jimmythegreek
The opening odds start here
(2) Clemson -39 over Louisville:
The undefeated, second ranked Tigers (8-0 5-0) are coming off a 59-10 butt whipping of Florida St last week and return home to the swamp in week 10 to take on lifeless Louisville (2-6 0-5) whom were walloped by Wake Forest 56-35 in week 9. Clemson seems to be reaching their peak at the right time winning by a combined score of 163-20 over the last 3 weeks against mid-level competition at worst, and is showing no signs of slowing down. In the silencing of the Seminoles last week, Trevor Lawrence (20/37 314 4 TD) picked apart the FSU pass defense highlighting a 28 point second quarter that featured 2 of his TD passes to Tee Higgins (6-62 2 TD). Amari Rodgers (6-156 2 TD) was the recipient of Lawrence’s other scores in the second half with the game long decided, and the Tigers outgained the Seminoles 524-247 overall handing FSU their worst loss in program history. Collectively Clemson also ran for 120 yards and 3 TD’s on the ground, while the defense did its part all day forcing 3 turnovers and sacking Deondre Francois 6 times. Francois (17/36 180 1 INT) was subpar and never really established a rhythm with the only TD by FSU established when James Blackman (3/4 88 1 TD) came in and threw a 73 yard strike to Keyshawn Helton in late mop-up duty. Meanwhile, Louisville surrendered nearly 600 yards of offense to Wake Forest and allowed 35 first half points despite pitching a 4th quarter goose egg. Matt Colburn (20-243 12.1 3 TD) enjoyed his best effort of the season scampering to paydirt TD runs of 74, 56, and 12 yards overall. Sam Hartman (16/24 223 2 TD) threw TD tosses to Scotty Washington (4-31 1 TD) and Jack Freudenthal (1-28 1 TD). The Demon Deacons defense clamped down in the second half and pulled away despite surrendering 532 yards of offense to the Cardinals. Jawon Pass (30/54 388 1 TD) played well but mostly from behind. Trey Smith (13-98 7.5 3 TD) gave Louisville their only lead of the game when he broke free for a 52 yard TD run 2 and a half minutes into the game but it wasn’t nearly enough as the crowd at Cardinal Stadium expected a much more efficient effort especially coming out of a bye week. Louisville has now lost 5 straight with an ACC schedule the rest of the way that doesn’t get any easier down the road when they close out against nationally ranked SEC and in-state foe Kentucky.
When Trevor Lawrence (115/176 1490 16 TD 2 INT) was named the starting QB earlier this season, it forced a tough decision for an ineffective Kelly Bryant (36/54 461 1 TD 2 INT) to decide to transfer after this season. However the decision turned out to be a no-brainer for head coach Dabo Sweeney who now finds his Tigers well in contention to earn revenge on pace for a National Championship berth. Higgins (32-488 6 TD) leads a receiving core that is one of the more dangerous and diverse in the country. Averaging about 287 passing yards per contest, Lawrence is also complemented downfield by Justyn Ross (20-402 4 TD) who is a legitimate deep ball threat, Rodgers (30-383 3 TD) and Hunter Renfrow (26-290 1 TD). The ground game is even more dynamic, top 15 in the nation highlighted by Travis Etienne 108-845 7.8 14 TD) who has 4 100+ yard games and before being shut out last week scored 9 TD’s over the previous 3 contests. Lyn-J Dixon (37-341 9.2 3 TD) and Adam Choice (42-311 7.4 3 TD) don’t receive as many chances but make the most of their opportunities gaining yardage in chunks behind a stout and protective offensive line. Clemson scores 44 points and averages 523 yards per contest, top 10 in the country and hasn’t slowed down a bit looking to produce style points to keep up with the likes of Alabama at the top. This does not bode well for Louisville, who surrenders 438 yards and nearly 37 points per game, easily in the bottom 30 overall. Eight games into the season, the Louisville football team’s defensive woes cannot be pinned to one opponent, scheme or flaw. They have not gone away. Bobby Petrino’s bunch hasn’t been able to stop anybody lately, and it doesn’t help going through three DC’s in as many seasons. Amonte Caban produced the only sack in the loss to WF, and the entire team had just 3 tackles for loss. Dorian Etheridge is one of their leading tacklers, but he and DE CJ Avery have been virtual non-factors during their current losing streak.
