Guide To Betting the College Football National Championship

#3 Georgia Bulldogs and #4 Alabama Crimson Tide play in the 2018 National Championship game in Atlanta at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 7 PM Monday on ESPN.

#3 Georgia Bulldogs

Read the team preview here.

Georgia beat the Oklahoma Sooners in an exciting Rose Bowl where the Bulldog defense made key stops and won in a double overtime game in the Rose Bowl 54-48. The Bulldogs were led by a 326 yard- 5 TD night by Nick Chubb and Sony Michel overcoming a shootout led by Baker Mayfeild through the air and Sony Michel on the ground, each had over 200 yards and 2 TDs.

#4 Alabama Crimson Tide

Read the team preview here.

Alabama easily beat the Clemson Tigers in the Sugar Bowl, 24-6. The Alabama defense was back to full strength and allowed only 188 yards to a Clemson Offense that was averaging just under 450 yards a game. The month long resting period re-energized the Alabama defense, to have its best showing against an FBS team since beating Ole Miss 66-3 in early October.

Prediction

Lets see how the two teams stack up.

		Alabama	Rank	Georgia	Rank
Off.	Scoring, points	37.9	12	36.3	17
	Passing, yards	193.9	91	172.9	110
	Rushing, yards	255.8	10	267.4	8
	Turnovers	9	2	14	19
	3rd Down %	42.1	45	46	9
Def.	Scoring, points	11.1	1	15.7	5
	Passing, yards	160.6	3	167.6	8
	Rushing, yards	91.8	1	121.9	20
	Tackles For Loss	89	31	87	36
	Sacks	36	21	31	37
	Turnovers Forced	22	40	19	59
	3rd Down %	33.9	26	33.7	25

It is pretty clear who the better team is here. Alabama has dominated every team they have played in the nation. They have 2 shutouts and held teams to under 10 points 9 of their 13 games. Georgia on the the other hand isn’t far behind with 1 shut out and held teams to under 10 points in 7 of their 14 games.

Before the two seasons started, Georgia did however have the 2nd hardest schedule in the nation compared with Alabama’s 12th hardest schedule. This was due to the top 5 match up between #3 FSU and Alabama to start the season. After Week 1, Alabama had dropped to the 30th hardest schedule, while Georgia stayed with a top 10 hardest schedule for most of the season.

Yes, Alabama did impress in the Sugar Bowl and the Tide’s defense was rolling at full power against Clemson last week. But Georgia’s record is impressive. Georgia will need the functioning at full speed and will need another big game from Chubb and Michel against the nation’s best run defense. Georgia needs to have a great game blocking for the run. Nick Chubb cannot be held to only 4 runs of 5 or more yards for the stud RB to have a game defining moment against the Tide. However, Fromm is able to make changes at the line and understand situations. Great example is Sony Michel’s 38 yard TD run in the Rose Bowl.

Sony Michel’s THIRD score of the game, and we’re tied at 31-31! pic.twitter.com/OW7cYtkUg7

— DawgNation (@DawgNation) January 2, 2018

Georgia would also need to contain dual-threat QB Jalen Hurts, who has completed 60% of his passes for 9.3 yards per attempt and 14 TDs and 1 Int. Hurt’s 276 passes have also been dropped by his receivers only 13 times on the year, which is an astonishing number since 54 percent of his passes have been made to receivers 10 or more yards down the field. Georgia does have the propensity to give up big plays on defense, and this will need to be cleaned up. Georgia need to bring pressure and force short plays from Hurts to have a chance.

Betting

The betting line opened last week with Alabama as a -4.5 point favorite and it has fallen by 1 point since and the total has stayed steady at 45.5 points. Around 65% of the public is on Alabama ATS and 59% have Alabama winning outright. The O/U is split 50/50. With Georgia basically playing at home, expect this to be a very close game. Best bets to make are as follows:

• 1H Under 22.5 (-110)
• Georgia +3.5 (+100) (if you can find anything above this, 100 percent take it)
• Bama/Georgia 1st score anything but a TD (+135)

I will be live betting, so follow the twitter @thelastsnap_

NOTE: All stats were taken from CFBStats.com and CFBFilmRoom.com. All lines were taken from mybookie.ag at 10:30 PM on January 7th, 2018.