Alabama Football Opens as 11-Point Favorites Over Washington
By David Wasson
The early Las Vegas lines are out for the College Football Playoffs semifinals, and to little surprise No. 1 Alabama football opened as a prohibitive favorite over the No. 4 Washington Huskies.
early Las Vegas lines are out for the College Football Playoffs semifinals, and to little surprise No. 1 Alabama football opened as a prohibitive favorite over the No. 4 Washington Huskies.
Alabama opened as an 11-point favorite, but that line quickly jumped to -14 in early wagering.
Alabama faces the Huskies in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, Dec. 31. The Crimson Tide and Huskies have met four times previously, with the most recent contest coming in the 1986 Sun Bowl when the Crimson Tide defeated the Huskies, 28-6, to cap off a 9-3 season.
The winner of the matchup between the Crimson Tide and the Huskies will meet the winner of the game matching the No. 2 Clemson and the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes, who will play in the other CFP Semifinal Game at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
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Kickoff for Crimson Tide-Huskies Peach Bowl is set for 3 p.m. ET, and will be televised on ESPN.
Alabama Crimson Tide
The 2017 CFP National Championship Game is scheduled for Monday, January 9, 2017, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Alabama, making its 65th appearance in a postseason game, has played in more bowl games and earned more postseason victories than any school in college football history. Alabama is making a postseason appearance for the 10th consecutive season under head coach Nick Saban and the 13th straight season overall for the school.
Saban is 7-3 in postseason games at Alabama, earning wins over Clemson (2016 CFP National Championship Game), Michigan State (2016 CFP Semifinal Game at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic), Notre Dame (2013 BCS National Championship Game at the Orange Bowl), LSU (2012 BCS National Championship Game at the Sugar Bowl), Michigan State (2011 Capital One Bowl), Texas (2010 BCS National Championship at the Rose Bowl) and Colorado (2007 Independence Bowl). The Tide’s losses have all come in the Sugar Bowl, losing to Utah in 2009, Oklahoma in 2014 and, most recently, Ohio State in 2015.
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Since its inception in 2014, Alabama football is the only team to appear in all three of the College Football Playoff final fours and has appeared in the top five of every poll put out by the selection committee over the past three seasons.