Ohio State Heavy Favorite for CFP National Championship Following Rose Bowl Rout

Posted on: January 2, 2025, 08:54h. 

Last updated on: January 2, 2025, 08:54h.

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Can any remaining team in the College Football Playoff (CFP) beat Ohio State? If the Buckeyes play like they did last night in the Rose Bowl, it’s seemingly unlikely.

“The Granddaddy of Them All” had many grandfathers and fans asleep in their La-Z-Boys before the first half ended. OSU ran up the score on the top-ranked team in the playoff, the undefeated No. 1 Oregon Ducks, with the score 34-8 at the half. ESPN’s Win Probability Index gave the Buckeyes a 99.4% chance of winning when the score was 31-0 with more than four minutes still to play in the second quarter.

After an embarrassing loss to rival Michigan to end its regular season and miss out on the Big Ten Championship in what would have been a rematch with the Ducks — Oregon winning the first head-to-head at home in a 32-31 thriller in October — coach Ryan Day has certainly righted the ship.

Despite calls for his firing after losing to the Wolverines for a fourth consecutive time, Day’s Buckeyes fired on all cylinders in their 42-17 thrashing of Tennessee in the CFP first round. They looked even better in the quarterfinal winning 41-21 against the Ducks.

When you surround yourself with great people, with great character, you find yourself working through difficult times,” said Day. “At the end of the day, we wanted to win a national championship, and the way that we got here wasn’t what we expected. It wasn’t what we planned for. But, nonetheless, we had an opportunity to come back and play Oregon after we had already played them early in the season, and that’s the only thing that mattered.”

With the Rose Bowl win, Ohio State advances to the CFP semifinals where they’ll play SEC champion Texas.

Odds Shorten 

Before the Rose Bowl, Ohio State was at +340 to win the National Championship, which would be the Buckeyes’ first since 2014 when they won the title game 42-20 against Oregon. After the dominating performance on Wednesday night, oddsmakers slashed OSU’s line.

After Ohio State, it’s Texas (+320), Penn State (+500), and Georgia and Notre Dame (+700). Georgia or ND’s odds will shorten after this afternoon’s postponed Sugar Bowl. The winner will be favored against PSU and presumably have shorter odds than 5/1.

Texas First

Before Ohio State can punch a spot in the CFP National Championship, the Buckeyes will face Texas on Jan. 10 in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in AT&T Stadium. Ohio State is favored by six or more points at most sportsbooks.

Texas struggled against Arizona State. The Longhorns, favored by almost two touchdowns against the Big 12 champs, needed two overtimes and a controversial no-targeting call, to outlast the Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl.

The winner of the Sugar Bowl gets Penn State in the Jan. 9 Capital One Orange Bowl. DraftKings has the Nittany Lions a one-point dog to the Bulldogs or Fighting Irish.