The learning curve continues to be challenging for Pass (132/240 1587 7 TD 8 INT) who despite putting up some impressive numbers against Wake got virtually limited help from the running game combined with the inability to finish drives especially in the second half. Jaylen Smith (24-373 1 TD) and Dez Fitzpatrick (24-292 2 TD) are his top targets, while Chartarius Atwell (20-347 2 TD) had his best game of the season despite not finding the end zone. The offense has virtually been more night than day when it comes to conference play averaging about 22 points per contest overall. Fact is that they do pass the ball a lot better than they run the ball, as the ground game is in the bottom 10 of the country. Other than Trey Smith (45-246 5.5 4 TD) and Malik Cunningham (48-227 4.7 2 TD), there isn’t much else when it comes to the depth chart. That’s great news on both fronts for Clemson’s third ranked defense, which to some could be mistakenly considered all-pro. Yielding just 13.3 points and 265 yards per game, the secondary play combined with the speed and agility on the line forces opposing QB’s to make rash decisions leading to short possessions, punts and turnovers. DL’s Christian Wilkins, Austin Bryant, and DT Clelin Ferrell have combined for 13 sacks thus far and 27 tackles for loss.
Louisville’s record looks pretty bad on paper, but they’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of facing some tough teams this season, including the the Alabama buzzsaw in Week 1. Still, giving up 56 points to the Demon Deacons isn’t quite something to hang your hat on. There is no discipline in the gap assignments up front for Louisville, and the defensive front rarely gets any push to create opportunities for guys at the next level to come down and make a play. They are getting pushed around by every offensive line on a weekly basis, and I don’t see anything changing this Saturday at Memorial Stadium. By the time Sweeney decides to call off the dogs, the combination of offense put up by Lawrence and company will be too much for the Cardinals to overcome. We’ll lay the 39 here and anticipate Clemson once again matching weekly wits with lopsided finals Alabama is rolling, on a collision course to meet potentially in the National Championship game once again.
I’ll have a second selection coming up shortly in week 10.
The undefeated, second ranked Tigers (8-0 5-0) are coming off a 59-10 butt whipping of Florida St last week and return home to the swamp in week 10 to take on lifeless Louisville (2-6 0-5) whom were walloped by Wake Forest 56-35 in week 9. Clemson seems to be reaching their peak at the right time winning by a combined score of 163-20 over the last 3 weeks against mid-level competition at worst, and is showing no signs of slowing down. In the silencing of the Seminoles last week, Trevor Lawrence (20/37 314 4 TD) picked apart the FSU pass defense highlighting a 28 point second quarter that featured 2 of his TD passes to Tee Higgins (6-62 2 TD). Amari Rodgers (6-156 2 TD) was the recipient of Lawrence’s other scores in the second half with the game long decided, and the Tigers outgained the Seminoles 524-247 overall handing FSU their worst loss in program history. Collectively Clemson also ran for 120 yards and 3 TD’s on the ground, while the defense did its part all day forcing 3 turnovers and sacking Deondre Francois 6 times. Francois (17/36 180 1 INT) was subpar and never really established a rhythm with the only TD by FSU established when James Blackman (3/4 88 1 TD) came in and threw a 73 yard strike to Keyshawn Helton in late mop-up duty. Meanwhile, Louisville surrendered nearly 600 yards of offense to Wake Forest and allowed 35 first half points despite pitching a 4th quarter goose egg. Matt Colburn (20-243 12.1 3 TD) enjoyed his best effort of the season scampering to paydirt TD runs of 74, 56, and 12 yards overall. Sam Hartman (16/24 223 2 TD) threw TD tosses to Scotty Washington (4-31 1 TD) and Jack Freudenthal (1-28 1 TD). The Demon Deacons defense clamped down in the second half and pulled away despite surrendering 532 yards of offense to the Cardinals. Jawon Pass (30/54 388 1 TD) played well but mostly from behind. Trey Smith (13-98 7.5 3 TD) gave Louisville their only lead of the game when he broke free for a 52 yard TD run 2 and a half minutes into the game but it wasn’t nearly enough as the crowd at Cardinal Stadium expected a much more efficient effort especially coming out of a bye week. Louisville has now lost 5 straight with an ACC schedule the rest of the way that doesn’t get any easier down the road when they close out against nationally ranked SEC and in-state foe Kentucky.
