Ole Miss vs. Georgia, NBA, NHL best bets for Thursday, Jan. 1

A new college football national champion will be crowned as defending titleholder Ohio State was upset by Miami in the quarterfinals of the 2025 College Football Playoff on Wednesday. That leaves the door open for the Georgia Bulldogs to return to their familiar spot atop the nation as they won back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022.

Georgia (12-1), which received a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed in the tournament, takes the first step toward another title in the Sugar Bowl as it faces the sixth-seeded Ole Miss Rebels (12-1) at 8 p.m. ET in a 2025 College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. 

The Bulldogs have had plenty of time to prepare for a run to the title as they’ve been idle since defeating Alabama 28-7 on Dec. 6 in the SEC Championship. The victory was the ninth in a row for Georgia, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter on Oct. 18 to get past Ole Miss 43-35.

That setback was the only one of the season for the Rebels, who cruised to a 41-10 victory against 11th-seeded Tulane on Dec. 20 in the first round of the CFP tournament. Trinidad Chambliss threw one touchdown pass and ran for a pair of scores as Ole Miss extended its winning streak to six games.

There are five games on Thursday’s NBA schedule, including a clash between the Boston Celtics (20-12) and Sacramento Kings (8-25) at 10 p.m. ET at the Golden 1 Center. The Celtics improved to 2-1 on their five-game road trip with Tuesday’s 129-119 triumph over the Utah Jazz while the Kings came up empty in their trek to Los Angeles, losing 125-101 to the Lakers on Sunday and 131-90 to the Clippers two nights later.

Six games are on the NHL’s evening slate, one of which has the Tampa Bay Lightning (23-13-3) visiting Crypto.com Arena to take on the Los Angeles Kings (16-13-9) at 7 p.m. ET. The Lightning are looking to extend their winning streak to six games and exact revenge for a 2-1 home loss on Dec. 18 to the Kings, who are just 5-8-4 at home this season.

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen college basketball games take place on Thursday evening, with one being a Missouri Valley Conference showdown between Bradley (10-4, 3-0) and Belmont (12-2, 2-1) at 7 p.m. ET at the Curb Event Center Arena in Nashville. The Braves defeated Evansville 76-68 on Monday to extend their winning streak to seven games, while the Bruins had their four-game run halted the same day with an 81-80 overtime loss to Indiana State.

Georgia is a 6.5-point favorite against Ole Miss in the latest consensus college football odds. The Celtics are 9.5-favorites versus Sacramento, Los Angeles is -122 on the money line against the Lightning and Belmont is a 4.5-point favorite versus Bradley.

Below is a snapshot of what to watch and bet for Thursday, Jan. 1. All times Eastern

CFB best bets, where to watch

Ole Miss vs. Georgia

Time: 8 p.m. | Location: New Orleans | TV: ESPN | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)

SportsLine picks — Model: Over 55.5 (-113) | Expert: Under 56.5 (Eric Cohen)

These SEC rivals obliterated the projected total for the Sugar Bowl when they met during the regular season, combining for 78 points. Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton threw four touchdown passes — three to tight end Lawson Luckie — while Ole Miss counterpart Trinidad Chambliss accounted for three scores, including two on the ground. The Rebels are 10th in the nation in scoring with an average of 37.5 points and have produced at least 30 in each of their last seven games. The Bulldogs put up 31.9 points per contest and have scored 35 or more on seven occasions this season. Even though Georgia is eighth in the country in points allowed (15.9), the SportsLine Projection Model expects another high-scoring affair between these teams as the Over hits in 51% of its simulations. Eric Cohen, however, likes the Under, in large part because of the run Georgia’s defense has been on of late. 

NBA best bets, where to watch

Celtics at Kings

Time: 10 p.m. | Location: Sacramento | TV: NBA League Pass | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)

SportsLine picks — Model: Celtics -9.5 (-112) | Expert: Maxime Raynaud Over 21.5 points + rebounds (-118, PropBetGuy)

The Celtics have won 10 of their last 13 games and five of six since suffering back-to-back losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons in mid-December. Four of those five victories were by double digits, including Tuesday’s 10-point triumph at Utah. The Kings are coming off consecutive blowout defeats as they lost to the Lakers by 24 points and the Clippers by a whopping 41. The SportsLine Projection Model doesn’t see Sacramento getting demolished that badly on Wednesday, but its simulations have Boston covering the spread 70% of the time. Kings rookie center Maxime Raynaud has registered more than 21 combined points and rebounds in seven of his eight games as a starter, and SportsLine props expert PropBetGuy (26-9, +1536 on his last 35 NBA player prop picks) feels he’ll do so again against the Celtics.

NHL best bets, where to watch

Lightning at Kings

Time: 7 p.m. | Location: Los Angeles | TV: ESPN+ | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)

SportsLine picks — Model: Lightning +1.5 (-242) | Expert: Kings -130 (Matt Severance)

The Lightning are in the midst of a five-game winning streak that has followed a three-game slide, with two of those setbacks being decided by one goal. Los Angeles has lost seven of its last nine contests (2-5-2), and one of its victories in that span was by a single tally. Therefore, the SportsLine Projection Model was surprised by the spread for this matchup, and its simulations say Tampa Bay covers 80% of the time. SportsLine expert Matt Severance (10-3, +660.5 on his last 13 NHL money line picks) disagrees, however, as he thinks Tampa Bay playing for the second straight night and Los Angeles’ Darcy Kuemper (upper body) returning to the crease after a 2.5-week absence spells victory for the Kings.

CBB best bets, where to watch

Bradley at Belmont

Time: 7 p.m. | Location: Nashville, Tenn. | TV: ESPN+ | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)

SportsLine picks — Model: Over 153.5 (-107) | Expert: Bradley +5.5 (-110, Larry Hartstein)

The Braves have combined with their opponents to eclipse the projected total for this matchup just once in their last seven games, and they needed three overtimes in that one to accomplish the feat. But six of the Bruins’ last eight contests have seen the teams produce at least 159 combined points. The SportsLine Projection Model is calling for a high-scoring affair as the Over hits in more than 62% of its simulations. SportsLine expert Larry Hartstein (7-2-1, +480 on his last 10 against-the-spread picks involving Belmont) likes the Braves to cover the spread as the Bruins are 0-5 ATS as home favorites this season and have yet to defeat Bradley by more than three points in the all-time series.