After a season filled with intrigue, there isn’t exactly parity in the NCAA this year, but the Alabama Crimson Tide won’t be playing for a national championship for the first time in forever, so the postseason feels fresh and different.
Of course, the teams that made the 2019 College Football Playoff aren’t exactly perennial outsiders, with LSU (1), OSU (2), Clemson (3), and Oklahoma (4) all earning a shot to win the title.
The 1-4 matchup, pitting Louisiana State against the Oklahoma Sooners, looks like a wipeout on paper, and most USA sportsbook sites are seeing a similar sentiment among bettors on their boards. Meanwhile, the 2-3 tilt should be a much closer contest, though third-ranked Clemson is actually favored by two going into the start of bowl season.
While you shouldn’t expect the following lines to move too much for the LSU-OU game (especially since at least three Sooners players have been suspended for the contest), the OSU-Clemson game could shift substantially in either direction between now and kickoff next Saturday.
2019 College Football Playoff Odds
Via Bovada
Peach Bowl Odds – Oklahoma Sooners vs. LSU Tigers
Saturday, Dec. 28, 4:00 p.m., ESPN
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Spread: +14.0 (-110)
- Straight: +390
- Over: 75.5 (-110)
- LSU Tigers
- Spread: -14.0 (-110)
- Straight: -580
- Under: 75.5 (-110)
Fiesta Bowl Odds – Clemson Tigers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Saturday, Dec. 28, 8:00 p.m., ESPN
- Clemson Tigers
- Spread: -2.0 (-110)
- Straight: -125
- Over: 63.5 (-105)
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Spread: +2.0 (-110)
- Straight: +105
- Under: 63.5 (-115)
2019 College Football National Championship Odds
Via Bovada
- LSU +115
- Clemson +215
- Ohio State +215
- Oklahoma +1000
2019 College Football National Championship – Exact Result
Via Bovada
- LSU Beats Clemson +250
- LSU Beats Ohio State +325
- Clemson Beats LSU +300
- Clemson Beats Oklahoma +800
- Ohio State Beats LSU +350
- Ohio State Beats Oklahoma +950
- Oklahoma Beats Clemson +1800
- Oklahoma Beats Ohio State +2500
After winning the Heisman Trophy by the widest margin in history (as expected by every bettor in the world, given his absurd -30000 odds or whatever going into the awards show last weekend), LSU quarterback Joe Burrow has his top-ranked Tigers sitting pretty against the fourth-ranked Sooners.
While Sooners QB Jalen Hurts had a historic season of his own and threatened to be the third straight Heisman winner from OU, he’s been stifled in recent weeks, and the LSU defense is substantially better than anything the Sooners have put on the field.
OU head coach Lincoln Riley may be a bona fide offensive genius, but it seems like a tall order to match LSU point-for-point. Still, if the Sooners can force Burrow into a rare drought on the national stage, they could turn Cool Joe into Joe Camel. (At least until he goes number one in the 2020 NFL Draft.)
In the OSU-Clemson tilt, bettors might be surprised to find the over/under to be significantly lower than that for the LSU-OU game, even though all four clubs rank in the top five for scoring offense nationally.
Ohio State leads the nation in scoring, putting up 48.7 PPG, and Clemson is fourth in the country, totaling 46.5 PPG. Meanwhile, LSU averages 47.8 PPG, while Oklahoma averages 43.2 PPG.
The disparity, of course, comes from the fact that Clemson has the most dominant scoring defense in college football, giving up just 10.3 PPG, while OSU gives up just 12.5 PPG. Oklahoma’s defense – though marginally stronger than in years past – is porous at best, giving up 25.4 PPG compared against LSU’s 21.8 PPG.
More likely than not – and football betting fans seem to agree, here – is that the NCAA National Championship will come down to LSU vs. Clemson.
And if that happens, our advice is absolutely bulletproof:
Bet on the Tigers.