Despite all of its struggles and lack of covered spreads, Clemson is a big favorite at home against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday.
Heading into the noon game, DraftKings has the Tigers as a 17.5-point favorite as of Sunday afternoon. FanDuel has the line at 16.5.
Bettors don’t appear to be biting on the Tigers a week after the majority of the money was on Dabo Swinney’s squad to cover a 2.5-point spread as the favorite at Georgia Tech. Instead, the Yellow Jackets won 24-21 on a last-second field goal.
DraftKings reported that 98% of the bets and 92% of the early handle are on Syracuse, which is 1-1-1 against the spread this season. Clemson is 0-3 ATS to go along with its 1-2 overall record. The Tigers are 0-1 in ACC play. Syracuse has yet to face a league opponent.
Clemson’s latest loss and non-cover highlight a disappointing trend for the Tigers, who have failed to cover the spread in seven of their last 10 games going back to last year.
Syracuse has covered five of the last seven meetings with the Tigers, including three consecutive games between 2020 and 2022. Last year, Clemson, which has never been an underdog in the series since the Orange joined the ACC in 2013, won 31-14 as a 7.5-point favorite last year.
Shaking up the ACC
Clemson was still BetMGM’s favorite to win the ACC a week ago. Following the loss to Georgia Tech, that has changed for the first time since the market opened earlier this year. The Tigers are now listed third at +560 to claim the conference title.
Miami (3-0) is the new favorite at +180, with the Yellow Jackets second at +375. The Tigers are slightly ahead of Florida State (+550).