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Basic guide to enjoy college football

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Yeah yeah, I know what you may say, "hey man! we are at the Kansas State Wildcats sbnation page, of course we all know how the sport and championship is structured". Yes, you may be right, but it's never a bad idea to go over the basics for anybody to looking into going over the basics, or just getting into the roundabouts of the sport. (and you can always share this article with that friend you would like him to spend more time watching games with ;) ).

One of my favorite pastimes is watching the college football games and spot matchups with value. I like putting some money on some of the games that I consider to be underrated by oddsmakers. With the upcoming regulations and more and more States passing laws to regulate sports betting I'm looking forward more people getting into stop making a big deal about it.

Let's go though how the NCAA championship works and I'm going to explain it so you nobody gets lost.

How many teams play?

There are 120 universities in what we could call first division. Since there are only 12 days, and a few mathematics that you know, you will see that they can not play all against all. Here's where the problems begin.

How is the calendar?

There are 12 dates, as I said. The bulk of them is disputed on Saturdays. There are games from Tuesday to Monday, as it says, but the big, big, 95% of the meetings, are usually on Saturdays, in marathon days.

Of those 12 dates, 8 or 9 are against conference rivals. Each league depends on whether they are 8 or 9 but, in any case, there are only 3 or 4 dates left to play against rivals that are not from the same conference. These matches are usually at the beginning of the season, with some exceptions. These exceptions have to do with the final day, which is reserved for major rivalries and, in some cases, these are not from the same conference.

This introduction about how the NCAA is a perfect topic to discuss at this moment as is one of the most sought after sports for betting and as you probably know at this moment there are plenty of States working towards regulation. ESPN has a nice little tracker page which they keep updating pretty frequently as more States pass legislations. We are starting to see more bookmakers moving instate and pay per head services make it very easy for them to establish their operation.

But let's go back to talk about College Football and how the structure of the tournament is layout.

How many conferences are there?

10 in the first division. But the really important ones are the ones known as Power Five, which, yes, very skillful, are five. The SEC, in the southeast of the country, the Big Ten, in the northern midwest, the Pac-12, in the Pacific, the Big XII, in the central zone, and the ACC, on the Atlantic coast. Each of them has between 14 and 10 teams.

We return to mathematics. "Conferences of 14 teams, with 12 dates and only 8 matches in the same conference? That does not fit ..." Indeed, here is another rarity of the whole competition system, because some conferences have two divisions and it is against the teams of your division against which you play every year while the division teams are in rotation. Chaotic, huh?

The winners of those divisions play, after the 12 games of the regular season, the final of the conference, which gives a champion of it. Well, except for the Big XII, which are 10 and pass to the end, so it is the case that there may be two (or more) champions tied on wins and losses.

In addition, there are three independent teams that have no division. Among them one of the most prestigious and important: Notre Dame, which presumes to go free in life. However, his schedule is always complicated because he has annual rivalries with great powers, thanks to his glorious past, and he plays five games against ACC opponents.

This is just a glimpse of the entire NCAAF process. I hope all that made sense. It's not as easy to understand as other sports, but it's definitely fun to watch and follow.

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