2018 CFP Odds: Alabama, Clemson Open as Favorites in Semifinal Matchups

Alabama and Clemson will head into the College Football Playoff heavily favored to compete for a national championship.

The Tide are 14-point favorites over No. 4 Oklahoma and the Tigers are giving 11.5 points to No. 3 Notre Dame, per OddsShark.

OddsShark also shared the point spreads on the other New Year's Six games with Michigan as a 7.5-point favorite over Florida in the Peach Bowl, LSU a 10-point favorite over UCF in the Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State a four-point favorite over Washington in the Rose Bowl and Georgia an 11.5-point favorite over Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

Those odds are substantial but also represent the seeming talent chasm between the playoff teams. Alabama won 12 of its first 13 games by at least three touchdowns, though the lone exception was this Saturday's 35-28 triumph over Georgia.

Oklahoma boasts one of the nation's best offenses led by Heisman hopeful Kyler Murray but has major issues on defense. The Sooners have allowed 32.8 points per game, 15 more than any other CFP participant. Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame each have defenses that rank among the nation's best.

Coming into last week, Football Outsiders had Oklahoma ranked 84th in its defensive metric. None of the other three participants were worse than sixth.

Provided Tua Tagovailoa is healthy, it's hard to picture the Sooners being able to keep up with Alabama's two-way dominance.

Notre Dame's issues are on the offensive side of the ball. The Irish rank 50th in the nation scoring 33.6 points per game. They have won five of their 12 games by just one score, and Football Outsiders' metrics have Notre Dame as the 29th-ranked offense.

No other CFB participant ranks worse than sixth offensively.

Clemson has won two one-score games but has otherwise blown out its opponents. No Tigers opponent has come within 20 points in their last eight games.