Behind Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, LSU has gone 14-0, relying on a high-octane offense that has torched opponents throughout the season.
The Tigers ranked first in total offense and scoring offense during the regular season and shredded Oklahoma 63-28 in the CFP semifinal last month.
Clemson, meanwhile, is one win away from defending the title it won 12 months against Alabama and from completing a 15-0 season for the second consecutive year.
The defending national champions rank third and fourth in the nation in total offense and scoring offense respectively and should provide LSU with its hardest test yet.
Here’s a look at the main betting trends ahead of the biggest game of college football season.
Moneyline
According to Oddschecker, LSU is a 21/50 favorite, while Clemson is a 7/4 underdog.
Both teams are unbeaten this season and Clemson hasn’t tasted defeat in 29 games, dating all the way back to the defeat against Alabama in the CFP semifinal in January 2018.
LSU is 8-3 straight up in games played in neutral venues since 2014, while Clemson is 12-2 in the same scenario.
Spread
LSU is a 5.5-point favorite and is 23/25 to cover the spread.
LSU is 9-5 against the spread this year and has covered by an average of 7.7-points per game. Significantly, the Tigers have covered in each of the games they were single-digit favorites—against Texas, Alabama and Georgia when they were favorites by 6.5, five and seven points respectively.
Clemson, meanwhile, enters a game as the underdog for only the second time in two years. The last time the Tigers were underdog, they thrashed Alabama 44-16 in the title game a year ago.
The defending champions are 11-3 against the spread this season, covering in nation-best 78.6 percent of games, and are 8-2 against the spread as underdog in the CFP since 2014.
Clemson is 12-2 against the spread in games played in neutral venues since 2014, while LSU is 8-3 in the same scenario.
Total points
The over/under line in terms of total points scored is set at 69.5, which seems hardly a vertiginously high figure given LSU and Clemson rank first and fourth in scoring offense during the regular season at an average of 48.9 and 45.3 points per game.
The previous three meetings between LSU and Clemson have produced a combined 73 points but Monday’s encounter should be a far higher scoring affair.
Since the CFP inception in 2014, the national title game has produced an average of 64.4 points per game.
