College Football Championship 2020: Semifinals Odds and Playoff Predictions
The Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers have been fixtures of the College Football Playoff since it debuted in the 2014-15 season.
The SEC and ACC champions appear to be on yet another collision course for the National Championship, as they are the two favorites for Friday's semifinal games.
Alabama is projected to win the Rose Bowl by more points than Clemson is expected to triumph by in the Sugar Bowl, but they could both have dominant showings.
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In the CFB Playoff's history, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds advanced to the final on three occasions, all of which set up Alabama-Clemson finals.
If history repeats itself on New Year's Day, we could be in line for another chapter of the epic rivalry on January 11.
CFB Playoff Semifinal Odds
Rose Bowl: No. 1 Alabama (-19.5) vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (Over/Under 66)
Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Clemson (-7.5) vs. No. 3 Ohio State (O/U: 68)
Predictions
Alabama (-19.5) vs. Notre Dame
The only challenger that has knocked off Alabama at the semifinal stage was Ohio State in the 2015 Sugar Bowl.
Six years later, the Crimson Tide are on a four-game semifinal winning streak and have a chance to reinstall themselves at the top of college football.
Nick Saban's side missed out on the playoff last season, as the LSU Tigers ran rampant through the SEC, but that does not mean the current Alabama players lack big-game experience.
DeVonta Smith's first major moment as an Alabama player came on the game-winning touchdown catch in overtime of the 2018 National Championship. The senior had 12 catches in the playoff two seasons ago.
Najee Harris was not the feature back in Alabama's last playoff foray, but he still produced 104 yards on 15 carries.
If Harris and Smith bank off their playoff experience and extend their dominant seasons into the Rose Bowl, the Crimson Tide should break away from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Alabama is 8-3 against the spread in a season in which it was routinely a double-digit favorite in SEC play.
The Crimson Tide won eight games by 19 points or more and produced at least 40 points in their four Top 25 matchups.
If the SEC champion continues to score at a high pace, it may run circles around Notre Dame at AT&T Stadium.
Notre Dame is coming off its worst performance of the season at the ACC Championship Game in which it proved it could not keep up with a full-strength Clemson squad. It beat the Tigers 47-40 in November with Trevor Lawrence and a few defensive starters out.
If the Fighting Irish fail to keep up with their opponent's top stars for the second straight game, they could be in danger of repeating the 30-3 loss from their first semifinal appearance against Clemson.
Clemson (-7.5) vs. Ohio State
Ohio State has the better chance of covering the spread as an underdog than Notre Dame.
The Buckeyes lost by six points to Clemson in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl, and they have a strong rushing attack that could keep the ball out of Trevor Lawrence's hands.
However, the ground game could be halted by Clemson's defense that allowed 99.8 rushing yards per game in the regular season.
Clemson let up 17.5 points per game, and it looked much better following the two-week break after the loss to Notre Dame.
The Tigers limited the Pittsburgh Panthers, Virginia Tech Hokies and Notre Dame to a combined 37 points in that run. In the three games prior to that, the ACC champion allowed 96 points.
With its defense rounding into form and Lawrence carrying the most playoff experience of any quarterback in the field, the Tigers should have a good chance to break open a double-digit advantage.
Three of Clemson's four semifinal victories have come by 10 or more points, and if it erases the first-half struggles against Ohio State from last season, it could boost that number to four.
Ohio State hung tight with Clemson for a half, but then it failed to contain Lawrence and Justin Fields threw a pair of interceptions.
Fields was intercepted twice and fumbled once in the Big Ten Championship Game, a victory that was sealed by Trey Sermon's rushing ability.
If Fields is unable to match Lawrence and concedes another turnover or two, Ohio State may not stand a chance in New Orleans.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com
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