Notre Dame-Clemson Odds: Sharp Money Hits Cotton Bowl for First Time

Betting action for the 2018 Cotton Bowl remained eerily quiet after oddsmakers opened the game on Dec. 2.

In fact, over the course of 12 days, the Clemson-Notre Dame line never ventured more than one point off the opener of Tigers -11. But that all changed Friday morning when professional money came down on the Cotton Bowl for the first time.

Overall action is very balanced as of writing, with Notre Dame garnering 52% of actual money wagered on the spread (see live data here). With dollars basically split, we'd normally expect little line movement.

But according to our Sports Insights' Bet Signals — which track and report professional betting action in real-time — wiseguys steamed Clemson at -11.5, explaining why this line hit Tigers -13 for the first time since opening.

Steam refers to sudden, uniform line movement across the entire betting market that is usually the result of respected bettors getting down on the same side of one game at multiple sportsbooks, all at once.

The combination of line movement and the Bet Signal trigger suggests that sharp early action is responsible for driving this number from Clemson -11 to -13. But remember: There is still plenty of time for more money to come in on the Cotton Bowl over the next couple of weeks.

Be sure to download The Action Network's mobile app to track real-time odds and betting percentage updates for Clemson-Notre Dame, as well as the entire slate of college football bowl games.