College football odds: Betting lines for playoff, New Year's Six bowls
The Clemson Tigers are 3–2 straight up and 5–0 against the spread in their last five games as a betting underdog. The Tigers will try to prove the line wrong again with an upset win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Clemson is a 3-point underdog in Glendale at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The ACC championship game was far from a cakewalk for the Tigers, but they emerged with a 42–35 win which earned them the No. 2 seed in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
Ohio State is just 2–6 ATS over its last eight games, but an impressive double-overtime win over Michigan locked up the Buckeyes' playoff spot despite their lack of a conference title.
The winner of the Fiesta Bowl will take on the winner of the Peach Bowl in the national championship game. The Alabama Crimson Tide are 16.5-point betting favorites over the Washington Huskies in the Peach Bowl.
Washington has the best turnover ratio in the nation at +21, whereas Alabama is at just +5. The Crimson Tide are clearly the best team in the nation this season at 13–0 SU and 9–4 ATS, so winning the turnover battle could be one of Washington's best chances at keeping this game close.
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Two of the hottest teams in the country will clash in the Rose Bowl with the USC Trojans going off as 7-point favorites on the college football bowl odds against the Penn State Nittany Lions. USC ended the year on an 8–0 SU and 7–1 ATS run, while Penn State reeled off a 9–0 SU and 8–0–1 ATS record over its last nine games. The OVER is 13–4 in Penn State's last 17 games.
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Alabama wasn't the only Division I team to finish the 2016 season undefeated, as the Western Michigan Broncos went 13–0 SU and 9–4 ATS this year. The Broncos' undefeated season earned the MAC champions a trip to the Cotton Bowl to face the Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin is a perfect 17–0 SU in its last 17 games against MAC opponents and is a 7.5-point favorite in this bowl game.
And rounding out the top bowl games this season are Michigan (-7) vs. Florida State in the Orange Bowl and Auburn vs. Oklahoma (-4.5) in the Sugar Bowl. The national championship game is set for Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
