College Football Playoff Betting: Clemson, Alabama Favored

The Rose Bowl has sportsbooks favoring Alabama (-1300) who will be playing against Notre Dame (+725).
Online sportsbooks are favoring the Alabama Crimson Tide (-1300) over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+725) in the Rose Bowl.
The Sugar Bowl sees college football betting odds for the Clemson Tigers at -300 as they are expected to win in their game with the Ohio State Buckeyes (+250).
Both College Football Playoff games will take place on Friday.

NEW ORLEANS – Those betting on the College Football Playoffs have less than 24 hours to do so as the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are set to take place on Friday.

College football betting sites are favoring the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers to come out of their respective semifinal matchups for a familiar Championship game.

But, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to upset these two juggernauts. While the odds are against them, there are certain betting trends and factors that might make either of them a lucrative bet.

Rose Bowl Betting – Notre Dame vs. Alabama Odds

The No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide for the Rose Bowl Game set to take place in Arlington, Texas at the AT&T Stadium on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. The game will be airing on the ESPN Network.

As viewers watch, they can gamble on the action. Sportsbooks with college football betting lines have Alabama very heavily favored with moneyline odds of (-1300) to beat Notre Dame straight up. The Fighting Irish will be the underdogs running onto the field with odds of (+725) given to them.

Notre Dame had a perfect season including a victory over No. 2 Clemson, until their last game in a second meeting with Clemson where they tarnished their perfect season with a loss and a final score of 34-10.

Although Alabama is the favorite, both teams were a bit off in their last games, with Alabama narrowly beating the Florida Gators with a score of 52-46 on December 19.

Alabama’s Heisman Trophy nominee stacked tea pulled out the win which is what bookies expect will happen in the Rose Bowl.

Even if the defense isn’t having a great game, reminiscent of the match with the Gators, they still have their quarterback Mac Jones leading the team on the field. Jones went 33 for 43, having passed for 418 yards and five touchdowns against Florida.

The U66.0 is at (-115) for the Crimson Tide who typically score between 40 and 50 points each game. Their two highest-scoring games of the season both ended with 63 points. If Notre Dame wants a chance at winning, they’ll need to play heavy defense and keep the Crimson Tides’ (-20, -110) diabolical offense from gaining even an inch on the field. It should be noted that Alabama has gone 7-1 ATS in seven of their last eight games.

While the odds might be highly profitable for Notre Dame should they hit, the probability of that happening against this Alabama team are almost null based on the talent and record of the Crimson Tide.

Sugar Bowl Betting – Ohio State vs. Clemson Odds

The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes will be going up against the No. 2 Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST on the ESPN Network. It’ll be a doubleheader of college football playoff games without ever needing to change the channel.

The Tigers (-300) are the favorite to win but it’s nowhere near the landslide odds of the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes have been given a (+250) chance at taking down Clemson and their Heisman Trophy nominated quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.

Ohio State has only played in six games for their 2020 season but they won them all, making them undefeated. Clemson is 10-1 having lost only once to No. 4 Notre Dame. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t believe that the Buckeyes should be ranked as highly as they are because they didn’t play a full season as the other teams who are fighting for a chance at the Championship have.

With that in mind, Clemson enters the game with (-7.5, -110) and is 19-1 for the SU in their last 20 games as the favored team. The Buckeyes are 1-5 ATS when playing against ACC teams.

With the Tigers as the clear favorite and Swinney believing their opponent should be ranked 11th at best, Clemson should have no problem beating Ohio State. But six games or not, the Buckeyes are still undefeated and their shortened season could be advantageous to them as they are far less battered and bruised going into Friday’s game than the Clemson Tigers.

The College Football Playoff Semifinal Bowl games are scheduled for Friday. Legal sports betting sites will close the current odds once the games begin.

The winners of the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl will move onto play in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Final on January 11.

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Christina Monroe

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kart…the N64 version of course.