The College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to 12 this season and now an exciting postseason will culminate with the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Ohio State cruised to victories of 14 points or more over Tennessee, Oregon and Texas to make the title game, while Notre Dame beat Indiana, Georgia and Penn State on its path. Now these college football powerhouses will go head-to-head with a chance at history on the line after playing each other in the regular season the last two years.
The latest CFP National Championship game odds via SportsLine consensus list Ohio State as an 8.5-point favorite against Notre Dame while the over/under is 46.5. Before locking in any College Football Playoff National Championship picks, be sure to see the top CFP title game 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. Dating back to Week 13 of the regular season, he's 14-7 in his best bets column, including a perfect 3-0 week late in the season that landed a +600 parlay. Anybody who has followed those picks could have seen huge returns.
Now, he has turned his attention to the CFP bracket and the third 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 under 46 points for the 2025 CFP national title game. These were the top two scoring defenses in the country this season, with Ohio State allowing 12.2 points per game and Notre Dame allowing 14.3 points per game. Even against elevated competition in the postseason, Notre Dame has only allowed 17 points per game while Ohio State has allowed 17.3 ppg.
Both teams limited opponents to under 300 yards per game as well and gave up less than 170 yards per game through the air this season. With almost two full weeks to prepare for each other, you can expect Marcus Freeman and Jim Knowles to have their defensive units well-prepared. Casale also expects a banged up Notre Dame offense to contribute to a low-scoring battle.
"The Irish lost two starters on the offensive line versus Penn State when left tackle Anthonie Knapp and right guard Rocco Spindler went down with injuries," Casale told SportsLine. "Credit to Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love for gutting it out in the semifinals but he clearly isn't 100% either. It's hard enough to run on an Ohio State defense that allows just 92.6 yards per game on the ground. It will be even tougher for Notre Dame with Love still nursing a knee injury he suffered against Indiana." See what other picks Casale likes at SportsLine.
How to make College Football Playoff picks
Casale also has a must-see spread pick for the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game where he likes one team to use a lower-scoring game to its advantage. You can only see his picks at SportsLine.
What are the best bets for the national championship 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 13-6 on best bets since Week 13, and find out.
