College Football: Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Clemson Tigers

By BetOnline November 15, 2019

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Maybe Clemson’s schedule won’t be so soft after all? That’s not exactly the case but No. 4 Clemson, who has had a tough time convincing the College Football Playoff committee that they’ve done enough against their opponents, will have a shot to impress on Saturday as they’ll host a team who was ranked in the Top 25 last week when Wake Forest visits.

On paper, it might help them in terms of the optics but the oddsmakers aren’t fooled. Clemson is favored by 33.5, so if they don’t smash the Demon Deacons, it’s going to hurt their CFP case.

WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS AT CLEMSON TIGERS
CFB ODDS: CLEMSON -33.5
CFB TOTAL: 62

WHY THE DEMON DEACONS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have overachieved this season and enter Saturday’s affair at 7-2. That’s pretty good on the surface but the issue is that the ACC has been pathetic this year. The Demon Deacons are the only ACC team other than Clemson with fewer than three losses at this point in the season.

What hurts Wake Forest’s chances here is that they suffered a shocking loss last week in a 36-17 loss to Virginia Tech. The offense was contained last week but it scored 59 points against Louisville and 44 points against North Carolina State. The Demon Deacons’ defense did not play well against either Louisville or Virginia Tech – the team’s two losses – but it held North Carolina’s potent offense to 18 points earlier this season and limited Florida State to 20 points. Wake Forest has been the second-best team in the ACC this season and on Saturday, we’ll find out what that means. This is the Demon Deacons’ big chance to prove they belong on the same field as the defending ACC champions from Clemson, who are also the defending national champions of college football. This will be their Super Bowl and show up with one of their best efforts of the season.

WHY THE TIGERS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Clemson Tigers were ranked fifth in the first College Football Playoff rankings this past Tuesday and that seemed to work well in their favor. They’ve kind of sleep-walked through the season because they’ve had a breeze of a schedule. As a result, they were not put in a favorable place in the polls. Head Coach Dabo Swinney and the rest of his coaching staff didn’t have to motivate their players as a result and that showed on Saturday when they crushed 55-10. They were leading 42-0 at the half.

Wake Forest was ranked in the Top 25 last week but nobody was fooled. This team has lost to Virginia Tech and Louisville, and had close calls against Utah State, North Carolina and Boston College. Their pass defense is ranked 102nd in the country and 74th against the run. With Clemson being motivated here as they need to put on a show, they should smash Wake Forest.

TAKING A LOOK AT THE TOTAL

Clemson doesn’t really have any quality opponents on the schedule, so this will have to do. On top of that, they’ll have to put up some gaudy numbers to impress the committee. The challenge is how much will Wake Forest score? They do have a good offense but they figure to be overmatched by Clemson’s defense from a physical perspective. Look for a big Clemson win here but an under on the total.