The college football playoff semifinals kick off on Thursday when the No. 7 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-1) will take on the No. 6 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (13-2) in the Orange Bowl.
Notre Dame is riding a 12-game winning streak into the semifinal matchup, having dispatched No. 10 ranked Indiana 27-17 at home before finishing off the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl last week.
Penn State has won two straight since losing to the then-undefeated Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten Championship game. The Nittany Lions easily dispatched the No. 11 ranked SMU Mustangs 38-10 before holding off the No. 3 ranked Boise State Broncos 31-14 at the Fiesta Bowl.
With two of the biggest brands in college football squaring off, will the Nittany Lions or Fighting Irish emerge victorious on Thursday? We’ll cover that and our three favorite player prop bets below.
With the NFL regular season wrapping up, football talk is starting to turn to the draft. That’s where Drew Allar could rise from a potential first-round pick to a top five pick this year should he continue excelling on the football field.
The outside noise for the 6-foot-5 junior will be loud as he enters the game. After throwing for 3,192 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions this season, it’s well-merited.
Yet that doesn’t mean bettors should expect him to cover this player prop bet. Take the under as the Nittany Lions will look to establish the running game against Notre Dame early and often.
Notre Dame’s offense is powered by its strong running attack. The Fighting Irish have 3.045 rushing yards this season, more than the team’s combined 2,648 passing yards through 14 games.
Running back Jadarian Price may be the team’s third-leading rusher, but he’s handled the bulk of the carries for his school over the past four games. Since playing Army, Price has recorded 43 carries for 233 yards and three scores.
While Penn State has been strong against the run this season, expect Notre Dame to find ways to run the football. The running back should record at least double-figure carries, but reaching 50 yards would be a stretch. Take the under on this player prop bet.
Penn State finds a way to get talented tight end Tyler Warren the football. The 6-foot-6 senior has caught 98 passes for 1,158 yards and eight touchdowns this season while he’s also recorded 197 rushing yards on 24 carries, scoring four more times on the ground.
The Nittany Lions will continue finding ways to feed Warren the ball. Notre Dame hasn’t allowed tight ends to exceed 40 yards against them during the playoffs, but the Fighting Irish haven’t seen one as talented as Warren, either. Expect the senior to get over 64 receiving yards on Thursday night to cover this player prop bet.
The winner of this game will break the all-time series tie as both teams have won nine games against the other program. Penn State won the last meeting between these storied schools, earning a 31-10 victory over Notre Dame at the start of the 2007 season.
This game will be a defensive slugfest between two of the better units in college football. The best bet for this contest will be taking the under-45.5 total points bet. I would take the Fighting Irish in this game as well as Notre Dame should win this contest by at least a field goal on Thursday.