The Alabama Crimson Tide is a 15-point favorite over the Oklahoma Sooners, according to the legal sportsboks. This will be the 85th Orange Bowl as well as one semifinal of the College Football Playoff. Alabama was the SEC West division champion with a flawless 13-0 record (8-0 in conference play). The Tide also is 8-5 ATS this season, per the best online sportsbooks. ‘Bama beat Georgia 35-28 in the SEC championship game as 12-point chalk. This is Alabama’s 14th straight bowl appearance and ninth Orange Bowl.
Betting Oklahoma
Oklahoma finished first in the Big 12, going 12-1 (8-1 in conference play). Furthermore, they posted a 5-7-1 ATS record this season. The Sooners defeated Texas 39-21 as 9.5-point favorites in the Big 12 championship game. This will be Oklahoma’s 20th straight bowl appearance and 20th Orange Bowl.
Betting Alabama
The pairing of the Alabama program with the Samoan Bulldozer Tua Tagovailoa is the perfect Las Vegas sports betting online storm. The Crimson Tide has 37 TDs and just four picks on 3353 passing yards. In addition, the Hawaiian guy has rushed for 190 yards and five TDs. Finally, the Leviathan of the South Seas has a 67.7 completion percentage and a 202.3 QB rating. On the downside, he has been sacked 11 times. On defense, the Tide ranks 4th in points allowed per game (14.8) and 10th in total yards allowed per game (295.4).
Alabama’s offense does seem to have slowed down a bit in the latter part of the season. But head coach Nick Saban hopes to instill the fire back into his players. “I think we want to focus on learning lessons from some of the things that happened to us in this last game, as well as the two previous games, where I thought we could have played better and with a little more consistency,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll learn from those lessons and be able to make some improvements and get some guys healthy to where we can hopefully play better.”
If someone can give Tua a run for his Heisman money, that’s Kyler Murray. The soon-to-be Oakland Athletic has 40 TDs and seven picks on 4053 yards through the air. Murray has also rushed for 892 yards and 11 TDs. He completes 70.9 % of his attempts and possesses a 205.7 passer ratings. Murray has been sacked on 15 occasions. Defensively, the Oklahommies allow more points per game than Toledo, South Florida, or UTSA. That’s not very good company in which to be. In summary, Kyler Murray is going to have to be the game-changer.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Oklahoma Sooners – Orange Bowl – CFP Semifinal Preview
Date: December 29
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl–CFP Semifinal)
Odds from MyBookie.ag:
- Oklahoma +15 (-125) 77 (-110) +460
- Alabama -15 (+105) 77 (-110) -620
Betting Trends
- Sooners are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up win
- Sooners are 1-3-1 ATS vs. a team with a winning record
- Sooners are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall
- Crimson Tide are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up win
- Crimson Tide are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing more than 450 total yards in their previous game
- Crimson Tide are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall
Our Game Prediction: Alabama looks like an unstoppable force of nature. As good as Oklahoma is, the Sooners are likely become ashes in the Tide’s path of destruction. Murray may be arguably slightly better than Tagovailoa. However, Alabama’s defense is much, much better than Oklahoma’s. And there’s no argument there. All of which is to tell you to pick ‘Bama to cover the legal sportsbooks spread.
