Clemson Football: The picks are in! Staff picks for week one

Each week this season the RubbingtheRock.com staff will pick the score of the Clemson football game (except the Furman game) and make a pick against the spread, plus a wild card game in a “friendly” competition.

This article will typically come out on Thursday, but since the opener is not until Monday, here we are on Friday.

Without further ado, here are the picks for week 1.

Casey “The Beef” Cregan

Let me be THAT guy, the usual-pessimist of the group apparently turning over a new leaf.  Clemson wins and wins big.  I just believe that this is one of those games that even if things are not exactly clicking completely on either side of the ball that pure talent will win the day.  Clemson can roll the ball out there against Georgia Tech and win on talent alone.  Not sure we’ll see a whole bunch in Week 1, but I do not believe we will have to.  Tigers BIG!  …and cover.

The Beef’s wild card pick is Boston College -7 against Rutgers.

John Chancey

I would love to believe that Clemson will come right out of the gates and blow the Wreck’s doors right off. I’m not quite ready to believe they win by more than three touchdowns. Georgia Tech doesn’t look like world beaters, but they probably aren’t as incompetent as most outside observers think.

John’s wild card pick is Purdue +3.5 against Penn State.

Houston Burnett

Look, Clemson’s offense wasn’t that great last year. And I am not going to sit here and say that Clemson is going to be LSU’s 2019 offense reincarnated this year.

Here’s the thing though: Clemson was on the cusp of disaster in several games last year, but in the same way, they were roughly 5 plays from being 12-0. If there is just MODERATE improvement on the offense, this team is going to be good. They don’t have to score a ton. Just enough to cover.

Houston’s wild card pick is Florida +2.5 against Utah (-100).

Marty “Seldom Used Reserve” Coleman

If I had my druthers I’d have picked the under in this game, simply because I believe it’s going to be difficult for Georgia Tech to score and the Clemson offense is going to have to prove it to me before I roll with that side of the ball in 2022.  Remember, the Tigers had less than 300 yards against Tech last year and while they may eventually be better, it’s difficult to predict that in game 1.

Marty’s wild card pick is Georgia State +11.5 vs. South Carolina.

So, there you have it, all four predict a relatively easy Clemson victory, but two covers and two non-covers.