Colin Cowherd presents his three best college football bets for bowl week (College Football Playoff Edition) (Full Video at Bottom of Page)
In this week’s installment of Colin Cowherd's MARQUEE THREE, Colin is taking aim at the College Football Playoff.
(1) LSU vs. (4) Oklahoma – (Spread: LSU -13.5)
"I'm going to take Oklahoma to cover here. Oklahoma is going to hear for 5 weeks how badly they're going to get crushed. Do you know that the number one overall seed has never won the College Football Playoff? LSU is taking home all these awards while Oklahoma is hearing how irrelevant they are. Jalen Hurts is the only quarterback in the country with over 30 passing touchdowns and over 15 rushing touchdowns, they're going to move the ball on LSU. LSU's defense is good but has been gashed by lesser offenses. Oklahoma's defense was pathetic last year but was much different this year and was the best defense in the Big 12. We have seen Oklahoma in these big games versus the SEC and Oklahoma always plays big boy football. I think this game is going to be very close. I think LSU is going to win but I think they're going to ESCAPE and LSU will score a late touchdown."
COLIN'S PICK: LSU 41, Oklahoma 30. OU +13.5
(2) Ohio State vs. (3) Clemson – (Spread: CLEM -2.0)
"I like Clemson to win by a touchdown. I thought the number was low and I think we're undervaluing Clemson. We look at their conference and say they haven't played anybody, but I think that's a huge benefit here. They are healthy, they've got a ton of depth, and when you don't know who is going to win in college football, you always go with the coaching staff. I think Clemson has the best coaching staff by a wide margin. They have three current coaches who are capable of running programs. Trevor Lawrence since Week 9 has been unstoppable. Ohio State's defense gets the headlines but I can argue that Clemson's defense is actually BETTER. They're first in the country in multiple categories. I don't think the ACC is that great but who else in the Big Ten is that amazing? Michigan lost to all the good teams they played, and Wisconsin is well coached but doesn't have a ton of NFL players. In Ohio State's last four games they're allowing over 21 a game against Big Ten offenses. Clemson has an NFL quarterback, NFL running back, NFL offensive line, NFL tight end, and NFL receivers. Ohio State has never seen speed anything close to this. Clemson is 5-0 the last 2 years against SEC speed and blew most of them out. "
COLIN'S PICK: Clemson 36, Ohio State 30. CLEM -2
(22) USC vs. (16) Iowa – (Spread: USC -2.0)
"These are two very even teams but I think this is a coaching mismatch. The Trojans have better perimeter players but Iowa has better line play, I'll take Iowa -2. USC had the second most turnovers in the Pac-12 and lots of penalties; a hallmark of Clay Helton football. The Big Ten is 6-1 versus the Pac-12 the last 2 years in Bowl games. Why? Because the Big Ten is BETTER. Iowa's offensive line is much better than USC's offensive line, and the pass rush from Iowa will be a huge problem for USC's freshman quarterback. USC will beat Iowa over the top but Iowa's quarterback Nate Stanley won't make a ton of mistakes and Iowa's defense has been excellent this year and is always well-coached. I'm taking Iowa. USC will get a couple cheap touchdowns over the top but won't sustain any drives."
COLIN'S PICK: Iowa 28, USC 24. IOWA +2
*All spreads are provided by Fox Bet.