Capital One Orange Bowl: Michigan vs. Georgia point spread, start time and prediction

The No. 2 Michigan Wolverines (12-1) will square off with the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (12-1) in the Capital One Orange Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff.

After winning the Big Ten over the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Michigan Wolverines will face the Georgia Bulldogs in the Capital One Orange Bowl with a national championship game appearance on the line.

Michigan has made the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. Georgia may have lost the SEC Championship to Alabama, but the Dawgs get in for the second time ever, doing so as a one-loss, at-large team. The winner of this national semifinal down in South Florida will face the winner of No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Cincinnati for a national title over in Indianapolis.

Here is the opening College Football Playoff point spreads for the Orange Bowl, the game’s start time and an early prediction for what could happen down in Miami Gardens on New Year’s Eve.

College Football Playoff point spreads for Capital One Orange Bowl between Michigan and Georgia

According to WynnBET, the Dawgs will be laying 7.5 points on a neutral site vs. the Wolverines. The associated moneylines for this game are Georgia -330 and Michigan +7.5. This game’s over/under comes in at a combined 43 points.

The oddsmakers are expecting a relatively low-scoring national semifinal between these two traditional powers with the Dawgs winning it.

The cool part with this game is both schools can enter it with big chips on their shoulders. Michigan had a shot at being the No. 1 team in the final rankings. The Wolverines clobbered Iowa and their reward in the playoff is Georgia. They are also a massive underdog to the Dawgs. As for Georgia, this was the best team in the country until Saturday night. They have a lot of motivation.

The Capital One Orange Bowl will kick off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 31. ESPN will have the national telecast of this College Football Playoff game.

Early prediction: Georgia 27, Michigan 17.

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