college football year in and year out. One thing which is also a constant in the sport is that there are big upsets every week, meaning that the only safe bet is that there are no safe bets! You should bet on your hunches; but be ready to be chastised when this backfires on you, as will happen from time to time.

Everyone has their own system for betting on college football games. The best rule to follow is that upsets are to be expected. When making your picks , keep these common upset scenarios in mind.

A team recently win a big game and may be still riding high on that success, failing to make themselves ready for the next game.
A team within the conference which is unranked is the opponent. They may not be the best known team, but they know who they are up against.
A team which is playing a nationally televised game; particularly if they are not used to receiving this kind of attention.
There are a multitude of other possible scenarios for an upset, of course, but these are as good of a starting point as any.

Upsets have already been happening in the 2008 season. USC has lost to Oregon State when everybody and their mother practically wrote USC into the BCS Championship game. Everybody was even predicting the Oregon State game to be a “let down” game for USC, and low and behold, it turned out to be true. Ole Miss beat Florida with some big plays and a little bit of luck. Of course, anything can happen in the SEC. But what do both of these games have in common? They were unranked, conference opponents!

There are other upsets which are harder to predict ? especially when an unranked team doesn’t get a lot of attention and is less well known nationally. For instance, Appalachian State’s victory over Michigan in the Big House last year. Nor are Bowl games free form upsets ? remember Boise State vs. Oklahoma? This punctured the long held view that the bigger programs win the big games.

With some nontraditional powers in the Top 25, some more of those BCS Bowl game upsets could happen this year too. BYU, Utah and Boise State are all teams that could shock a big power in front of a national audience in a big bowl game. Wake Forest and Connecticut aren’t known for their football programs, but they have enough talent that they could factor into some all-time memorable upsets in a big bowl game as well.

The point is this, you always have to be prepared for the upset. Look out for those upset situations highlighted above. Never go on autopilot when you’re making your online bets. No team and no game is ever guaranteed or 100%. Dig into the matchup and find the upset before it happens to rake in some cash.