College Football Playoff Championship 2016: Odds and Predictions for Semifinals

The second edition of the College Football Playoff is set, as America's top four teams will compete for the national championship starting New Year's Eve. 

This season, the Cotton and Orange Bowls will provide the settings for the semifinal games, as the ACC, SEC, Big 10 and Big 12 champions are in contention. 

Continue for the semifinal schedules, odds, who I think will win each game and the players to watch on New Year's Eve. All odds are courtesy of OddsShark.com:

Bowl	Matchup	Date, Time (ET)	Odds	Prediction
Orange	No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Oklahoma	Thur. Dec. 31, 4 p.m.	OU -4	Clemson
Cotton	No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Michigan St.	Thur. Dec. 31, 8 p.m.	ALA -10	Alabama

Players To Watch

Deshaun Watson, Clemson, QB

2015 Stats

Passing Yards/TD/INT: 3,512/30/11

Rushing Yards/TD: 887/11

One of the Heisman Trophy finalists, Deshaun Watson can beat you in a multitude of ways. 

The sophomore throws one of the nicest deep balls in the nation, with the accuracy to find receivers in even the tightest of windows. He's completed almost 70 percent of his passes this season, leading a Clemson attack that averages 38.0 points per game. 

What makes Watson so special is his ability to tie the athleticism he holds with his legs into the Clemson offense. While he is always a threat to eat up yards on designed running plays, Watson uses his speed to keep passing plays alive. 

His skills were put on display in the ACC championship against North Carolina, where he put up 420 yards and five touchdowns. The ACC Digital Network took a look at his big day:

Watson will be a handful for an Oklahoma defense that has played its fair share of, and beaten some, high-powered offenses this season in the likes of Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State. It even held the quarterbacks of those dangerous offenses to an average of 270.3 yards per game. 

The problem is, Oklahoma faced Baylor backup Jarrett Stidham and a TCU team without Trevone Boykin. It's never faced a quarterback as dangerous as Watson, who will be the deciding factor in the Orange Bowl.

Derrick Henry, Alabama, RB

2015 Stats

Rushing Yards/Yards Per Carry: 1,986/5.9

Touchdowns: 23

Joining Watson in New York, Alabama running back Derrick Henry will be playing in the other semifinal game on New Year's Eve: the Cotton Bowl against Michigan State. 

When thinking about the best running backs in the game right now, it's not often a player of his size (6'3", 242 lbs) is at the forefront of the conversation.

One of the most bruising backs the game has seen in quite some time, Henry is a downhill runner who is almost impossible to stop once he gets momentum. ESPN, via B/R's Alabama Crimson Tide Twitter page, showed his best performance of the season, a 271-yard effort in the Iron Bowl against Auburn:

Florida cornerback and NFL draft prospect Vernon Hargreaves summed up trying to tackle Henry to AL.com's Michael Casagrande:

"

It's not that fun. It's not that fun. When he has a full head of steam coming at you, you know, he's a big back; he can make you miss, he can run you over. You've got to hold on and wait for the boys to get there, wait for the team to get there.

"

Hargreaves' Gators were run over by Henry, rushing for 189 yards and a touchdown in the SEC Championship Game.

Henry has set an SEC record for most rushing yards in a single season this year, breaking Herschel Walker's mark set in 1981. He's also one of the hottest backs in the nation right now, rushing for 200 yards or more in four of his last seven games.

His rushing output alone accounted for over 35 percent of the Crimson Tide's offense this year. 

He will face a stiff test in the Michigan State run defense, which ranks 15th in the nation, allowing a little more than 113 yards per game. Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott, who is one of the top backs in the nation, was held to just 33 yards on 12 carries against the Spartans. 

If Henry is held down by Michigan State, Alabama could be in trouble in the Cotton Bowl. But he should see a lot of the ball in the semifinal and will have plenty of chances to wear the Spartans down. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com