Mike Kern picks the National Championship, LSU vs Clemson, and he's liking the Tigers

Finally, we’ve come to the final game of the college football season. Hope it’s been a good one for you, and you’re mostly playing with house money at this point. If not, well, I guess this is always a chance to at least make some of it back. But remember it’s usually never a good idea to get too carried away with any one game just because of the situation unless you really feel that strongly about it. Sort of like "Monday Night Football."

LSU is a 5.5 point favorite over defending national champion Clemson, which has won two of the last three titles (both by beating Alabama) and is playing in the last game for the fourth time in five years. And the line has gone up about two points since it opened. LSU of course will be playing about 90 minutes away from campus in New Orleans, where it also played for the title in 2003, 2007 and 2011. It won the first two, over Oklahoma and Ohio State, before getting shut out by Bama in the third, which was a rematch situation.

Clemson has sort of flown under the radar most of the season, and for good reason. The schedule wasn’t much, and that early close call against North Carolina just made the Tigers look like they might not be all that. Still, they haven’t lost in two years. And they beat a really good Ohio State team in the semifinals, whatever you might have thought about the officiating. The other Tigers, meanwhile, were beating the snot out of Oklahoma, which admittedly doesn’t play much defense.

The public is obviously backing LSU in a big way. That being said, I’m going with Clemson and the points. Nothing too big. I’m not necessarily in love with it. And maybe it’s a sucker bet. But I’ll take a shot that while Clemson won’t have a home field advantage, it does still have a chip on its shoulder. And it’s been here. Maybe that’s enough to at least get a cover, in what could be a game that goes down to the end. Just saying. I’m willing to take that chance. But again, just for enough to keep you interested.

The over-under is 68.5. I would also lean toward the over. It’s a lot of points, but both teams can score.

Along those lines, the over-under for touchdown passes by Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is 2.5. I think that’s worth taking a shot on.

And there are other prop bets out there that you might want to consider. There usually are.

Hard to believe it’s going to be another 8 months (and two weeks) before we can take a stand on a college game once more. But I’m sure there will be other stuff to keep us occupied. Far as I can tell they play a golf tournament pretty much every week. And there’s still three more pro games to try and figure out, plus of course those ever-popular Super Bowl props. Can’t wait to see what the over-under is for the length of the national anthem. Better start doing the research on that one. It’s a tradition unlike many others. First, though, it would help if I knew who’s singing it. Details.