College Football Semi-Finals Bowl Games Today
Today two bowl games will act as the semi finals of the College Football Championship Tournament. Below is betting previews of both these big games.
Rose Bowl: Florida State Versus Oregon
It is strange that a defending National Champion with essentially the same offensive line up as last season would be an underdog to win it all the next year, but after the rocky season the Florida State Seminoles have had that is the exact position they find themselves in. The Oregon Ducks are coming into this game -8-point favorites.
If you want to know why the oddsmakers do not have a lot of confidence in the Seminoles you need to look no farther than the betting trends from this past season.
Florida state may be 29-0 straight up but they are a more fickle 15-14 against the spread over that time period. This season they have only covered the spread three times.
Meanwhile Oregon is 8-0 straight up and against the spread in its last eight games. They are also 3-0 straight up and against the spread in their last three bowl appearances. The Ducks are a hot team for bettors and in general.
Another interesting angel to this game is that we will see the 2014 Heisman winner, Marcus Mariota, take on the 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston going head to head.
Statistically, Mariota and Winston put up similar passing stats in each of their Heisman seasons. Mariota has shown that he is more of a duel threat than Winston, though by rushing for 669 yards this season. That is a career low for the junior quarterback.
The Under is set at a huge 74 points. The UNDER has hit in four of Florida State’s last five games. The UNDER also made money in Oregon’s last three games.
Sugar Bowel: Ohio State Versus Alabama
New Year’s Day will be capped off with Ohio State taking on Alabama at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Alabama are the big 9-point favorites. The reason for this is simple, Alabama rarely loses the big one.
The Crimson Tide are 2-0 against the spread over their last two games and are 4-1 against the spread in their last five bowl appearances. It is their bowl appearance track record that makes them the big favorites.
The total is set at 59 points in this game. Alabama favors the OVER. They are 7-1 on the OVER in their last eight bowl games.
Ohio State has hit the OVER in their last 12 games but have hit the UNDER in four of their last five bowl games.
