College Football Odds: Clemson, Alabama Favored In Playoff Bowl Games
The semifinals of the College Football Playoff get underway on Saturday when the Clemson Tigers take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as 12.5-point favorites on the Cotton Bowl odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Clemson returns to the CFP for a fourth straight year on the strength of an unblemished 13-0 straight-up record that also lifted the team to No. 2 on the CFP rankings going into Saturday afternoon’s matchup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Tigers have been dominant at times during their march to a fourth straight ACC title. With their 42-10 rout of the Pittsburgh Panthers as 28-point chalk in the ACC Championship Game, Clemson has now limited opponents to 10 or fewer points in six of eight outings. However, the Tigers have produced mixed results at the sportsbooks, covering just once in their past three, and are winless against the spread in two previous bowl games as double-digit favorites.
The No. 3 Fighting Irish also sport an unblemished SU record ahead of their CFP debut, improving to 12-0 with a 24-17 win over USC on Thanksgiving weekend. But like the Tigers, Notre Dame has been an unreliable bet, going 2-3-1 ATS over its past six games. The Irish are also 1-3 SU and ATS in their past four bowl game appearances as betting underdogs, and dropped a 24-22 decision as 3-point underdogs in their only previous meeting with Clemson, back in October 2015.
In Saturday’s other CFP semifinal, the defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide battle the Oklahoma Sooners as 13-point chalk on the Orange Bowl odds.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide have been a scoring machine this season, scoring 50 or more points on eight occasions during a perfect 13-0 SU campaign, and have recorded just one SU loss in 27 contests since falling 35-31 to the Tigers in the 2017 national championship game.
Not surprisingly, Alabama remains a heavy -200 favorite at online betting sites to repeat as the national champion, but faces a tough Sooners squad that has scored 50.7 points per game during a 7-0 SU run. Oklahoma also is undefeated SU in three previous meetings with the Crimson Tide, capped by 45-31 in the 2014 Sugar Bowl as a 17-point underdog.
Elsewhere on the Saturday college football bowl game odds, the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines take on the No. 10 Florida Gators in the Peach Bowl as 6-point favorites. South Carolina is pegged as 5-point chalk in its Belk Bowl matchup with the Virginia Cavaliers, while Arkansas State meets Nevada in the Arizona Bowl as a narrow 1.5-point favorite.
