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Bowl betting: CFP semifinal line moves against Michigan

Prepare to be bowled over.

Sportsbooks posted lines on all 43 college football bowl games Monday, as well as all four possible national championship matchups.

In the College Football Playoff semifinals, Michigan opened as a 9½-point favorite over Texas Christian on Sunday at Caesars Sportsbook. But the Wolverines dipped to 7-point favorites over the Horned Frogs on Monday at Circa.

In the other CFP semifinal, Georgia is holding steady as a 6½-point favorite over Ohio State after the line opened at 7. Caesars took wagers of $110,000 and $55,000 on the Buckeyes +7 on Sunday before lowering the line to 6½, when the book took a $55,000 bet on the Bulldogs.

“I don’t see too much movement on that line,” Caesars lead college football trader Joey Feazel said. “I see Georgia sticking around that 7.”

Caesars has posted lines on all four possible CFP title games. Ohio State was whipped 45-23 at home by Michigan on Nov. 26. But the Buckeyes are 2½-point favorites over the Wolverines in the potential Jan. 9 rematch. Ohio State is favored by 10½ over TCU.

Georgia is an 8-point favorite over Michigan and -17½ over TCU in the largest bowl spread on the board.

Las Vegas Bowl

Oregon State opened as 9-point favorite over Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 17 at Allegiant Stadium. But the Beavers quickly climbed to -10 over the Gators. The total is 52½.

Bowl season kicks off Dec. 16 and concludes with the Jan. 9 national championship.

The lowest total is 31½ for the Kentucky-Iowa matchup in the Music City Bowl. There are two totals in the 70s, with Brigham Young-Southern Methodist at 71 in the New Mexico Bowl and Oregon-North Carolina at 74 in the Holiday Bowl.

Huge handle

The Utah-Southern California matchup in Friday’s Pac-12 title game at Allegiant Stadium produced the biggest betting handle of the college football season at Caesars. It was the second-largest handle for a football game, college or NFL.

“The only one that beat it was the opening night game between the Bills and Rams,” Caesars vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said.

Caesars took a $901,350.65 bet on the Trojans on the money line. USC led 17-3 in the first half. But the Utes dominated the rest of the way en route to a 47-24 rout.

“It wasn’t looking good at 17-3,” Mucklow said. “I was at Wolfgang Puck when I saw the score and it ruined my dinner.”

Army-Navy under

The annual Army-Navy game has gone under the total in 16 straight years. The consensus total for Saturday’s game is 33, with Boyd Gaming still at 33½.

Navy beat Army 17-13 in last year’s game, which went under the total of 35½. Since 2005, the under is 41-9 (82 percent) in games between Navy, Army and Air Force.

Circa Survivor

Seventy entrants remain alive in the quest for the $6.1 million prize in the $1,000-entry Circa Survivor contest. Only one entry was eliminated in NFL Week 13 on the Jaguars, 40-14 losers to the Lions. But 26 entries who had the Seahawks barely survived as Seattle scored the game-winning touchdown on Geno Smith’s 8-yard pass to D.K. Metcalf with 36 seconds left in a 27-23 victory over the Rams.

All but 123 entrants from the starting field of 6,133 were eliminated in the season’s first eight weeks. But only 53 have been eliminated in the last five weeks.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.

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