How Often Do College Football Road Teams Cover the Spread?

The Road isn’t just a Cormac McCarthy novel. It’s a mysterious, dangerous place for sports teams of all stripes to play a critical game.

Because of this, online sports betting often centers around handicappers who fade good teams playing road games in dangerous, tumultuous atmospheres.

Nowhere is that more true than college football, which is famous for its rabid crowds and huge complexes. (By the way, you can find my list of the largest stadiums in college football here.)

But are road games really as dangerous as their reputation would suggest? And do road teams struggle to cover the spread in a meaningful, statistically significant way?

I plugged in all the numbers to get to the bottom of this.

How Often Do College Football Road Teams Cover the Spread?

Since 2005, college football road teams playing in regular-season games cover the spread 50.9% of the time.

Since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned PASPA, road teams have won at a slightly lower clip of 50.4%. 

As a general rule, bettors have a tendency to slightly overplay home-field advantage. That leads to a small edge with road team spreads.

In rare years, that edge is even enough to lead to real profitability for road teams. For instance, bettors who blind bet true road teams during the 2017 college football season ended up with a nice profit. That year, road teams were 421-371-18 ATS, leading to a 3.2% ROI.