Four teams enter Saturday with hopes of winning the College Football Playoff National Championship, but only two teams will carry those hopes forward after the Goodyear Cotton Bowl and the Capital One Orange Bowl. Clemson and Notre Dame go head to head in Arlington, Texas, while Alabama and Oklahoma take the field in Miami.
With these two games garnering tremendous amounts of attention, there will be a substantial amount of betting action going on Saturday. After guiding you through the entirety of bowl season, "Stanford" Steve Coughlin, Chris Fallica, Will Harris and Phil Steele are here to offer insights and picks for both College Football Playoff Semifinal games.
All game times listed are Eastern. Lines from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, as of Wednesday afternoon.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl
Clemson Tigers (-13) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Total: 55
Saturday, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
FPI line: Clemson -7.8
PickCenter consensus: 70 percent picking Notre Dame
Coughlin: All anyone wants to bring up when Notre Dame and the postseason get mentioned is how they got handled in the BCS title game in 2012 season against Alabama. What people fail to mention is how the Irish have played against good competition recently. They are obviously undefeated this year, and last year they beat LSU in their bowl game and lost a one-point game to eventual national runner-up Georgia.
Clemson returned a ton of talent on the defensive line this past season, and that group has not been shy about coming back for some unfinished business -- meaning a national title. What I find interesting about this matchup is the advantage I see the Notre Dame wide receivers