College football's bowl games are underway, and the biggest matchups will begin this week with the first round of the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame beat Indiana on Friday to advance to a matchup with Georgia, now three playoff games are on tap for Saturday -- No. 11 seed SMU at No. 6 Penn State, No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, and No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State (see college football odds here). 

The latest college football odds via SportsLine consensus list Penn State -8.5 vs. SMU (O/U 52.5), Texas -13.5 vs. Clemson (O/U 50.5), and Ohio State -7 vs. Tennessee (O/U 46.5). 

Before making any College Football Playoff picks, be sure to check out the college football predictions from our proven CFB expert Thomas Casale.

A frequent guest on national radio and TV shows to discuss college sports, Casale has been betting -- and winning -- for more than 30 years. 

Over the past two college football seasons, Casale is 122-92-5 (57%) overall and 26-8 (76.4%) in bowl games -- all publicly documented. He went 2-0 on his picks during Championship Week, backing the Under in Georgia-Texas and the Over in Clemson-SMU, and is now 7-1 in this column over the past three weeks!

Now, he's turned his attention to the first round of the College Football Playoff (see the latest college football lines for each game this week on our college football odds page) and is revealing his plays top-two plays, with a parlay returning nearly +300.

He's going Over (53) in SMU vs. Penn State, saying "If SMU scores between 17-20 points, we'll be in great shape."

He's locking in another STRONG play on a spread in one of the first-round CFP games, saying that line could be off by more than 10 points! You ABSOLUTELY need to see what he's playing before locking in any college football picks.

What are Casale's best bets for the first round of the College Football Playoff, and which lines should you jump on now? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Thomas Casale's best bets, all from one of the top college football handicappers in the nation who is on a 7-1 roll in his best bets column!