ACC Week 2

[jimmyshivers]

YTD: 3-4 -6.00 units

Started 0-4 last weekend and looked to be in trouble before hitting my last 3 and somewhat salvaging a poor start. Hoping to continue building momentum and find some winners here in week 2. I feel I do better after seeing the teams play a bit so hopefully this week will go a little better.

***** North Carolina Tar Heels -4

(posted this pick in my week 1 thread on Monday)

I’ve never been a big fan of laying points on the road, but I think we get a great situation here with the Tar Heels traveling up to UConn. Both teams are coming off of wins and I see us getting some line value here as UConn was able to travel to MAC contender Ohio and come away with a win SU and ATS. The poor showing by the conference at large this past weekend also potentially creates some value on the board as bettors may blanket the entire conference as being down and fade them across the board.

This is the type of game where there is a large talent discrepancy between the two sides. UNC is a fairly young team but they have a lot of defensive experience with 9 returning starters on Defense. They are particularly strong up the middle, with all conference players in DT Austin and Sturdivant. IMO this bodes poorly for the UConn offense, who are inexperienced at QB and in their first game relied heavily on a ground game against an out-sized front 7 in Ohio. Carolina has a ton of defensive speed and a higher class of athlete all over the field. I look for UConn to have a tremendous difficulty in establishing any kind of offensive consistency and though I’m not sold on the UNC offense by any stretch of the imagination I expect them to be ahead in the field position battle all day and put up enough points for a comfortable DD victory.

Will also look at the under for this game when it comes out. BOL to everyone this week.

 

[AlwaysKeen]

dang, we are rarely against eachother in a play but this will be one of those circumstances...

 

[jimmyshivers]

dang, we are rarely against eachother in a play but this will be one of those circumstances...

Damnit yeah buddy when I saw that I was a little disapointed. FWIW I will be playing ECU along with you. GL to us on that one :toast: and I hope you have a nice second week in every game except one

 

[AlwaysKeen]

good to hear about you being on ECU as well...:toast:...GL to you as well bud...

 

[jimmyshivers]

*** Clemson / Georgia Tech Under 43

Think this should be a very tight game that will be strength on strength. Clemson brings a lot back on defense this season and they got off to a good start, absolutely manhandling the MTS offense this past saturday (92 rushing yards on 37 attempts).

What I keyed on from the opening week was the relative rust of both offenses. GT fumbled 5 times versus a I-AA opponent, so there is still a bit of rust involved for the Tech offense. They are a run-first and run-second team, and I see them having some troubles moving the ball against a very athletic Clemson front.

Offensively Clemson has a QB making his first road start for an offense that struggled moving the ball against MTS (9/20 through the air with several dropped passes). They have a strong O-line with a great back in Spiller and I expect this team to focus primarly on the ground game as this is where there advantage is. GT has an experienced secondary led by DB Burnett and would love to see Clemson try to throw the ball around.

I don't see either team leading an especially prolific attack in this one and GT will do their best to keep the clock moving. I think the Clemson O is going to attack on the ground and go after the young (and small) GT D-Line. This should lead to lots of clock movement and a final score that stays under the number.

 

[GoSooners]

Jimmy...I like the Clemson/GT under. I remember the game well from last season. I think it was Swinney's first game taking over as coach. Clemson had GT's offense bottled up all day. And they were lucky to come out of there with a win. 10 of the last 13 games in this series has been won by 5 points or less. And when I think of tight games in the ACC I think unders. That is except for that Miami/FSU game the other night. These two teams are much different though. GL

 

[jimmyshivers]

Jimmy...I like the Clemson/GT under. I remember the game well from last season. I think it was Swinney's first game taking over as coach. Clemson had GT's offense bottled up all day. And they were lucky to come out of there with a win. 10 of the last 13 games in this series has been won by 5 points or less. And when I think of tight games in the ACC I think unders. That is except for that Miami/FSU game the other night. These two teams are much different though. GL

One thing to be concerned about is that Clemson has only 5 days in between games. Last year they had 9 days to get ready for this offense, but that was just after a coaching change so to me they had a lot less time than that suggests. I think Clemson has the defensive firepower to limit GT (we know GT can struggle on Offense in certain spots) and Clemson was very unimpressive in the opening game on offense. This game reeks of a field position battle and should be a tightly contested affair. First team to 20 wins!

 

[What'sthegoodword]

*** Clemson / Georgia Tech Under 43

Think this should be a very tight game that will be strength on strength. Clemson brings a lot back on defense this season and they got off to a good start, absolutely manhandling the MTS offense this past saturday (92 rushing yards on 37 attempts).

What I keyed on from the opening week was the relative rust of both offenses. GT fumbled 5 times versus a I-AA opponent, so there is still a bit of rust involved for the Tech offense. They are a run-first and run-second team, and I see them having some troubles moving the ball against a very athletic Clemson front.

Offensively Clemson has a QB making his first road start for an offense that struggled moving the ball against MTS (9/20 through the air with several dropped passes). They have a strong O-line with a great back in Spiller and I expect this team to focus primarly on the ground game as this is where there advantage is. GT has an experienced secondary led by DB Burnett and would love to see Clemson try to throw the ball around.

I don't see either team leading an especially prolific attack in this one and GT will do their best to keep the clock moving. I think the Clemson O is going to attack on the ground and go after the young (and small) GT D-Line. This should lead to lots of clock movement and a final score that stays under the number.

I am a huge Clemson fan, and have to disagree with one of your statements..."they have a strong O-line". The O-line is really our biggest weakness. Last year it was horrendous, and they are much improved this year. But, I don't think any Clemson fan would even call it a Strong O-line. Thomas Austin is as solid as they come, but besides that, there is a dropoff...huge upside for the future as the line is young though.

