How do the Syracuse Orange follow up being on the wrong end of one of the most thorough beatings of Week 2? By hosting the defending champions, of course. The Orange are off to a dreadful start to the season, and things might just get even worse as they find themselves as three-touchdown underdogs for Saturday’s encounter with the top-ranked Clemson Tigers.
Clemson Tigers vs Syracuse Orange (Matchup Report)
Date/Time: September 14, 7:30 p.m. ET
TV Coverage: ABC
Sportsbook Odds: Clemson -21 | O/U 59.0 (Line History)
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
The line opened at Syracuse +17, but given how strong the Tigers looked in an impressive home win over Texas A&M – and how dismal the Orange played at Maryland – it hasn’t taken long for the number to shift four whole points.
Clemson News & Notes
The scariest part of the Tigers’ hot start – they defeated the visiting Aggies 24-10 to fall just short of the cover, but were never really threatened – is that Trevor Lawrence still hasn’t really hit his stride. Lawrence was a Heisman Trophy candidate to kick off the season but has looked ordinary through two games, throwing for 436 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
As for the Tigers themselves, they haven’t been in this position often over the past 20 years – and when they have, they’ve struggled to reward bettors’ faith. While Clemson is a predictable 6-1 SU when favored by 20-plus points on the road since 2000, the Tigers have covered just one of those contests – and their only SU loss came in their previous visit to Syracuse.
Syracuse News & Notes
What can you say about Syracuse suffering the worst loss by a ranked team against an unranked team in 20 years? Nothing went right at all for the Orange, who allowed the Terrapins to score 42 first-half points and go 11-for-15 on third downs for the game; it was just the third time in the past 10 games as a road underdog that the Orange failed to cover.
But if you’re looking for optimism from a betting standpoint, consider this: the Orange have covered four of the previous five meetings with the Tigers, with only one of those defeats coming by more than 10 points. And with quarterback Tommy DeVito (330 passing yards, 3 TDs) looking solid in Week 2, the host Orange should bounce back.
Betting Pick
Bettors will no doubt look at last week’s results and feel inclined to take the Tigers – but with the Orange finally playing their home opener and having fought Clemson hard in recent years, we like the home team and the points.
- Clemson is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games vs its conference.
- The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Syracuse’s last 17 games at home (avg. combined score: 63.94).
- The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Clemson’s last 7 games vs Syracuse (avg. combined score: 49.29).
