Intro
After a grueling season of college football with upsets nearly every week it all comes down to the 8 remaining teams in the playoff. The matchups begin with Miami and Ohio State squaring off at “Jerry World” AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Day will bring us 3 playoff games as the Oregon Ducks travel across the country for an Orange Bowl meeting with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and the top ranked Indiana Hoosiers will meet Ty Simpson and Alabama in the “Grandaddy of them all” the Rose Bowl. Finally, an SEC rematch as Ole Miss will get a 2nd chance against Georgia at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. With 4 fantastic matchups and 8 truly elite teams, I’ll breakdown each game so that you can make the best bets for the college football games this New Year!
Miami vs Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes had a 16 game winning streak snapped in a 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big 10 Championship. Despite that setback they still earned a first round bye in the playoff setting up a matchup with the Miami Hurricanes who won a defensive struggle against Texas A&M 10-3 in the 1st round. The Hurricanes tallied 7 sacks and 9 tackles for loss in the win and are led by All-American DE Ruben Bain Jr. The Buckeyes allowed 6 sacks against Indiana which could lead to problems for QB Julian Sayin and the offense. All-American WR Jeremiah Smith sustained a late-season strained quad, but is good to go for this game. Ohio State’s defense has been historically good this year not allowing a single opponent to score more than 16 points in any game all season. Miami didn’t do much on offense against Texas A&M with QB Carson Beck passing for just 103 yards on 20 attempts. Therefore, I like the total to go under in this game with both teams biggest strengths on defense and I also expect Miami to cover the spread as nearly double digit underdogs.
Best Bets: Under 42 (-110), Miami +9.5 (-110)
Oregon vs Texas
The closest spread out of all the matchups as Oregon is just a 2 point favorite against the Big 12 Champions Texas Tech. These are 2 of the most balanced teams in all of college football with both Oregon and Texas Tech ranking inside the top 10 in scoring on offense and defense. The Ducks blewout James Madison in the opening round going up 34-6 at halftime while Texas Tech earned a bye after they took care of BYU handily 34-7 in the Big 12 Championship. Oregon QB Dante Moore is having a breakout year passing for 3,046 yards and 28 TD’s so far this season. Moore will face 2 of the best defensive players in the country as Jacob Rodriguez won the Bronko Nagurski award and DE David Bailey led the defense with 13.5 sacks. Offensively Texas Tech has a strong rushing attack with RB Cameron Dickey totaling 1,095 rushing yards and 14 TD’s already this year. I’m going to target Dickey to score a TD at -140, but I like Oregon to cover the spread as slight favorites.
Best Bet: Oregon -1.5 (-110)
Player Prop: Cameron Dickey TD (-140)
Alabama vs Indiana
Ty Simpson and the Crimson Tide orchestrated a comeback after a 17-0 hole against Oklahoma in the 1st half. Alabama went on to win that game 34-24 and earned the right to play Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and Indiana. The Hoosiers had a storybook ending to their season winning the Big 10 Championship game and completing an undefeated season as well as setting a record for most wins in a single season in school history. Simpson threw for 232 yards and 2 TD’s in their win over Oklahoma, but will face an even tougher task against Indiana. The Hoosiers are 2nd in the country allowing just 10.8 ppg as well as averaging 3 sacks per contest 8th best in the nation. Offensively Mendoza has completed 71.4% of his passes and they average a ridiculous 41.9 ppg 4th best in all of college football. Alabama will have their hands full in this matchup on both sides of the ball so I’m going to take Indiana to cover the TD spread as favorites. A player prop I’m going to target is Ty Simpson under 1.5 TD passes going up against a truly elite unit in Indiana.
Best Bet: Indiana -6.5 (-120)
Player Prop: Ty Simpson Under 1.5 TD Passes (-145)
Ole Miss vs Georgia
Ole Miss made quick work of Tulane 41-10 in the 1st round of the playoff and now has a chance at redemption against Georgia. The Bulldogs won the regular season matchup 43-35 with a 17-0 4th quarter comeback. Since that game Georgia went on to win the SEC Championship and Ole Miss saw their coach Lane Kiffin leave for LSU. Former defensive coordinator Pete Golding is now the head coach and will be eager to atone for his predecessor’s mistake. Ole Miss has one of the best offenses in the country ranking 2nd in total offense with nearly 500 yards per game and QB Trinidad Chambliss threw for 282 yards and completed almost 80% of his passes against Tulane. Defensively, Georgia ranks 9th in ppg allowed with just 15.9 and holds opponents to just 79.2 rush yards per contest (4th). This was a close game last time out and I think Ole Miss has improved since the loss with much stronger showings defensively to end the year. I like Ole Miss to cover as TD underdogs and I also like the point total to go under with both defenses improving massively since the last matchup. Finally, a player prop I’m going to focus on is Oscar Delp to get Over 16.5 receiving yards as the Georgia TE is finally 100% and one of the best in the country.
The Bookie of Eli 
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