Bowl Game Betting – (1) Alabama Faces Confident (4) Ohio State in Sugar Bowl

Sugar Bowl: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans (Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m.)

(1) Alabama Crimson Tide (-9, 58.5 o/u) vs. (4) Ohio State Buckeyes

For the better part of the last two decades, the Big Ten has struggled to earn the respect of the other Power Conferences. That all could change in this year’s Sugar Bowl, which features the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1) against the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1).

This College Football Playoff semifinal game finds the Buckeyes relying on third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, who led Ohio State to a 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.

“Cardale’s an interesting character,” Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s a guy that three years ago was not equipped to handle this kind of situation. A year ago he wasn’t equipped. I started to see a gradual change. [Offensive coordinator] Tom Herman has done an excellent job with him. Spring practice, one day we walked off the field, I was like, my God, he acts like a quarterback now, and he’s not acting like a child that’s never been in a big arena.

“That’s really a credit. We’ve all gone through it. Some go through it at age 55. Some go at it at age 15. And he’s really matured. He’s had an excellent week. When I say excellent, he had a beautiful day yesterday, throwing and catching and taking charge, and really proud of him.”

Despite Cardale’s success, make no mistake, the Crimson Tide will be keying on the young signal caller.

Alabama senior safety Landon Collins said, “When you mess with a quarterback that just got in the game and has to play a defense like ours, definitely it’s going to be a competition for him because they don’t know what we’re going to throw at them and what we’re coming with.”

Still, Jones will have plenty of weapons, including receivers Evan Spencer, Michael Thomas, Corey Smith, Jalin Marshall, and, of course, senior Devin Smith.

“They remind you of an SEC receiving corps when you look at them,” said Crimson Tide cornerback Cyrus Jones. “Their receivers are probably the best thing that stands out about their offense.”

The Alabama defense has been dominant most of the season, as usual. Unfortunately for the team, it is much better against the run than the pass (where they rank 57th in passing yards allowed). With all their weapons out wide, the Buckeyes should be able to move the ball. That’s why taking Ohio State and the points (+9) makes the most sense.

(Photo credit: Adam Glanzman (Flickr: asg.fbc.vsOSU.11.30.131225 copy) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)