At any rate, I don't disagree with this play. But, I do see Clemson winning this game. Talent vs Talent...we have them beat. As far as the offense last week, we had an extremely Vanilla offense, because we could, and wanted it that way going into GT, where it will open up much more. However, you take away those 4 drops, and the offense looked okay... one should have been a TD... 2 others would have been first downs that extended drives.

Our defense is as talented as you will find in the ACC....the key is going to be staying disciplined, and having everyone stay in their lane and not overpursuing the run....then, having our DB's not get lulled to sleep by 15 straight run plays, and then drop a bomb over their head when they bite on the play action...

Should be a good game....but I say CLemson wins this by 3-7 points..

BOL!

GW

 

[Kevo]

I just don't see how UConn hangs with UNC. UNC had like 3 blocked punts last year so you can't factor that in, but UConn lost a ton of talent (while not having much to begin with).

I think UNC covers.

 

[jimmyshivers]

I am a huge Clemson fan, and have to disagree with one of your statements..."they have a strong O-line". The O-line is really our biggest weakness. Last year it was horrendous, and they are much improved this year. But, I don't think any Clemson fan would even call it a Strong O-line. Thomas Austin is as solid as they come, but besides that, there is a dropoff...huge upside for the future as the line is young though.

At any rate, I don't disagree with this play. But, I do see Clemson winning this game. Talent vs Talent...we have them beat. As far as the offense last week, we had an extremely Vanilla offense, because we could, and wanted it that way going into GT, where it will open up much more. However, you take away those 4 drops, and the offense looked okay... one should have been a TD... 2 others would have been first downs that extended drives.

Our defense is as talented as you will find in the ACC....the key is going to be staying disciplined, and having everyone stay in their lane and not overpursuing the run....then, having our DB's not get lulled to sleep by 15 straight run plays, and then drop a bomb over their head when they bite on the play action...

Should be a good game....but I say CLemson wins this by 3-7 points..

BOL!

GW

Some good points here. Even though the O-Line did struggle a lot this past season, this is one of the positions where continuity is very important. That experience is a god-send when working with an unproven QB(s) and a young corp of WR's. They gave up a lot of sacks due to the Spence spread O and youth but they were stronger in the 2nd half of the season under a new OC and should be fine this season. Personally I think you will be suprised..

As to the game I can easily see Clemson winning this game but I didn't see enough from their Offense against a very average MTS D to back them. Maybe it was because they are vanilla, but I needed to see them make a play in a game where they outmatched their opponent.

BOL on Thursday :toast:

 

[JTrey3]

liking the under.. GL

 

[jimmyshivers]

I just don't see how UConn hangs with UNC. UNC had like 3 blocked punts last year so you can't factor that in, but UConn lost a ton of talent (while not having much to begin with).

I think UNC covers.

UConn is not chopped liver and I see the hesitation with Carolina being unproven on Offense but to me this is a battle of attrition and UConn doesn't have the horses. I see this as the kind of game where UNC can out-athlete UConn all over the field and control the game on both ends of the field. UConn as you said lost some key pieces from last season and if they will have to watch out for the playmaking Carolina D.

 

[AlwaysKeen]

I'm watching the replay of UConn's game from last week...trust me, they have some athletes on both sides of the ball...

 

[stander]

Jimmy -- what do you think about the total in the UNC/UConn game?

 

[jimmyshivers]

Jimmy -- what do you think about the total in the UNC/UConn game?

Stander, the team that I think should be able to control the tempo (UNC) is stronger on the defense and has serious question marks on offense. This has me looking @ the under as I have definite reservations about either teams ability to score. I think this may be the type of game that takes a while for UNC to gain traction and for UConn to be able to move the ball. Seriously looking at the 1h under here..

 

[jimmyshivers]

I'm watching the replay of UConn's game from last week...trust me, they have some athletes on both sides of the ball...

This I don't doubt, Edsall has done a wonderful job turning UConn into a very competitive football program in a short amount of time. My concern for the Huskies relates to their depth; they lose 10 starters from last years bowl team and I have to question how full the pantry really is. I particularly worry about how the D-line is going to hold up in this game after Carolina makes the concerted effort to pound the ball at them. Yates hasn't played well in a while but he showed in several games last year what he is capable of. If I'm wrong I'll pay at the window but IMO I don't see it. BOL Bud

 

[jimmyshivers]

** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -5

Just don't see how Clemson is able to get any kind of consistent offense tonight. If they get big plays then it looks good but IMO its not something to back here..

Will add a few more plays tomorrow. BOL tonight everyone :toast:

 

[Shades]

Agree Jimmy,GT needs this game with Miami at Miami up next.Bob

 

[jimmyshivers]

**2h Georgia Tech/ Clemson Under 21.5

Couple of quick scores by GT but the game has evened out. Think GT controls the clock the rest of the way and puts the pressure on Clemson to score. Like I said b4 the game I don't like the Clemson offense to make big plays so I think the 2h stays Under here.

 

[What'sthegoodword]

One big play for 82 yds...okay, we will give them one big breakaway in the triple option... should it have happened on the 2nd play from scrimmage... no.

One fake fg/punt from Clemson returned for a TD...Stupid...

One fake FG-passing TD for GT..again bad play on Clemson, great play for GT....but, crap.

When the game really started, CLemson has spotted them 21 points....

from that point, CLemson dominated the game offensively and defensively....

had it not been for a BS holding call where CLemson had a big pass play on 3rd down, Clemson wins outright....so, all the bashers, all the haters, all the idiots that spun the beanie....don't cash the ticket til the ticket cashes.....

Good Luck to all... Hope we all kill it this weekend...