The Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0) take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (12-0) in the CFP National Championship Monday night. The game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., kicks off at 8 p.m. ET. Below, we give five Ohio State prop bet predictions for the National Championship from the BetMGM game menu.
Also see:
- Alabama vs. Ohio State prop predictions
- Alabama vs. Ohio State odds, picks and prediction
- National Championship betting predictions with Jason McIntyre
- How to bet on the National Championship game
CFP National Championship: Ohio State prop bet predictions
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 10 a.m. ET.
RB Trey Sermon UNDER 36.5 receiving yards (-110)
Sermon caught four passes for 61 yards in the CFP Semifinal against Clemson. That included a long of 34. Prior to that game, Sermon had 34 yards on eight catches for the season.
Ohio State used a check-down option way more in the Clemson game plan than it had in any other situation in recent memory. Three-quarters of the Buckeyes’ throws to backs are essentially the modern equivalent of outside runs.
Sermon OVER 99.5 rushing yards (-110)
The transfer from Oklahoma didn’t immediately gel as part of the Buckeyes offense but Sermon broke through with a program-record 331-yard game against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game Dec. 19. He rambled for 193 yards in the Sugar Bowl.
Sermon got 60 carries over those two games, he’s running behind a top-shelf offensive line, and OSU is going to want to engineer methodical 10-play drives more so than normal in an effort to keep Alabama’s circus offense off the field.
QB Justin Fields took a hard hit against Clemson, and may not be 100% — either to engineer all-passing drives or to be as active in the read-option run game.
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Buckeyes OVER 34.5 points (+105)
This tag is pretty fair for an Ohio State offense that was rolling Jan. 1. In fact, the Buckeyes have rolled over this total in six of their seven games. Yes, this is Alabama, and there is some risk, but the +105 price is a nice reward.
The Ryan Day offense/QB coaching and the emergence of Sermon — together with an offensive line finding its best gear of late — make for some value.
TE Jeremy Ruckert (+1000)/TE Luke Farrell (+3500) to score 1st TD of the game
Ruckert has 12 catches on the season; Farrell has five. Both scored against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl (Ruckert caught two TD passes), and the tight end position is a key in this game on both sides of the ball.
The Buckeyes run a lot of plays out of two-tight-end sets and Fields is a quarterback who gets comfortable with certain receivers in spurts. Tag both Ruckert and Farrell as value plays in the first-touchdown prop.
Parlay: Buckeyes MONEY LINE and game total UNDER 60.5 (+1300)
Ohio State is +265 on the money line, and the game is tagged with a high 74.5 total. The payoff for a zag-zag parlay — going against the grain on both plays — is 13-to-1.
It’s a play on some chaos perhaps — on a couple or three late-drive turnovers and a couple of red-zone defensive stops. It is after all the title game for the 2020 season: this would be a very 2020 combo to hit on.
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