The 4th ranked Clemson Tigers look to get back in the NCAA Playoffs by beating the Virginia Tech Hokies in the ACC Title game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The Tigers are 11-1 and off a 56-7 win over South Carolina, while the 9-3 Hokies are off a 52-10 win over Virginia. This game has a start time of 8:00 pm EST.
Vegas odds have the Tigers listed as 10 point favorites, while the total has been set at 57.5. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm EST and will be televised on ABC.
Breaking Down The Clemson Tigers
The Clemson Tigers were in the NCAA Title game last year, but lost 45-40 to Alabama. Should they win this game they will have a shot taking the next step, which would be winning it all. The Tigers have gone 11-1 this year, with their lone loss being a shocking 43-42 defeat at home to Pittsburgh, in a game that they were 21 point favorites in. Had they won that game then they probably wouldn’t need to win this one to get in, but they do. Leading the Tigers this year has been Heisman candidate Deshaun Watson, who has thrown for 3620 yards with 34 TDs and 14 INTs. That may be a bit too many INTs and they did cost him in the loss to Pittsburgh as he threw three INTs in that game and also had three in the Louisville game, which they nearly lost. He needs to avoid those mistakes, even though Va Tech is not great at forcing turnovers. Watson leads an offense that comes in ranked 12th in the nation in total yards, 5th in passing 70th in rushing and 17th in scoring, putting up 40.0 ppg. When many think about Clemson they think about all the offense they have, but this team knows how to play defense as well and they will need to play some solid defense in this one vs a very underrated Va Tech offense. The Tigers come in ranked 8th in the nation in total yards allowed, 12th vs the pass, 25th vs the run and 9th in points allowed, giving up just 17 ppg.
Breaking Down The Virginia Tech Hokies
At the beginning of the year there were a few teams in the Coastal Division that could walk away with a berth in the ACC Title game and the Hokies were one of them. Well, here they are after posting an ACC record of 6-2, while going 9-3 overall. They have had a strong season and it really has been a quiet one for them, but now they have a chance to win the ACC Title and keep the Tigers from the NCAA Playoffs. The Hokies have been led by dual threat QB Jerod Evans, who has thrown for 3045 yards and 26 TDs, while also rushing for 713 yards and 8 TDs and he is just a freshman. He also has thrown just 5 INTs on the year and it could very well come down to the QB who makes the least mistakes. This is not a spectacular offense, but they are solid and come in ranked 38th in the nation in total offense 39th in passing, 50th in rushing and 35th in scoring, putting up 35.0 ppg. They will test a good Clemson defense. Speaking of defense, the Hokies have a very solid one as well, as they come in ranked 18th in total yards allowed, 17th vs the pass, 39th vs the run and 20th in points allowed, giving up just 21.1 ppg. That defense will clearly have to step up here vs the 2nd best offense in the ACC and if they can’t at least slow down the Clemson offense, then they could be in for a very long night.
Trends: Clemson has gone 7-0 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games following a straight up win, but just 1-4 ATS vs. a team with a winning record and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games on fieldturf. The Over is 5-1 in their last 6 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game, while the Under is 15-6 in their last 21 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game.
The Hokies have gone 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game and 4-11 ATS in their last 15 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points, but the dog is 4-1 ATS the last 5 games in this series. The Over is 6-2 in their last 8 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points, while the Under is 18-7 in their last 25 conference games.
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