Wake up with VSiN Daily Morning Bets, a quick 15-minute podcast posted at 7 a.m. ET highlighting the top games and biggest line moves of the day. For a full breakdown of today's New Year's Day action be sure to catch the VSiN Market Insights Podcast at 3 p.m. ET.
You can always track the latest odds and betting percentages using our VSiN Betting Splits.
In the meantime, let's examine where smart money is leaning for today's College Football Playoff games.
5 p.m. ET: Alabama vs Michigan (-1.5, 45.5)
Alabama (12-1) is ranked 4th and just upset Georgia 27-24 in the SEC Championship game, winning outright as 5.5-point dogs. Meanwhile, Michigan (13-0) is ranked first and just shutout Iowa 26-0 in the Big Ten Championship, covering as 21.5-point favorites. This line opened with Michigan listed as a 1.5-point neutral site favorite. The public thinks the wrong team is favored and 65% of bets are taking the points with Alabama. However, despite this lopsided betting toward Alabama the line hasn't budged off Michigan -1.5. In fact, it has even risen to Michigan -2 at some shops. Normally, if a team is getting two-thirds of bets you would see this line inch down toward a pick'em or maybe even hop the fence to make Alabama a short favorite. However, we haven't seen that take place. The fact that the line hasn't moved despite heavy public betting on Alabama signals a sharp line freeze on Michigan, with pros reluctant to drop the number for fear of giving out a better price to contrarian Michigan backers. Reading between the lines, pros seem to fading the trendy dog Crimson Tide and instead backing the unpopular favorite Wolverines. Michigan is only receiving 35% of bets in one of the most heavily bet games of the year, giving the Wolverines elevated "bet against the public" value. Michigan is -125 on the moneyline.