Only four teams remain in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, and wouldn’t you know it, not a single conference champion remains as we head into the semifinals.
It’s times like these when oddsmakers throw their hands up in the air in frustration. How can the Oregon Ducks go undefeated – the only team in all of FBS to do so – only to lose in their first playoff game to a team they already beat this year? They were supposed to win it all, and if not them, then the Georgia Bulldogs for sure, right? Nope. They were both defeated in the quarterfinals, leaving this year’s championship field down to the Texas Longhorns, Penn State Nittany Lions, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Ohio State Buckeyes.
And to think, likely two of these teams would never have gotten a chance in a four-team playoff. Here is every remaining team’s odds approaching the semifinals. All odds via BetMGM (as of evening of Sunday, Jan. 5).
Is it shocking that the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds have higher odds than the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds? Well, not really when you consider everything that happened in the quarterfinals. The Buckeyes dominated Oregon in their revenge game, meaning that the Buckeyes’ only losses of the year were a one-point loss on the road at Oregon and their rivalry game against Michigan – and everyone knows that weird things happen in rivalry games. Ohio State is the heavy favorite heading into the semifinals and rightfully so.
Outside of Ohio State, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should be the team you bet on if you’re looking for more bang for your buck. Notre Dame won handedly over Georgia, and although Carson Beck was not playing, it was evident that Notre Dame was the better team. They proved worthy of their spot in the playoff, whereas Penn State has only beaten SMU and Boise State in the playoff. The Nittany Lions’ playoff résumé does not stack up to Notre Dame.
The College Football Playoff semifinal games will be played January 9-10.
No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 7 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
No. 5 Texas vs. No. 8 Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
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