Clemson Football: Early betting line, trends and a lean

The Clemson Tigers (3-0) will make the trip to Winston-Salem, NC to face off with the undefeated Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-0) at Truist Field this Saturday. Clemson football is a 7.5 point favorite over the Deacons with a game over/under set at 55.5 points.

Clemson is 1-2 against the spread on the season having covered a 24 point spread in the opener against Georgia Tech and failed to cover large spreads against Furman and Louisiana Tech.

With the spread much closer this week, it will be intriguing to see if Clemson can even their record against the number.

Recent history suggests there’s an opportunity for that to happen as the Tigers have scored at least 30 points in every game played in Winston-Salem since 2010 and the defense expecting to get most, if not all, of it’s missing starters back in the fold.

The Demon Deacons come in 1-1-1 against the number, pushing the number against FCS VMI, covering against the Vanderbilt Commodores of the SEC and failing to cover against Liberty last Saturday as they hung on for a 37-36 win in a game they were favored by 17 points in.

Given Clemson’s recent history in Truist Stadium, the Tigers struggle on the back end against Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest’s outstanding quarterback Sam Hartman, my early lean would be to take the over.

Best Bet: Over 55.5 Points

Wake has given up an average of 31 points against two FBS opponents, neither of which have the offensive personnel that Clemson possesses, while Hartman is just the type of player that can do damage against a Clemson secondary that is still finding it’s way.

Early money shows 85% of the bets and 89% of the money is coming in on the Clemson football and Wake Forest to go over 55.5 points

Also, despite the unevenness of the Tigers offense to date the team is still averaging over 41 points per game.

There is risk in this assessment, of course, as Clemson fans are still learning to trust D.J. Uiagalelei and his receivers, along with an offensive line that has a new center and true freshman right tackle.

If you trust Uiagalelei and the offense to put up 35+ points the best bet is on the over.  If not, consider Clemson -7.5 as the Clemson defense has historically done well against Wake’s offense.

Early money shows 86% of the bets and 76% of the money is coming in on the Tigers to cover the 7.5 points and 85% of the bets and 89% of the money coming in on the over 55.5 points.

(All odds courtesy of WynnBet)