Clemson Football: Early spread, total and lean for Tigers vs. Gamecocks

Coming off consecutive impressive wins over the last two weeks, Clemson football opened as two-touchdown favorites over arch-rival South Carolina Sunday and that number has moved to 14.5 as of this writing.

South Carolina was impressive Saturday as well, clubbing Tennessee by a score of 63-38 in Williams-Brice Stadium in a result that surprised the college football world and knocked Tennessee out of a potential College Football Playoff bid.

With the over/under currently at 50.5 that implies a final score of 32.5-18 in the Tigers favor.

If you’ve followed along you know I’ve had trouble figuring out this Tigers team this year, having no real feel for when they are going to cover or not, as their 6-5 record against the spread would imply.

The totals have also been hit or miss, too, especially with D.J. Uiagalelei’s propensity to make mistakes that turn into 6 points, or as happened Saturday night, give the opponent the ball deep in Clemson territory, making a “safe” under turn into an over.

While you can certainly make the case for the Gamecocks covering 14.5 points, it’s much more difficult to see them winning outright as ESPN gives Clemson an 88.9% chance of winning and makes the Tigers -600 on the money line.

The 39 game home winning streak for Clemson football is on the line this weekend against South Carolina

Clemson has won 39 straight at home, a streak the Gamecocks would, no doubt love to end.

The Tigers have bigger plans, as the results of this past weekend leave multiple scenarios where Clemson could make the College Football Playoff.

Early lean: Under 50.5

Having no feel for Clemson against the spread leaves me to look towards the total in this one, as I expect South Carolina to put up more of a fight defensively than the Hurricanes did last weekend.

As mentioned above, the concern is a turnover (or two) that results in a defensive touchdown for the opponent, or at least places the ball deep in Clemson territory.

If you’re going to bet Clemson totals you acknowledge that fact and add it into your analysis.

It’s a noon kick, and it’ll likely take a while for the teams to get moving, so you may want to consider a first quarter under when that comes out.

Early on 65% of the bets and 78% of the money are coming in on the Gamecocks.

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

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change