College Football National Championship Betting Guide & Best Bets: Indiana Favored In Natty Over Miami
We enter the final scene of "Playoffuary" tonight. The College Football Playoff began on Dec. 19 and ends with the national championship game tonight, 31 days later. Follow our College Football National Championship Betting Guide & Best Bets for all the latest news and analysis.
The Indiana Hoosiers face the Miami Hurricanes Monday at Hard Rock Stadium for The Big Trophy. In the national semifinals: an all-Big Ten Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl saw Indiana rip through Oregon. Miami outlasted Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl.
The first round of the college football playoffs saw two road teams score upsets: Alabama and Miami. Meanwhile, Ole Miss and Oregon demolished their "Group of 5" opponents by a combined score of 92-44.
The jinx of teams with byes continued in the quarterfinals - 3 of the 4 teams with the extra time off lost. Ohio State got smothered by Miami; Georgia blew a 9-point lead in losing to Ole Miss; and Oregon shut out Texas Tech. Only Indiana, which is favored to win it all, benefited from its bye. The Hoosiers thumped Alabama, scoring an easy cover as 6.5-point favorites in a 38-3 rout.
Here’s the current College Football National Championship Betting Guide & Best Bets breakdown for you to use at the best sports betting apps.
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College Football National Championship Best Bets
Here are the current odds and NCAAF picks for the semifinal games in our College Football Playoff Betting Guide & Odds Tracker:
Monday, January 19
National Championship
(1) Indiana (15-0) vs. (10) Miami (13-2)
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Buzz: The Indiana Hoosiers sit 60 minutes away from the most dominant season in the history of college football. No college football team - going back to when Rutgers University beat Princeton University 6-4 in November of 1869 - has ever won 16 games in a single season. Curt Cignetti's ability to win remains unquestioned. Just Google him. And Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza iced his spot as the No. 1 QB/pick in the April NFL Draft after laying the Oregon Ducks to waste 56-23 in the Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers' offensive line stands taller and wider than any "Seven Blocks of Granite." Indiana's defense sports the "unheralded" label despite just 11.1 points per game. That includes FOUR wins over teams that made the College Football Playoff. Two came over Oregon, with the others being Alabama and Ohio State.
The Miami Hurricanes long since silenced the doubters and haters who condemned their playoff berth as the No. 10 seed. Incredibly, this same Miami team that failed to reach the ACC Championship Game has since stuffed Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Ole Miss. The reward: playing for the National Championship in your own stadium.
A 'Home Game' For Both Teams At Hard Rock Stadium
This, however, won't have a full Miami home game feel. No college football fanbase is larger in terms of alumni than Indiana's. And they packed Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium to witness UM's Peach Bowl Massacre of Oregon. Mendoza grew up just a mile from Miami's Coral Gables campus and his dad played with UM Coach Mario Cristobal during the heyday of the "U" in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Number Moved To 9.5 Before Sharp Money Push It Back To 7
This number moved from 3 points before the national semifinals to 7.5 after IU's dominant win over Oregon. The number peaked at 9.5 last week, before sharp money pushed it back to 7.5 this past weekend.
The Hoosiers can score, and score, and score some more. QB Carson Beck and the Hurricanes won't be able to mount the same sort of miraculous comeback against Indiana that they pulled off to beat Ole Miss at the wire. Miami has enjoyed a fun run this postseason. The Hoosiers, however, are a freight train with no brakes headed down I-75 to the Florida Turnpike. Indiana dominates the line of scrimmage on both sides. Miami's running game stalls here, and Beck is forced to play catch up. Unfortunately, he won't this time. Indiana flexes its might one more time, and Mendoza ends a college football season for the ages with a national championship victory in - sort of - his hometown. We grabbed this on at the open. It peaked at 9.5 but has since settled at 7.5.
Lay the points in our College Football Playoff Betting Guide & Best Bets.
Best Bet: Indiana -7 (-110) FanDuel via OddsJam
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How To Earn A College Football Playoff Berth?
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee chooses the 12 teams that make the playoff. Committee membership consists of one member each from the 10 FBS conferences and the University of Notre Dame.
The four highest-ranked conference champions earn the 1-4 seeds and a first-round bye. The remaining teams, including the fifth conference champion, get seeded 5-12 based on their final ranking.
No specific formula exists to determine the 12 playoff berths. Committee members are free to use whatever data they choose. Among the factors considered are strength of schedule, head-to-head results against common opponents, and conference championships won. The Power 4 Conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) played their conference championship games on Saturday, Dec. 6.
One spot among the 12 teams is set aside for the best “Group of 5” school. The “Group of 5” berth goes to the team determined to be the best from the American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Changes This Season In The College Football Playoff
This season, the CFB Playoff eliminated the automatic first-round bye for the four best conference champions. Now, the teams will be seeded based on their overall quality, with the best conference champion not making the top four, getting the 5th spot overall.
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How Is The College Football Playoff Schedule Determined?
The No. 5-12 teams play in a first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds on campus. The selection committee, meanwhile, assigns the top four conference champions to Playoff Quarterfinals hosted by bowls. The committee considers historic bowl relationships and then rankings when assigning those games.
The two Playoff Semifinals will be played in bowl games, and a national championship game will be played in a different city every year, always on a Monday night.
Do Any Teams Automatically Qualify For The College Football Playoff?
No. The Committee evaluates each FBS team on performance. Just ask Notre Dame.
Where Will The National Championship Game Be Played?
Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, plays host to the 2026 National Championship Game on Monday (Jan. 19). Future national championship games, meanwhile, take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (2027), the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans (2028), and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (2029).
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