Clemson will head into the second true championship game in the FBS with a perfect record and a No. 1 ranking.
But in the minds of many, the Tigers will be playing the best team in the nation when they take on Alabama. The oddsmakers think so, pegging the Crimson Tide as a touchdown favorite.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Clemson Tigers +7
Alabama Crimson Tide -7
Over/Under 53
ODDS ANALYSIS
Alabama has been money since the start November, going 5-1 ATS with covers in three of four games when favored by at least 10 points. They whacked Michigan State 38-0 as 10-point chalk in the Cotton Bowl game on New Year’s Eve. Clemson hasn’t been as successful at the betting window, with their last two cover wins getting them to 7-7 ATS for the year. After Bama’s defense stifled Sparty the total dipped to 50.5.
KEY MISMATCH
Clemson’s run game that worked against Oklahoma isn’t going to happen against the Tide’s front seven. Alabama has figured out ways to manufacture motivation throughout the year, and now the focus is the defenses’ supposed inability to stop mobile quarterbacks and fast, spread running games. That was true a few years ago, but those Alabama defenses didn’t have this line, this pass rush and this set of killers from the outside. Auburn’s Nick Marshall was able to hit the Tide’s D by getting to the hole fast in an epic win two years ago, while Tre Mason went for 164 yards. And that’s exactly what Clemson should try with Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman. However, the last two games against Florida and Michigan State, Alabama allowed a net total of 44 yards on 47 carries. Not only is the Tide run defense the best in the country, it’s the best by 12 yards, allowing only 70.8 per game. BC is No. 2 at 82.8 yards per game, and the Eagles held Clemson to a season-low 112 yards. Don’t expect Watson and Gallman to go like they’ll need to.
KEY STAT
+9 – Alabama’s turnover margin. The Crimson Tide ranked 15th in the country in differential and face a Clemson squad that is undefeated despite its minus-1 margin.
BETTING ANGLE
Make fun of Clemson’s schedule all you want – Tiger opponents went 2-5 this bowl season with the wins coming from Appalachian State and Louisville – but if it was so easy to go undefeated, someone else would have done it. There were some struggles along the way. The Tigers held on for dear life to beat Notre Dame and struggled against North Carolina in the ACC championship game. But they kept on doing whatever it was they needed to on the way to the unbeaten season, highlighted by a dominant second half performance to beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Clemson might be No. 1 and 14-0, but if it can beat the Alabama team that steamrolled Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn – all bowl winners, by the way – and could turn the Big Ten champs into a quivering mess, then its season takes on a whole new level of greatness. Not only would Clemson be the first 15-0 team, but it would get past the best team in college football to do it.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
According to all the prognosticators Alabama is the national champion. Of course, the game still has to be played and the Tigers haven’t lost one of those all season, defying the odds at every corner. One more time and Clemson becomes the poster child of college football – the little team that could. Coming out of the least powerful of the Power Five conferences undefeated, the Tigers caught a few breaks along the way and had their two biggest games of the season at home. But give them credit, it’s not easy to go unbeaten. If it were, don’t you think others would have tried it? Alabama’s supposed weaknesses were the passing game and the secondary. And the Tide destroyed Michigan State through the air and shut it down with the passing defense. Watson has to be better than great to give Clemson a chance and Alabama isn’t going to let him.
Alabama 31, Clemson 21
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers square off on Monday, January 11, 2016, at 8:30 p.m. ET at University of Phoenix Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
