{"id":83887,"date":"2025-12-18T13:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=83887"},"modified":"2025-12-18T00:09:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:09:53","slug":"cfb-playoff-first-round-sec-betting-lines-home-field-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/18\/cfb-playoff-first-round-sec-betting-lines-home-field-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"CFB Playoff First Round SEC Betting Lines: Home Field Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spot the damn ball. The SEC has four teams and three home games to show the rest of college football what It Just Means More is all about. It&#8217;s been two years since a team from the bottom right-hand corner of the country has played for, let alone won, a national championship. The SEC has the chance to put that to bed starting Friday night in Norman, Oklahoma.\u00a0 So, save your angst over Lane&#8217;s tweets or what quarterback is getting in the portal. It&#8217;s time for football. Let&#8217;s get you started with your first round of SEC betting lines and storylines.<\/p>\n<h2>CFB Playoff First Round SEC Betting Lines: Home Field Advantage<\/h2>\n<p>Rankings are based on the College Football Playoff Committee\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CFBPlayoff\/status\/1993487388589597104?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rankings<\/a>. Lines and game totals are courtesy of FanDuel. Game time is in Eastern Standard Time. Check the links for insights from your favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on College Football writers<\/a>. After the lines, we\u2019ll take a big picture look and predict who will win the game.<\/p>\n<h3>FanDuel CFB Playoff First Round SEC Betting Lines<\/h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" style=\"height: 202px;\" border=\"1\" width=\"827\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-baot=\"1\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"246\" \/>\n<col width=\"100\" \/>\n<col width=\"100\" \/>\n<col width=\"135\" \/>\n<col width=\"121\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Matchup<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Date<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Time<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Channel<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Line<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No. 9 Alabama @ No. 8 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/10\/the-cfp-is-coming-to-oklahoma\/\" target=\"_self\">Oklahoma<\/a><\/td>\n<td>12\/19<\/td>\n<td>8:00 PM<\/td>\n<td>ABC\/ESPN<\/td>\n<td>#RollTide -1.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No. 10 Miami (FL.) @ No. 7 Texas A&amp;M<\/td>\n<td>12\/\/20<\/td>\n<td>Noon<\/td>\n<td>ABC\/ESPN<\/td>\n<td>#Aggies -3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No. 11 Tulane @ No. 6 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/12\/who-is-new-ole-miss-offensive-coordinator-john-david-baker\/\" target=\"_self\">Ole Miss<\/a><\/td>\n<td>12\/20<\/td>\n<td>3:30 PM<\/td>\n<td>TNT\/TruTV\/HBO Max<\/td>\n<td>#TheSip -17.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No. 12 James Madison @ No. 5 Oregon<\/td>\n<td>12\/20<\/td>\n<td>7:30 PM<\/td>\n<td>TNT\/TruTV\/HBO Max<\/td>\n<td>#Ducks -21.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/02\/sec-championship-betting-lines-yes-it-still-matters\/\" target=\"_self\">SEC Championship<\/a> Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dawgs on top. We often say that about Kirby Smart&#8217;s Bulldogs, but not when they play Alabama. The Dawgs put an old-fashioned BTA on the Tide two weeks ago in Atlanta. It gave Geogia a bye in the first round and sent the Tide packing to Norman. The repeat should be sweet&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SEC Championship Predictions: 1-0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>YTD: 43-25<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>No. 9 Alabama @ No. 8 Oklahoma<\/h3>\n<p>Will the real Alabama please stand up? The Crimson Tide were one of the hottest teams in the country in the middle of the season. Ty Simpson could seemingly do no wrong and didn&#8217;t need a running game to allow Alabama to knock off Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee in three straight weeks. Since that time, the offense has been out of sorts. Alabama dropped a home game to Oklahoma, where turnovers did them in, and was outclassed by Georgia in the SEC Championship game. It&#8217;s time for Kalen DeBoer to put the Michigan rumors to rest and put the hammer down on the road against Oklahoma. Play the nobody believes in us card. You are Alabama, maybe play like it.