Clemson Football: Tigers vs. Irish early spread, total and lean

After a bye week, Clemson football takes on perhaps its toughest remaining game of the regular season on Saturday as they travel to Notre Dame, Indiana to take on the Fighting Irish.

ESPN gives the Tigers an almost 2 of 3 chance of winning and retaining their perfect record heading into a three-game stretch of games in the friendly confines of Death Valley to wrap up the regular season.

After the lookahead line soared to Clemson -8.5, it opened this week at -3.5 before settling at Clemson -4.5 for the last day or so.

Frankly, that’s a tough number to bet in either direction, especially on this Clemson team that seems to alternate between playing well and just getting by.

We know Dabo doesn’t care about blowing teams out, point spreads or over/under.  His mantra is the correct one as a college football coach but doesn’t always make the bettors happy.

The elephant in the room is which D.J. Uiagalelei shows up on Saturday in Indiana.  The one that looked like a different player in games 1 through 7, or the one that looked like the 2021 version of Uiagalelei two weeks ago against Syracuse?

Of course, D.J. has played on this field before, but the COVID-limited crowd of 2020 was nothing like it’ll be on Saturday evening.

A total set at 47 implies a 26-21 or type score in favor of the Tigers, which on one hand seems reasonable and on the other seems like a lot for these two offenses.

Early Lean

Earlier in the week the weather looked perfect for game time, but as I write this the forecast calls for rain starting around 7 p.m. and continuing through the game.

I already questioned whether these teams could reach 47 in good weather and now with rain in the forecast, it makes me question that more.

There are those that don’t believe rain, unless it’s heavy, reduces scoring.

Maybe not for the average team, but when we last saw D.J. Uiagalelei he was throwing a couple of bad interceptions and losing a fumble that was reminiscent of last season.

That’s stuck in my head and I’m sure it’s stuck in Dabo’s, too.

For the third consecutive game look for a conservative game plan for Clemson football at Notre Dame

I expect a conservative game plan for the third consecutive game as Dabo only cares about winning and moving on and for those reasons I lean under 47.0.

The fly in the ointment though could be a defensive score by either team that could wreck your week, so tread lightly and be willing to roll the dice if you so choose.

RubbingTheRock.com will have a final best bet later in the week.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change