The junior QB, Tagovailoa left the second quarter of the Crimson Tide’s 38-7 win over Mississippi State. Before his injury, he seemed to request Alabama head coach Nick Saban to remain in the game for one last drive to close out the half. At the time of injury, the Tide was up 35-7.
Taovailoa is finished for the year, suffering a posterior wall fracture.
Saban said, “We can second-guess ourselves all we want. We were going to go two-minute before the half, and Tua wanted to go in the game. I don’t really make a lot of decisions about guys getting hurt.”
Before Tua’s injury, the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas had Alabama at 6/1 to win the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship. That was the fourth-shortest line, behind just LSU and Ohio State (2/1), and Clemson (7/2).
Now, Alabama is at 18/1 (implied odds of 5.26 percent). A $100 bet would return $1,800 if Saban and new QB Mac Jones can find a way to win the team’s sixth title since 2009. Jones was 7-11 for 94 yards Saturday.
FanDuel and Caesars have Alabama even longer at 30/1. Tua was a Heisman Trophy frontrunner too, his odds at 10/1 before his exit. His odds have been removed since.
PSU vs. Ohio State Faceoff
The College Football Playoff rankings won’t be revealed until Tuesday; however, next Saturday’s game of the week is indisputably Penn State (9-1) vs. Ohio State (10-0).
The Buckeyes are heavy favorites playing at home in Columbus. Ohio State is spotting Penn State 19 points, with the over/under at 59.5 points.
Kickoff is set for 12 noon ET. According to the ESPN Football Power Index computer simulator, the Buckeyes have an 84.3 percent chance of winning, while the Nittany Lions a 15.7 percent chance.
Title Picture
When they’re disclosed tomorrow night, the CFP rankings are expected to include LSU, OSU, Clemson, and Georgia.
As mentioned in the Casino.org website, LSU is expected to easily win over their last two regular season opponents – vs. Arkansas and vs. Texas A&M. Ohio State has two difficult contests remaining in Penn State, and then at No. 15 Michigan.
All year, Clemson’s schedule has been easy and won’t change with its last game at unranked South Carolina. Georgia should not worry about its two remaining games, vs. Texas A&M, and at Georgia Tech.
Clemson is tied for the shortest title odds at FanDuel with the easiest remaining regular season and conference title game. The Tigers are at 2/1, a line shared with Ohio State.
LSU is next (5/1), and Georgia fourth (9/1). The championship odds lengthen considerably from there, Alabama and Oregon fifth at 30/1. Utah is 40/1, and then it’s Baylor, Minnesota, and Penn State at 200/1.
