NCAAF Wagering – Clemson Tigers vs. Florida State Seminoles
ACC football betting will be on display Saturday afternoon, and sports betting aficionados will have another chance to wager on a fantastic showdown when the Clemson Tigers (4-4, 1-5 ATS) invade Doak Campbell Stadium to do battle with the Florida State Seminoles (6-2, 3-2-1 ATS).
Payback will inevitably be on the minds of HC Bobby Bowden and the Noles, who have dropped three straight games SU to Clemson in spite of the fact that they were favorites in all three. Last season, the Tigers bested FSU 24-18 as three-point home pups in their Labor Day showdown.
Two weeks ago, Clemson was shaken by the dismissal of HC Tommy Bowden. Before new HC Dabo Swinney led his troops out of the locker room against Georgia Tech, he fired them up with bulletin board material from the oddsmakers, saying that it was an insult that they were underdogs in Death Valley. The Tigers lost to Tech 21-17 that day, but rebounded last week in Chestnut Hill by beating BC 27-21.
They briefly coughed up a 17-0 halftime lead in the 4th quarter, but QB Cullen Harper’s lone touchdown pass of the game with 7:10 remaining was enough to assure that Tigers bettors would finally be able to cash a winning ticket. RBs James Davis and CJ Spiller were all over the field as usual for Clemson. The two combined for 294 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. The duo has owned Florida State the last two seasons, averaging 206 all-purpose yards per game against the traditionally stout Seminole defense.
That FSU defense still ranks in the Top-25 of every major defensive category in spite of the fact that Georgia Tech rolled up 288 rushing yards against them in their 31-28 loss at Bobby Dodd Stadium last weekend. The Noles led 10-3 at the end of the first quarter, but would never take the lead again.
They were just one yard from winning the game at the end though, but Marcus Sims fumbled just before reaching the end zone, preserving the victory for the home team Jackets. Still, Preston Parker’s 39-yard touchdown reception and a successful two-point conversion with 6:04 to go salvaged a push in the game for Florida State bettors.
With Michigan guaranteed to not reach a bowl game this year, the Seminoles can keep the longest streak of bowl appearances in the nation going with a win in one of their final four games of the season, but their eyes are clearly fixed on the ACC Atlantic crown, which is still there for the taking.
Offshore oddsmakers are counting on a level of revenge from the garnet and gold, as they installed the 22nd ranked team in the nation as 5.5-point favorites, with the ‘total’ coming in at 44. Clemson has been a dead nuts ‘under’ team of late in spite of last week’s game narrowly crossing the ‘total’; 8-1 towards the ‘under’ in its L/9 games. With FSU’s stout ‘D’ on the field, it may not be a bad idea to bank on that trend to continue.
