ACC Showdown – Maryland Terrapins vs. (13) Clemson Tigers
The Maryland Terrapins are having a down season while the Clemson Tigers are playing better than they have in about a decade. Clemson has been terrific this season building a straight-up record of 20 and 4. Against the spread they’ve been okay with a 9-9-1 record.
The Terps aren’t nearly as good as they used to be when Juan Dixon and Steve Blake roamed their backcourt. Maryland is having a terrible season by Gary Williams’ standards going 16 and 8 straight-up. Their ATS record overall is actually better than Clemson’s at 9-6-2. Their against the spread record on the road is a very good 4 and 1.
Here is the BetUS online sportsbook betting lines for this game.
Maryland Terrapins +10 ½ -110 O 144 -110
Clemson Tigers -10 ½ -110 U 144 -110
Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.
The Maryland Terrapins are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games on the road.
The Maryland Terrapins are 2-5-1 ATS in their last 8 games after an against the spread win.
The Clemson Tigers are 1-4-1 against the spread in their last 6 games as the favorite at home.
The Maryland Terrapins are 2 and 5 against the spread in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.
Maryland isn’t as horrible as their record would indicate. Only 8 games above .500 isn’t as bad as it looks in the powerful ACC Conference. Their loss to Duke a few weekends ago was alarming, though, because the Terps were just pummeled. But Maryland hasn’t been all bad this season. They’ve beaten both Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in their last two games and will be riding a two game winning streak going into their game against the Tigers.
Clemson has built its reputation on beating up weaker opponents and dominating the Dookies when they played the Blue Devils. Since the victory against Duke, the Tigers have dropped two out of their last four games to Florida State and Virginia.
Neither one of those teams should challenge a squad like Clemson. The key is determining whether or not the two losses is a sign that the tigers have finally fallen back to earth or whether two losses are an anomaly.
I don’t think Clemson is nearly as good as their record indicates. The game against Duke, where they held the Blue Devils to under 50 points, looks great but in reality it wasn’t as great as some gamblers might think. The Blue Devils have since lost to North Carolina and Boston College and needed overtime to beat Miami.
Clemson is a good team, but not a great team and giving up 10 ½ points is just asking too much.
Maryland vs. Clemson Prediction:
I’ll be making a bet on the Maryland Terrapins to beat the +10 ½ point spread in this game.
