Cotton Bowl Betting Odds: Alabama Vs. Cincinnati

• The Alabama Crimson Tide are favored by 13.5 points over the Cincinnati Bearcats.
• Cincinnati comes back as a +360 betting underdog on the moneyline.
• There are -110 odds on both sides of the 57.5 total.

ARLINGTON, Texas. – The Cotton Bowl makes up one half of the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Betting the Spread/Moneyline

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Cincinnati Bearcats are the participants of the Cotton Bowl. The two were considered to be two of the top teams in the country throughout the season. The legal sports betting sites are not expecting the game to be too tightly contested, giving Alabama a big advantage.

Alabama finished the season with 12 wins, eight of which game by 14+ points. Also, they’ve beaten good teams by this margin including the Georgia Bulldogs along with the Ole Miss Rebels. As an undefeated team, obviously, Cincinnati hasn’t lost by 14 or more points, but they also didn’t play any team close to Alabama’s level of talent. They had a good win over Notre Dame, but that was about two months ago.

One of Cincinnati’s biggest strengths is their rushing game that ranks 48th in the country with 180.9 yards per game. However, the Crimson Tide has the fourth-best rush defense that allows just 82.8 rushing yards per game. Alabama’s biggest strength, their sixth-ranked passing attack (347.9 ypg) will be playing the second-ranked passing defense that surrenders just 168.3 yards per game.

Although Cincinnati looks good on paper, Alabama looks just as good if not better despite playing a much tougher schedule. There have been questions as to whether the top Group of 5 teams can compete with the powerhouse teams and this will likely answer those questions.

For what it’s worth, Alabama is 29-1 in their last 30 games favored by 10+ points while Cincinnati is 1-29 in games as an underdog of 10 or more points.

Betting The Total

Those betting on college football may not feel confident on either side of the spread and may be more inclined to bet on the total of the game. Given both teams are so strong on both sides of the ball, it’s a tough line to handicap.

Not only do the aforementioned strengths more or less cancel each other out, but Alabama and Cincinnati are both also top 10 in scoring offense as well as top 20 in scoring defense. Since the start of 2021, the UNDER has hit in eight of the 13 games in which Alabama was favored by 10+ points. The UNDER has also hit in each of the last four games in which the Bearcats were underdogs of 10+ points.

News tags: Alabama Crimson Tide | Cincinnati Bearcats | College Football | College Football Playoff | Cotton Bowl