By Charles Jay
If anybody had told you at the beginning of the season that the Ohio State Buckeyes would lose their home opener by two touchdowns and lose not only one but TWO quarterbacks before the end of the season, yet they would still be among the final four teams to compete for national championship, you would have been laughed out of the room. But Vietbet customers know that the “Final Four” is exactly where the Buckeyes are right now, and they can take the final step to getting to the championship game by beating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl, being played at the Superdome in New Orleans, with college football betting action getting underway at 8:30 PM ET.
Braxton Miller was considered by many to be one of the top NFL prospects at the quarterback position. He was the two-time Big Ten offensive player the year, and had certainly mastered the spread offense of coach Urban Meyer. But his season came to an end before it began, as he suffered a shoulder injury that put him out for the duration. Unbelievably, freshman JT Barrett stepped in and played so well (after a rocky start that included a 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech) that he was given consideration for the Heisman Trophy. But then Barrett broke his ankle, so the Buckeyes had to go to their third man on the depth chart, big (6′ 5″, 250 pounds) Cardale Jones, and they didn’t seem to miss a beat, as Jones threw for 257 yards in a mammoth 59-0 rout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.
Alabama has certainly had its share of national championship moments, and that is why a lot of people had faith in the Crimson Tide, despite a loss in the fifth game of the season to Mississippi. They had life-and-death with Arkansas the next week, but that was the beginning of an eight-game winning streak that included a victory at LSU, another one over Mississippi State, which was the #1 team in the country at the time, and then a 55-44 win over Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl. They made a strong statement in the SEC championship game against Missouri, rolling to a 42-13 victory. So here they are, as the #1 seed among the final four teams in the college football playoff.
In the college football betting odds that have been posted on this game by the people at Vietbet, Alabama is a solid favorite:
Alabama Crimson Tide -9
Ohio State Buckeyes +9
Over 58.5 points -110
Under 58.5 points -110
Lane Kiffin was hired as offensive coordinator before the season, and he has turned out to be a very valuable piece of the puzzle. He helped to open up this Alabama offense, which gained a heck of a lot of balance due to the play of Blake Sims, who threw for 3250 yards, a school record, on 65% completions. No wide receiver in the country was as prolific as Amari Cooper, who caught 115 passes, but this is a balanced offense with the two top running backs – TJ Yeldon and and Derrick Henry – combining for 1827 yards. Alabama had 32 touchdowns on the ground, and 30 through the air. So Vietbet patrons can forget about the idea of Ohio State overplaying them either way.
Urban Meyer came to Ohio State and has done almost nothing but win over his three seasons, compiling a 36-3 straight-up record. But he does not have a national championship, which he won at Florida. although some would say that this is as good a coaching job as he has done.
Ohio State has one of the top defensive ends in the country and Joey Bosa, who was the Big Ten defensive player of the year, and they ranked seventh in the nation in passing efficiency defense. But they did allowed 24 points or more eight times during their schedule, and that is one of the reasons why eleven of their 13 games went over the total in the college football betting odds. Alabama, by contrast, allowed 24 points or more only once, and they did not permit 100-yard rusher all season long.
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