(3) OHIO STATE BUCKEYES at (1) ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

SPREAD: Alabama -8

TOTAL: 75.5

Championship week has finally arrived in this bizarre NCAA season and on Monday night we will see two traditional powerhouses in Alabama and Ohio State meet on college football’s biggest stage (8 pm ET, 5 pm PT on TSN1, 2, 4).

NO. 3 Ohio State pulled off the 49-28 upset last week, playing pretty much a perfect game in their one-sided beat down of No. 2 Clemson.

It will be interesting to see if they can replicate that high-level performance.

Top-ranked Alabama, on the other hand, continued their dominant season and the 31-14 final score makes last Friday’s semifinal game against No. 4 Notre Dame appear closer than it really was.

Moreover, DeVonta Smith became the first wide receiver since Desmond Howard to win the Heisman Trophy on Tuesday.

The rich might get richer as speedster Jaylen Waddle is back practising and will be a game-time decision for the Crimson Tide, giving star quarterback Mac Jones yet another weapon.

Buckeyes QB Justin Fields put on a show against Clemson, but there is a question as to whether he will be at 100 per cent after taking a big shot to the ribs from Tigers linebacker James Skalski in the controversial targeting call in their semifinal.

An interesting matchup for Fields and his wide receivers in the championship will be the Alabama secondary.

While they do have some holes, Tide cornerback Patrick Surtain II might be the best shutdown corner in the NCAA.

A lot of teams have avoided throwing at Surtain, but Ohio State will need big plays from wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson so we will see how Fields and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day choose to attack that matchup.

Day had a masterful game plan last week and this game will be a chess match between him and Alabama’s Nick Saban. Hopefully, for Day’s sake, the emergence of running back Trey Sermon continues.

Overall, this game is an interesting styles match and Ohio State showed they can compete at a championship level, but I have problems picking against this Alabama team.

They are 8-3 ATS this year and that includes a few backdoor covers late (most recently Notre Dame).

Their only single digit win was over Florida and the rest of their games frankly haven’t been close.

Whether Waddle plays or not, this Alabama offence cannot be stopped and it does not help that Ohio State apparently has some COVID-19 issues on the D-Line and I haven’t even mentioned the name Najee Harris yet.

The Pick: Alabama -8

Prop Watch

Longest Touchdown: Under 67.5 Yards

I know these are two big-play offences, but this number is absurdly high. To put it in perspective, the amazing hurdle and run Najee Harris had last week was for 53 yards so it still would be under the number. This might not be the most fun bet in the world, but at -120 it is a pretty good value play a 68+ yard touchdown does not happen.

Anytime TD scorer: Jahleel Billingsley, Alabama

On paper, Billingsley’s numbers for the year look modest. However, if you look at his game log, the majority of them came on Nov. 21 and beyond. Steve Sarkisian waited until late in the season to implement Billingsley in the offence and he has scored three touchdowns since then. He is an absolute freak athlete when you see that he’s a 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end who also returns kickoffs. While I have not seen odds released on this yet, it will likely be around 4-1 on game day and is a good value play to score in this game.