When Trevor Lawrence (115/176 1490 16 TD 2 INT) was named the starting QB earlier this season, it forced a tough decision for an ineffective Kelly Bryant (36/54 461 1 TD 2 INT) to decide to transfer after this season. However the decision turned out to be a no-brainer for head coach Dabo Sweeney who now finds his Tigers well in contention to earn revenge on pace for a National Championship berth. Higgins (32-488 6 TD) leads a receiving core that is one of the more dangerous and diverse in the country. Averaging about 287 passing yards per contest, Lawrence is also complemented downfield by Justyn Ross (20-402 4 TD) who is a legitimate deep ball threat, Rodgers (30-383 3 TD) and Hunter Renfrow (26-290 1 TD). The ground game is even more dynamic, top 15 in the nation highlighted by Travis Etienne 108-845 7.8 14 TD) who has 4 100+ yard games and before being shut out last week scored 9 TD’s over the previous 3 contests. Lyn-J Dixon (37-341 9.2 3 TD) and Adam Choice (42-311 7.4 3 TD) don’t receive as many chances but make the most of their opportunities gaining yardage in chunks behind a stout and protective offensive line. Clemson scores 44 points and averages 523 yards per contest, top 10 in the country and hasn’t slowed down a bit looking to produce style points to keep up with the likes of Alabama at the top. This does not bode well for Louisville, who surrenders 438 yards and nearly 37 points per game, easily in the bottom 30 overall. Eight games into the season, the Louisville football team’s defensive woes cannot be pinned to one opponent, scheme or flaw. They have not gone away. Bobby Petrino’s bunch hasn’t been able to stop anybody lately, and it doesn’t help going through three DC’s in as many seasons. Amonte Caban produced the only sack in the loss to WF, and the entire team had just 3 tackles for loss. Dorian Etheridge is one of their leading tacklers, but he and DE CJ Avery have been virtual non-factors during their current losing streak.
The learning curve continues to be challenging for Pass (132/240 1587 7 TD 8 INT) who despite putting up some impressive numbers against Wake got virtually limited help from the running game combined with the inability to finish drives especially in the second half. Jaylen Smith (24-373 1 TD) and Dez Fitzpatrick (24-292 2 TD) are his top targets, while Chartarius Atwell (20-347 2 TD) had his best game of the season despite not finding the end zone. The offense has virtually been more night than day when it comes to conference play averaging about 22 points per contest overall. Fact is that they do pass the ball a lot better than they run the ball, as the ground game is in the bottom 10 of the country. Other than Trey Smith (45-246 5.5 4 TD) and Malik Cunningham (48-227 4.7 2 TD), there isn’t much else when it comes to the depth chart. That’s great news on both fronts for Clemson’s third ranked defense, which to some could be mistakenly considered all-pro. Yielding just 13.3 points and 265 yards per game, the secondary play combined with the speed and agility on the line forces opposing QB’s to make rash decisions leading to short possessions, punts and turnovers. DL’s Christian Wilkins, Austin Bryant, and DT Clelin Ferrell have combined for 13 sacks thus far and 27 tackles for loss.
Louisville’s record looks pretty bad on paper, but they’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of facing some tough teams this season, including the the Alabama buzzsaw in Week 1. Still, giving up 56 points to the Demon Deacons isn’t quite something to hang your hat on. There is no discipline in the gap assignments up front for Louisville, and the defensive front rarely gets any push to create opportunities for guys at the next level to come down and make a play. They are getting pushed around by every offensive line on a weekly basis, and I don’t see anything changing this Saturday at Memorial Stadium. By the time Sweeney decides to call off the dogs, the combination of offense put up by Lawrence and company will be too much for the Cardinals to overcome. We’ll lay the 39 here and anticipate Clemson once again matching weekly wits with lopsided finals Alabama is rolling, on a collision course to meet potentially in the National Championship game once again.
I’ll have a second selection coming up shortly in week 10.
