The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide are 15-0 straight up and 9-5-1 against the spread over their last 15 games. The Crimson Tide hope to earn a 16th straight win in the Orange Bowl this Saturday night squaring off against the Oklahoma Sooners.
Orange Bowl 2018 odds: Oklahoma vs. Alabama betting lines, game trends
The Alabama Crimson Tide look to begin their championship defense with a win over the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday as heavy betting favorites.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
Alabama is a 14-point betting favorite in Miami at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. In their last 53 games as double-digit favorites, the Crimson Tide are a perfect 53-0 SU.
Oklahoma Sooners vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
When: Saturday, December 29, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
Betting Line / Total: Alabama -14 / 77 Points
Alabama Crimson Tide
After rolling through a 12-0 SU and 8-4 ATS regular season without even a remote scare of losing a game, the Crimson Tide finally faced some adversity in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
Jalen Hurts relieved an injured Tua Tagovailoa to lead the Crimson Tide on a fourth quarter comeback to emerge with a 35-28 victory. Tagovailoa has stated that his ankle feels around “80-85%” leading up to the Orange Bowl; he will start, but his mobility may not be what it normally is on Saturday.
In eight games played in the month of December since 2009, the Crimson Tide are 8-0 SU and 5-3 ATS per the OddsShark College Football Database.
Oklahoma Sooners
While the other three teams in the College Football Playoff all rank in the Top 10 in national scoring defense, the Sooners are all the way down at 96th in the nation allowing a whopping 32.4 points per game.
But thanks to Kyler Murray leading the nation’s most explosive offense to 49.5 points per game, Oklahoma managed to play its way into a playoff spot with a Big 12 championship and a 12-1 SU record. Murray’s incredible campaign earned the quarterback the Heisman trophy, even as his team’s poor defense led to a 5-7-1 ATS mark on the year.
Saturday night’s total is set at 77 points. The OVER is 10-4 in Alabama’s last 14 games.
The two best offenses in the nation led by the two best quarterbacks in the nation sets the stage for a fantastic showdown. Alabama’s clearly superior defense should be the difference in this one, but Kyler Murray may nullify that difference with his amazing dual-threat talents. This should be a great game to watch regardless of how it plays out.
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