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The Rose Bowl... wait, is this still called the Rose Bowl? Regardless, the first College Football Playoff semifinal will get going on New Year’s Day between the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game was moved from its original location in Pasadena, California and will instead be played in Arlington, Texas. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on New Year’s Day and can be seen on ESPN and the WatchESPN app.
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Alabama vs. Notre Dame
Point spread: Alabama (-19.5)
Point total: 65.5
How they got here
Alabama went through the entire season without a loss, and the days of running the ball and playing good defense continue to take a backseat to let’s just score as many points as possible for the Crimson Tide. Alabama scored 38 or more points in every game this season, and nobody has been able to keep up.
As for Notre Dame, it joined a conference for the first time ever, so we finally got an answer for what would it take to get the Irish into a conference? The answer: a pandemic. Notre Dame went through the regular season at 10-0 including a win over Clemson before getting blown out by the Tigers in the ACC title game.
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