History will be made on Monday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans when top-ranked LSU, in a de facto home game, faces No. 3 Clemson in the College Football Playoff national championship game. The CFP debuted in the 2014 season and neither a No. 1 nor No. 3 has ever won the title. LSU is a 6.5-point favorite. It is 5-1 ATS in its past six neutral-site games as a favorite.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
The top seed is 0-3 in the game, including No. 1 Alabama losing last year to No. 2 Clemson. The No. 3 has played in the title game once, with No. 3 Georgia losing in overtime to No. 4 Alabama following the 2017 season. In addition, no team has repeated in the CFP era as Clemson aims to do. It also won the title following the 2016 campaign. LSU aims for its first national title since the 2007 season, when it beat Ohio State also in New Orleans.
This is a matchup of Tigers who also nickname their home stadiums Death Valley: Clemson’s Memorial Stadium and LSU’s Tiger Stadium. The two teams got here in very different fashion.
LSU blew out No. 4 Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl semifinal. Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow was historically good in his team’s 15th straight victory, throwing for a CFP single-game record seven touchdown passes (all in the first half) along with 493 yards in a 63-28 victory. Justin Jefferson was on the receiving end for four of those TD passes, a bowl record. That game was over at intermission with LSU up 49-14. For good measure, Burrow rushed for a score in the second half. He’s having arguably the best season by any quarterback in FBS history and should be the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Clemson was pushed to the limit and then some in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal against No. 2 Ohio State, rallying from down 16-0 to win 29-23 on Trevor Lawrence’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Travis Etienne with 1:49 to go. The game was clinched on an interception of Justin Fields in the Clemson end zone with 37 seconds left. It was the Tigers’ 29th straight victory and only their second single-digit margin of victory this season. They are 10-1 ATS in their past 11 bowl games.
These schools last played in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2012, with Clemson winning 25-24 to essentially kick-start its current dynasty.
