Early Money Coming in on ‘Bama
The early money is coming in on Alabama for next Monday’s national championship, as public bettors are siding with the Tide over SEC foe Georgia.
Following their convincing win over No. 1 Clemson in Monday night’s semi-finals playoff matchup, the Crimson Tide opened as a 4.5-point favorite for next Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game against Georgia. According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Crimson Tide closed as a 3.5-point favorite in the Sugar Bowl and cashed easily for bettors.
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Apparently bettors have responded by putting their faith in the Tide again because as of Tuesday afternoon, 53% of betting tickets are on Alabama to cover the spread. As of this writing, 61% of the money wagered on the national title game is also on the Crimson Tide.
Of course, it’s not like Georgia disappointed its backers on Monday evening. The Bulldogs pulled off a thrilling overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl as a 2.5-point favorite. Georgia found itself in an early hole, rallied to take the lead in the third quarter, squandered said lead on a key turnover that Oklahoma turned into a touchdown, then rallied again to force overtime before eventually winning the game in two extra frames.
Oddsmakers have seemingly set this line right. Georgia essentially has a home game playing in Atlanta but Alabama played the more complete semi-finals game against arguably the best team in the nation coming into the playoffs.
Alabama owns the nation’s No. 2 S&P+ rush defense, which will obviously be a key factor against Georgia’s No. 8 ranked S&P+ rushing offense. One could surmise that Monday night’s game will come down to whether or not Georgia can control the matchup with its ground attack or if ‘Bama will force freshman quarterback Jake Fromm to beat them through the air.