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, OU is 2-0 against the Tide in the last two years. Last year, a hapless Sooners group crushed Alabama&#8217;s hopes at night in a 24-3 win. As bad as Alabama&#8217;s offense looked in the previous few weeks, Oklahoma looked worse. They are struggling to score points and amass any yards. Brent Venables&#8217; defense is good, but the Sooners need more out of John Mateer. He has been a nice player, but has been a shell of who we thought he was before a broken hand seemed to stifle the Sooners. The run defense is good for Oklahoma, but an average secondary could be exposed if Simpson and the Tide get hot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pick: Roll Damn Tide\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>No. 10 Miami (FL.) @ No. 7 Texas A&amp;M<\/h3>\n<p>Grab your Yell Leader, Texas A&amp;M has a playoff game at Kyle Field. Before we go too far down that road, let&#8217;s give hats off to Mike Elko for not totally Texas A&amp;Ming their season and missing the playoff. Sure, they had to erase a 28-point halftime deficit to South Carolina and then follow it up with a loss to Texas in Austin, but at least they made it. The Aggie had a soft SEC schedule and faced but one team with a winning record in conference play. But you can only play who you schedule. They took care of business.<\/p>\n<p>The Aggies play host to Miami, which was given a last-minute reprieve. We&#8217;re actually not sure why they are in, but the CFB Playoff committee thought enough of &#8220;The U&#8221; to put them in. Miami can be impressive. They have a rock-solid defense and an offense that can put up points in bunches. But what can they do against an SEC team? We&#8217;re not sure. We have also seen quarterback Carson Beck enough to know that he doesn&#8217;t exactly shine when the lights are the brightest. Head Coach Mario Cristobal can also make some late-game decisions (guesses) that can cost Miami.<\/p>\n<p>Somebody call the <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TAMUPolice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TAMUPolice<\/a>. This game should be wacky, weird, and a little drunk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pick: Gig Em<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>No. 11 Tulane @ No. 6 Ole Miss<\/h3>\n<div>A playoff game in Oxford. An 11-1 season. Ole Miss has got to be living on cloud nine. Who could ruin it for them? Oh yeah, Lane tried, but The Sip has shown resilience. With Lane off to Baton Rouge, Pete Goulding has stepped in and brought an edge to the Rebels. Pete is a no-nonsense kind of guy and seems to have found a chip. With most of the Ole Miss staff intact, this has an opportunity to be a historic and memorable day in The Grove and at the Vaught. The Rebels won an earlier matchup 45-10 against Tulane this season. It will probably not be as lopsided, but one could see Pete trying to make a statement: the Rebels aren&#8217;t going anywhere, and Georgia better be ready to buckle its chin strap in New Orleans on New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/div>\n<p><strong>Pick: The Sip\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>No. 12 James Madison @ No. 5 Oregon<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s not the SEC, but it&#8217;s still gonna be fun. Autzen will be loud and ready. Dan Lanning and the Ducks come in as underdogs to the 2025 CFB Playoffs. Their only loss is to Indiana, which is no longer an insult. Lanning has a keen sense to get the most out of his players. Oregon is the dark horse to make a deep run in the playoffs. James Madison is a cute story, but this should be Notre Dame in this matchup. Look for the Ducks to make a B1G statement Saturday night in Eugene.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pick: Ducks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spot the damn ball. The SEC has four teams and three home games to show the rest of college football what It Just Means More is all about. It&#8217;s been two years since a team from the bottom right-hand corner of the country has played for, let alone won, a national championship. The SEC has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":55529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35574,17,35581,35582,3,35575],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-alabama-crimson-tide","category-news","category-oklahoma-sooners","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-sec","category-texas-am-aggies"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83887"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83974,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83887\/revisions\/83974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}