First impressions of Conference Title Games
We still have some playoff football left.
Zach Cohen and Adam Burke kick off our coverage of Sunday’s conference championships.
Zach on Commanders at Eagles, 3 p.m. ET (Fox):
This might be a “sucker” way of thinking, but how can you not like Jayden Daniels to keep this thing close — and potentially even steal it late? There’s no denying that the difference in numbers defensively is scary here. The Eagles are third in the NFL in EPA per play allowed (-0.087) this season, and the Commanders are just 22nd (0.049). And realistically, with Daniels at quarterback, the Commanders can win as long as they’re flirting with average on defense.
Adam on Bills (+1.5) at Chiefs, 6:30 p.m. ET (CBS):
We go into the AFC Title Game with questions on both sides. The Chiefs secured the No. 1 seed by going 15-2, but one of their losses was to the Bills. Kansas City’s unimpressive margin of victory in most weeks also left a lot of people wondering just how good they actually were. Meanwhile, the Bills just beat the Ravens, but it was hardly pretty.
Everything we post on the conference title games will be here.
Buckeyes get the CFP title — and the cover
Ohio State defeated Notre Dame 34-23 to win the CFP Championship, but the ATS result (with spreads from Buckeyes -8 to -9.5 on Monday) was in doubt to the end.
Trailing by 24 midway through the third quarter, the Irish rallied to cut the deficit to 8 with four minutes remaining. But Ohio State shut the back door with a field goal with 26 seconds left. The Total went Over 45.5 or 46.
And so ends the first 12-team playoff. But college football will be back before you know it. Ohio State will begin defense of its title on Aug. 30 as a 3-point home favorite against Texas. DraftKings has Notre Dame as a 1.5-point favorite vs. University of Miami that same day.
Road to Jansanity: Congrats to Chet Gartner, Russ Ullinger, Josh Barker, Diana Fukakusa and Ed Ibarra for going 11-0 and finishing in a five-way tie for first in VSiN’s CFP pick’em contest. >>Standings. We’ll have a drawing on Follow The Money on Wednesday to award the first prize of $5,000.
Today in College Hoops
Steve Makinen offers his top head-to-head trends.
Greg Peterson has posted his Best Bets for today’s menu.
Adam Burkewill have his top plays later this morning.
Listen now: Greg’s daily podcast handicapping every game on the menu every day.
Quick Hits
NHL: Look for Jonathan Davis‘ picks later today.
NBA: Zach Cohen will post his Best Bets by mid-morning.
Australian Open: Zach Cohen is posting his Australian Open Best Bets daily on our tennis page. Both Zach and Gill Alexander are posting their plays on the VSiN Pro picks page.
This is The VSiN Daily newsletter for Tuesday, January 21. Sign up for this free email and get picks and insights delivered to your in-box every morning.
