Alabama vs Georgia Preview

Odds for the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game have been released. The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide opened as a four-point favorite over the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs at most books. The Tide reached their third-straight national title matchup by steamrolling the Clemson Tigers 24-6 in the Sugar Bowl on Monday evening, while hours earlier the Bulldogs escaped a double-overtime shootout with a 54-48 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Rose Bowl.

Oddsmakers are expecting a closely contested national championship, as evidenced by the relatively small, four-point spread to open betting on the game. It’s the 112th time in 113 games dating back to 2010 that the Tide will be favored. Interestingly enough, Alabama’s lone matchup as an underdog during this span came in 2015 at Georgia, which resulted ‘Bama pulling off a 38-10 upset.

The way the semis unfolded certainly factors into the oddsmaking for this matchup, given that Alabama played such a complete game and looked like juggernauts while Georgia simply appeared to be on the right side of a shootout. The thought was to be higher than a field goal to give Alabama the respect it deserves, but not near a touchdown where we’re giving too much value to a quality Georgia club.

Dawgs head coach Kirby Smart was Bama’s defensive coordinator under Nick Saban from 2008 to 2015, as well as an assistant on Saban’s Miami Dolphins and LSU staffs before that. For Smart to deliver UGA to its first national title since 1980, he’ll have to do something no former Saban assistant has done before: beat the master.

Saban is 11-0 all-time against his exes, and their meetings have often not been close. The average score in games between Saban and a former assistant is 38-10, Tide.

I think it will be a closer margin than that. But who knows it’s the Championship and crazy things tend to happen.

Stay tuned for my official pick and final pick of the NCAA season. It’s going to be one of my biggest plays of the year!