College football odds move just like other sports odds. If you bet NFL or college football games at online sportsbooks you probably know the term “steam”.
So what is a steam move in regards to the college football betting line? College football betting steam moves are games that get hit hard and fast, usually by a professional, or a group of professional bettors, known as a syndicate. The easiest way for you to identify a big college football odds move at your online sportsbook is to look at one of the various line service screens out there and monitor it for a little while on a Saturday or Sunday during the season.
You will see the online sportsbook screen get “painted” many times throughout the day in college football betting line. What happens is that a game gets hit by a group of bettors and that moves the college football odds at not just one online sportsbook, but also at other online sportsbooks. It usually happens within a few minutes and the screen is referred to as “painted.” It means all of the online sportsbooks took a hit on the same college football betting line at basically the same time, and the number moved accordingly.
Let’s give you an example in college football betting. A college football game in the past had North Carolina State at home against Ohio State. A few times during the week one of the big syndicate groups hit NC State hard causing the college football betting line to move. It actually happened on this game more than once. All the pros, and the public, loved NC State. The game moved a lot due to the professionals playing the game, and then moved more because of all the followers in college football odds. In this case, the pros lost. Ohio State won the game outright and the “steam move” lost big in college football odds.
Steam moves don’t always win in college football odds. Remember that. Steam moves in college football odds also don’t always come from professional bettors. Many times the professionals will bet on one side early in the week, causing a steam move, and later come back and take the other side in college football odds. They could be playing games with the online sportsbooks, or they could be trying for a middle in college football odds. You just never know.