Point Spreads?

It's probably safe to say I have a phobia about any form of math above a certain level of algebra.  My brain shuts down and a wall goes up.  I didn't even attempt geometry although I took the upper level algebra class twice in high school to try to pull a "B" out if it.  Uh, yeah...  Didn't work.

I'm not sure Statistics falls under math although I've heard that it's a different type of math.  *shrugging shoulders*  Either way it stumps me.  I'm assuming point spreads fall under statistics.  I've never understood why it matters what the point spread is before a game.  Obviously it matters by how bad someone actually gets beat but how can we know before a game.

If I remember right, Alabama was supposed to beat Utah by a point spread of 17.  Well, it was actually the other way around.  Little good that prediction did.

I suppose point spreads are decided by the stats from previous games played and then compared to *gulp* the teams together with the idea that the average will be indicative of what the teams may or may not do when they play each other.

Now if that is even close to being correct, I suppose I've answered my own question and I actually do understand how point spreads work.

Whatever.  It's way over my head and below my knees.  *wry grin*

I still say Gators win tonight even though I don't have any clue what the point spread will be!