As the Orange prepare for a huge road test in week four, FanDuel has opened up its line for the game between Syracuse and Clemson.
As of Monday morning, Syracuse is a significant underdog in their second road game of the season, with Clemson being favored by 17.5 points at home. Kickoff is set for Saturday, September 20 at noon EST on ESPN.
While I understand that playing in Death Valley is an extremely tough test for any opposing team, this line just feels too big for me. This Syracuse team appears
to have found its stride offensively and has looked a lot more confident and comfortable recently.
Steve Angeli is leading the FBS in passing yards in the early going this season and I do not expect Fran Brown to change that game plan much prior to this week, giving me confidence Syracuse will put points up on the scoreboard.
FanDuel has the current over/under total for the game set at 55.5. Unlike the spread, this does feel like a much more reasonable line for the game, as the Clemson defense is strong having only given up 57 points in their three games thus far.
However, I would also lean on this line being a bit short given the fast-paced nature of the Syracuse offense, as it feels like whoever wins this game is going to score somewhere in the mid-30s at the end of the day.
On the season thus far, Syracuse is 2-1 against the spread (depending on when you took them against UConn, but I will go with their -6.5 closing line), and Clemson is 0-3 against the spread losing games to LSU and Georgia Tech in which they were favored and only beating Troy by 11.
I can see the argument that says that this Syracuse team lost handily in their first game of the season and their strength of schedule has been nowhere near the same since, but with this Clemson team really going through it right now, and the pressure in that locker room growing every day, I absolutely love the Orange plus the points right now.
We will be sure to keep track of the line movement throughout the week.
What do you think? Where are you thinking of putting your money for this matchup and why?
