2024-25 College Football Playoff odds, lines, picks, bets by Vegas expert: This CFB parlay returns nearly 3-1

Thomas Casale has reviewed the College Football Playoff bracket and locked in his best bets for the 2024 CFP quarterfinals

By CBS Sports Staff

Dec 30, 2024 at 6:58 am ET • 3 min read

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The 2024-25 College Football Playoff will continue this week with four quarterfinal matchups. The action begins on Friday when No. 3 seed Boise State takes on No. 6 seed Penn State at the Fiesta Bowl. Then there will be three College Football Playoff quarterfinals on Saturday beginning with No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas at the Peach Bowl. That will be followed by No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State at the Rose Bowl and then No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame at the Sugar Bowl.

The latest College Football Playoff odds list Penn State (-10.5, 53), Texas (-12.5, 51), Ohio State (-2.5, 55.5) and Georgia (-1.5, 45) as the favorites. Before locking in any College Football Playoff picks, be sure to see the top College Football Playoff expert picks, predictions and best bets from Thomas Casale.

A frequent guest on national radio and TV shows to discuss college sports, Casale has been sports betting -- and winning -- for more than 30 years. Over the past two college football seasons, Casale is 122-92-5 (57%) overall on his college football picks and 26-8 (76.4%) in bowl games -- all publicly documented. Dating back to Week 13 of the regular season, he's 10-3 in his best bets column, including a perfect 3-0 week late in the season that landed a 6-1 parlay. Anybody who has followed him is way up.

Now, he has turned his attention to the CFP bracket and the first round college football odds and is sharing his top two betting picks. If you parlay these college football betting picks, you could be looking at a return of nearly +300. Get his top college football picks at SportsLine.

Top College Football Playoff expert predictions

One of Casale's top College Football Playoff picks: He is playing the over (55.5) in a quarterfinal CFP matchup between No. 1 Oregon and No. 8 Ohio State at the Rose Bowl. This is a rematch of an incredible regular-season matchup in Eugene on Oct. 12 that the Ducks won 32-31. That game came down to the final play and both offenses had a lot of success throughout the game.

Will Howard threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while Dillon Gabriel also threw for 341 yards and two scores without a pick. Meanwhile, two receivers on each team had at least seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith combined for 19 catches and 193 yards for Ohio State while Evan Stewart and Tez Johnson combined for 14 catches and 224 yards for Oregon.

"One thing I liked about Ohio State's win over Tennessee is how aggressive the Buckeyes were on offense. Ryan Day coached scared versus Michigan but attacked Tennessee's defense vertically with his playmakers," Casale told SportsLine. "Dillon Gabriel had a lot of success targeting the Ohio State corners in the first matchup and I don't see that changing this time around." See what other picks Casale likes at SportsLine.

How to make College Football Playoff picks

Casale also has a must-see spread pick in a game where he says the line is "an overreaction" from oddsmakers. You can only see his picks at SportsLine.

What are the best bets for the quarterfinals of the 2024-25 College Football Playoff? Visit SportsLine now to see Thomas Casale's college football best bets, all from a proven college football handicapper who has gone 26-8 on bowl games the past two seasons and has gone 9-2 on best bets the last four weeks, and find out.