Fresno State doesn’t have quite the same prowess nationally as similar West Coast schools like Cal or Stanford but there are plenty of star power alumni and recently, the Bulldogs have climbed up the ranks of the Mountain West.  

Bulldogs athletics are arguably most known for basketball, but in recent years the school’s football team has put up an impressive showing with a 9-4 record overall in the 2023 season, including a win over New Mexico State in the New Mexico Bowl on December 16, 2023. 

We’ll provide a comprehensive overview of how to bet on all things Fresno State in the coming season.

Betting on Fresno State

Broadly speaking, betting on Fresno State — whether that’s football or basketball — breaks down to either team markets on each game like moneylines, spreads or totals or a futures market on the potential success of the team. 

Futures as a whole are a broad market so you can bet on conference futures like how the Bulldogs will fare in an impressive NCAA basketball Mountain West Conference, or try your hand at broad college basketball futures. 

Fresno State’s moneyline wagers

Moneyline wagers are one of the most common markets in the world largely due to the direct nature of the wagers. As opposed to spreads, total or even players props that require some understanding of both the markets and the rosters, moneylines are simply picking a winner. 

Take a look at what wagering on a Fresno State moneyline would look like at two of the premier sportsbooks: FanDuel or bet365. 

We’ll use a rivalry game example from the Fresno State NCAAB schedule to demonstrate: 

Fresno State (+220) 

VS.

San Diego State (-300)

In this instance, San Diego State is a heavy favorite, as indicated by the minus sign ahead of the odds in addition to the heavy odds. If SD State was -101, they’d be deemed a narrow favorite. Given that SD State was consistently ranked in the Top 25 teams in the country and made it to the Elite Eight, that tracks. 

Since Fresno State was an underdog in this matchup, a wager on the Bulldogs moneyline would payout substantially. A $200 cash bet would’ve paid out with $440 in profit. 

Moneyline wagers on favorites don’t payout that well but are often legs as part of a parlay because they offer a good chance for a win. 

As an aside, if you’re setting up a parlay but unsure about the payout, check out some of the tools available like the Parlay Calculator. 

Fresno State’s point spread wagers

Point spread wagers — often just called spread bets — are bets on the difference between the winning and losing team’s score. They are very common with football bettors but can be relevant for basketball as well. It can be difficult to estimate the score in college or professional basketball and thus spread bets are less common there. 

Spread bets present a different opportunity for bettors as teams that are perform well on moneyline markets are average on the spread. 

Point spreads are displayed as a positive or negative number based on the team’s expected performance. Similar to moneylines, the expected winner’s spread is shown as a negative (-) while the underdog is shown as a positive (+).

Fresno State +6.5 (-110)

VS

UNLV -6.5 (-110) 

Based on the example shown above, UNLV is expected to win by at least seven points. Thus, Fresno“covering the spread” means the Bulldogs lose by six points or less. 

Critically, betting the underdog on the spread doesn’t mean you’re betting on the underdog to win. 
With the odds displayed, you’d win $90.91 with a $100 wager on the either spread. To make things easier, you can use the odds calculator.

Fresno State totals wagers 

Betting the total, often called the over/under markets, is a wager on the expected number of points between both teams, the collective score. It’s very common in college and professional football though still relevant in NBA and college basketball games. 

If Fresno State is taking on Nevada on the hardwood and the total is posted as 84.5, betting the over indicates that you expect there to be 85 points or more scored. Betting the under indicates you expect there to be 84 points or less scored. 

Over: 84.5 (-115)

Under: 84.5 (-105)

The parenthetical numbers indicate the odds/payout for each market. So for the over, you’d get $86.96 in profit with a winning $100 wager. With the under, you’d get $95.24 in profit with a winning $100 wager.

Fresno State player props

Player props are one of the fastest growing markets across the country. In practice, a player prop is a wager on a specific player's statistical output. In basketball it can be anything from steals to made threes, in football it can be completed passing to rushing yards etc. If there’s a statistic for it, there’s likely a player prop for it. 

With the advent of DFS in three dozen states and the popularity of apps like PrizePicks player props have become a huge part of the betting landscape.