College Football Playoff Championship 2015: Full Odds, Schedule and Predictions

The College Football Playoff kicks off on January 1 with four teams battling in two games to determine what will happen on January 12 at AT&T Stadium. If that still feels like a long way away, there are at least discussion topics to make the wait easier. 

Forecasting the two teams that will play in the College Football Playoff Championship Game has felt easy, though predicting sports is usually a recipe for disaster. There appears to be a divide between Alabama and Oregon from everyone else in the country, including Florida State and Ohio State. 

That may not have been the case for Ohio State with a healthy J.T. Barrett, but there is no time to think of what could have happened. Instead, here's an exploration of what is likely to happen when the inaugural College Football Playoff begins. 

Date	Game	Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network	Odds
January 1, 2015	Rose Bowl (Semifinal No. 1)	No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 Florida State	5 p.m.	ESPN	Oregon (-9)
January 1, 2015	Sugar Bowl (Semifinal No. 2)	No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State	8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Alabama (-9)
January 12, 2015	College Football Playoff National Championship	Oregon/FSU winner vs. Alabama/OSU winner	8:30 p.m.	ESPN	TBD

Oregon vs. Florida State

Winning 29 straight games and a national championship last year doesn't buy you much respect, at least if you're Florida State. The Seminoles are nine-point underdogs against Oregon in the Rose Bowl, which can be seen as slap in the face and perfectly rational depending on your perspective. 

Fans in Tallahassee will cry foul at the margin by which Oregon is favored, but those people fail to realize that what happened in the past is irrelevant. All that matters is 2014, and Florida State has been a mediocre team on more than one occasion. 

Now, let's give credit to the Seminoles for finding ways to win games against Notre Dame, Florida, Miami, Louisville, Clemson, Boston College and Georgia Tech. Winning is what matters most, but there has to be some consideration given to style points. 

After all, Oregon knocked off an Arizona team that was ranked seventh in the College Football Playoff Top 25 by 38 points in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Ducks were the superior team and left no doubt about that. 

No player echoes Florida State's erratic nature better than quarterback Jameis Winston. The 2013 Heisman winner has thrown 24 touchdowns and 17 interceptions this season.

Winston will catch a break with Oregon star cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu out, which could open up matchup problems for the Ducks, via ESPN College Football on Twitter:

Oregon's pass defense didn't rate well this season, though Tyson Alger of The Oregonian has a rational explanation for that:

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Eight quarterbacks in the Pac-12 threw for more than 3,000 yards and four tossed more than 30 touchdowns. The Ducks faced this onslaught of aerial attacks with marginal success. Oregon ranked sixth in the Pac-12 with 259.5 yards allowed per game, a number that came out 103rd nationally. That is skewed a bit, though, due to the conference and the fact that many teams fell behind Oregon early and had to pass to catch up.

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The Ducks may not have the defensive prowess to stifle Winston, but they certainly aren't bad in that area. It also helps that their offense averages 46.3 points per game, forcing opponents to become one-dimensional early. 

Marcus Mariota has been as unstoppable as any quarterback in the country this year. He has 38 passing touchdowns, 14 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown with only two interceptions. 

Per Kevin Gemmell of ESPN.com, he has been fantastic at protecting the ball and turning turnovers into points this season:

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Oregon's 120 points off of turnovers ranks sixth nationally, and their points margin of 107 (120 points scored, 13 allowed after a turnover) is second best in the country behind TCU. Again, in this category, Florida State isn't so good. The Seminoles are actually in the negative in points margin at minus-10. They've scored 83 points off of turnovers, but allowed 93. That ranks in the bottom 20 of all Power 5 schools. 

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Florida State has the undefeated record and a national championship last year to boast about, but the 2014 version isn't nearly as strong. Oregon is the better team in every phase of the game and will show it in the Rose Bowl. 

Oregon 34, Florida State 24

Alabama vs. Ohio State

Despite being the headlining game on January 1, Alabama vs. Ohio State has all the makings of a one-sided slaughter. Urban Meyer has done a brilliant job of coaching this Buckeyes team, arguably his best work ever, but there's only so much one can do with a third-string quarterback. 

Cardale Jones became one of the best stories in college football following his 257 passing yards and three touchdowns in Ohio State's 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. 

Alabama is saying all the right things about Jones leading up to this game, including cornerback Cyrus Jones telling Marq Burnett of The Montgomery Advertiser that they are struggling to prepare for him due to lack of tape:

"A little bit, but we've just got to prepare for them as if he was their starting quarterback, as if he'd been the guy all year," Jones said. "I don't think it's too much there. You got to game plan as if he's been the man all year."

In the same piece, Alabama safety Landon Collins that Ohio State's offense doesn't change regardless of the quarterback because they "are kind of similar."

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Despite those good vibes for Jones and acts of confusion from Alabama, let's remember he put up those numbers against Wisconsin. The Badgers are a solid team but not in the same realm as the Crimson Tide.

This graphic from StatMilk comparing Alabama and Wisconsin shows how much defensive numbers can be skewed:

On no planet does anyone think Wisconsin is a better defensive team than Alabama, yet the numbers show otherwise. 

The Crimson Tide also present more of a challenge offensively than Wisconsin. The Badgers are as one-dimensional as any team in the country, ranking 118th in passing yards per game with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. 

Blake Sims and Amari Cooper are arguably the best quarterback-wide receiver duo in the country, combining for 115 receptions, 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns. If the Buckeyes are able to contain the pass, they have to deal with a rushing attack that had 2,723 total yards, averaged 5.1 yards per carry and scored 32 touchdowns. 

Jones only had to throw the ball 17 times in the Big Ten Championship Game, and it worked because Ohio State ran for 301 yards. That kind of production on the ground opens up the play-action passing game, but that won't happen against an Alabama defense that allowed the second-fewest rushing yards per game, via Yahoo! Sports. 

The marquee battle between Saban and Meyer won't turn into much of a game, because Alabama is vastly superior in all the key areas. 

Alabama 41, Ohio State 17

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