Alabama and Oregon are favored to win their first playoff games by a huge margin.
Sportsbook insider RJ Bell of Pregame.com says Bama opened up as a 9.5 favorite over Ohio State, while Oregon is an 8.5 favorite against Florida State. Considering these are supposed to be the four best teams in the country, those are pretty wide margins.
The large spreads tell us two things: either Bama and Oregon are considered far and away the two best teams in the country, or there were two (or more) better teams than Ohio State and Florida State.
Prior to Saturday’s games, Vegas had TCU, Baylor, Mississippi State, and Michigan State ranked ahead of FSU. They had all those teams, as well as Wisconsin and Kansas State, ranked ahead of Ohio State. We can assume the Buckeyes moved ahead of Wisconsin and Kansas State following their Big Ten Championship Game win, but the point remains: the reason why the projected spreads are so high is because the oddsmakers do not think FSU and Ohio State are as good as some other teams out there.
The college football playoff committee chose Ohio State over TCU and Baylor, but you can bet the real experts feel the Horned Frogs and Bears are the better teams.
