College Football Bowl Odds Preview
Bowl season has arrived and the oddsmakers are all over it, issuing bowl odds minutes after the bowl teams were announced.
The two big games are of course the College Football Playoff semifinals. This year that’s the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.
In the Rose Bowl, the Georgia Bulldogs will face the Oklahoma Sooners. The opening odds for this one had the Sooners listed as a small 1.5-point favorite, but check in at Bovada Sportsbook now and you’ll find it as a pick’em.
Georgia took care of the Auburn Tigers 28-7 as a 2-point favorite in the SEC title game, and this season as a favorite the Bulldogs were 11-1 straight up and 8-4 against the spread. Oklahoma beat up on the TCU Horned Frogs 41-17 as a 7-point favorite in the Big 12 title game, and in two games as an underdog this season was a perfect 2-0 SU.
The Sugar Bowl is a rematch of last year’s national championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. The opening odds listed this one as a pick’em, but at Bovada Sportsbook right now the Crimson Tide are a 1.5-point favorite.
In last year’s championship game, Clemson was a 6.5-point underdog and upset Alabama 35-31. The Tigers were favored in every game this season, but in their last seven as an underdog they’re 5-2 SU and 7-0 ATS. The Crimson Tide are only 2-5 ATS in their last seven as a favorite.
Looking at some other bowl games, in the Fiesta Bowl the Washington Huskies face the Penn State Nittany Lions as a 4.5-point underdog. Washington is 1-9 SU and 3-7 ATS in its last 10 as an underdog, while Penn State was 10-1 SU and 6-4-1 ATS when favored this season.
In the Orange Bowl it’s the Wisconsin Badgers versus the Miami Hurricanes as a 5.5-point favorite. The Badgers had their perfect season stopped by Oklahoma last week, but as a favorite they’ve won 13 straight at 8-4-1 ATS. The Hurricanes were crushed by Clemson 38-3 in the ACC title game last week for their second straight loss, and it dropped them to 2-6 ATS in their last eight.
The Cotton Bowl is an interesting matchup, as the Ohio State Buckeyes face the USC Trojans as a 6-point favorite. Both sides won their respective conference titles last week, but neither has been too kind to bettors. Ohio State is 5-7 ATS in its last 12 and USC is 3-8 ATS in its last 11.