Early action at College Football betting sites liked Clemson’s odds of rebounding from last week’s painful defeat to South Carolina. The Tigers had been bet up to -8 after Clemson had opened as touchdown chalk. There was as well early interest in the OVER, which moved the total up to 61.5 from the opening line of 60 at the best online sportsbooks.
Clemson’s 6-year stint on top of the ACC was snapped last season, but the Clemson Tigers (10-2 SU, 6-6 ATS) can reclaim conference supremacy once more with a win over the North Carolina Tar Heels (9-3, 5-6-1). Both college football programs are coming off defeats in their regular-season final games.
The Clemson Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels will play in the ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night.
Clemson Tigers vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Odds by MyBookie.ag
| Team | SP/RL | TOTAL | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson | -7½ ( -110 ) | 63 ( -110 ) | -300 |  |
| North Carolina | +7½ ( -110 ) | 63 ( -110 ) | +250 | |
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Betting Clemson Tigers
Any remaining hopes that the Tigers had of making it to the College Football Playoff went up in smoke last week with an astounding 31-30 upset loss to South Carolina. This ended Clemson’s 40-home-game winning streak. In that sense, they’re lucky this championship game will take place on a neutral site.
QB DJ Uiagalelei fell short in 21 of his 29 passing attempts. That includes a second-half pick that spelled the end of a promising Tigers offensive drive. Head coach Dabo Swinney has told the media that Uiagalelei will nonetheless be starting under center for the Tigers against North Carolina, but do not be surprised should the junior be kept on a short leash. Uiagalelei has been picked off at least one time in each of his past 5 games. He was benched for freshman Cade Klubnik in two of those college football games.
As bad as Uiagalelei was last week, Clemson might still have won the game were it not for two fumbles on special teams. The Tigers have a superior running attack and defense. These are the kind of advantages that have a tendency to matter in championship games.
Betting North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina has covered the point spread at betting sites in four straight games as an underdog. They should never be counted out of a football game with Maye and the No. 8-ranked passing offense in the nation. The timing could also favor the Tar Heels, seeing as how Clemson’s playoff hopes went up in ashes last week and morale is at an all-time low.
Tar Heels live and die by QB Drake Maye. In spite of setting a program single-season record with over 3,750 passing yards through the air this year, the star freshman has had trouble down the line.
Maye has been averaging just 217.5 passing yards in his past 2 games. He has thrown only one touchdown pass during that same period. The Tar Heels ended the regular season with two back losses, including a 21-17 defeat to Georgia Tech two weeks ago as a 22-point chalk at betting sites.
North Carolina’s defense is also a bit undermanned at this moment. They playing last week’s regular-season closer against NC State sans starting corner Tony Grimes. Then they lost safety Cam’Ron Kelly who was injured in the second quarter. The Tar Heels have given up at least 28 points in 3 of their last 4 games.
ACC Championship Game Clemson vs. North Carolina Pick
Clemson is 15-2 ATS in their last 17 games played in the month of December and 5-1 ATS in their last six conference games while the over is 6-1 in their last seven games after an ATS loss. North Carolina is 5-1 ATS in their last six football games after an ATS loss and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 neutral site games and the over is 4-0 in their last four neutral site games.
We understand the case that can be made for both sides, but we are looking at the under because we feel that this total is entirely too high. Clemson has had some high-scoring contests as of late, but we think that this Tiger group will regress to playing physical football in order to slow down this UNC offensive attack.
On the other side, North Carolina’s defense hasn’t been all that great, but we don’t see Clemson running it up and down the gridiron on the Tar Heels. We think that this one will end up as a 31-24 sort of college football game any way you slice it. Take the under here.
