The No. 1 Clemson Tigers will host the Syracuse Orange in ACC action on Saturday at noon ET in Memorial Stadium. The Tigers are off to a perfect 5-0 start after beating Georgia Tech 73-7 last week, while the Orange have struggled to a 1-4 record and are coming off a 38-21 loss to Liberty. That's why the Tigers are 46-point favorites in the Clemson vs. Syracuse odds from William Hill with the over-under for total points listed at 62.
However, Syracuse has covered four of its last six head-to-head meeting with Clemson and even scored an outright upset as a 23.5-point underdog in the 2017 meeting. Before making any Syracuse vs. Clemson picks, check out the college football predictions from Barrett Sallee, given his success picking games involving the Tigers.
When it comes to college football, there are few who deserve the "expert" tag quite like Barrett Sallee. The CBS Sports writer and analyst hosts shows on SiriusXM College, writes for CBSSports.com and appears regularly on CBS Sports HQ as well as countless radio shows across the nation as a guest.
Sallee debuted with SportsLine in 2017 and has delivered in a BIG way, posting a winning record in his weekly best bets column since that point. He went 59-35-2 (63 percent, plus $2,037) on all his college football picks for SportsLine in 2019, and he also enters Week 8 of the 2020 college football season on a 53-30 streak on his best bets since the start of last year. Furthermore, he's on an 8-1 run on picks involving Clemson. Anybody who has been following him is way up.
Now, he has set his sights on Clemson vs. Syracuse. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are the college football odds from William Hill and trends for Syracuse vs. Clemson:
- Clemson vs. Syracuse spread: Clemson -46
- Clemson vs. Syracuse over-under: 62 points
- Clemson vs. Syracuse money line: Clemson -10000, Syracuse +2000
- CLEM: Clemson is 8-1 against the spread in its last nine games played in October.
- CUSE: Syracuse is 4-2 against the spread in its last six games playing Clemson.
Why Clemson can cover
The Tigers have once again been absolutely dominant on both sides of the ball during the early portion of the 2020 season. Clemson ranks third in college football in scoring (48.4 ppg) and ranks fifth in the nation in scoring defense (12.0 ppg). The Tigers are out-gaining their opponents by an average of 266 yards per game and peaked last week in a 73-7 win where they put up 671 yards of total offense to Georgia Tech's 206.
Those Yellow Jackets had already scored ACC wins over Florida State and Louisville and were hoping to show that they had made big strides in the second year under head coach Geoff Collins, but instead were shown just how big the gap is between Clemson and the rest of the conference. Trevor Lawrence completed 75 percent of his passes for 404 yards and five touchdowns in the win. He's now averaging 10.4 yards per pass attempt in 2020 and has hit Amari Rodgers, Travis Etienne, Frank Ladson Jr., Cornell Powell and Braden Galloway all at least 10 times already this season.
Why Syracuse can cover
The Orange have gotten off to a tough start and a 38-21 loss to Liberty was the most disheartening setback yet. However, Dino Babers has a history of playing Clemson tough, upsetting the Tigers 27-24 as 23.5-point underdogs in 2017 and then giving them another scare in a 27-23 loss in 2018 where they were 24.5-point underdogs.
Clemson and Alabama have staked themselves a pretty comfortable lead at the top of the college football polls and with Alabama playing Tennessee this week, the Tigers can probably afford to take their foot off the gas in a way that they couldn't last weekend. Look for Lawrence to play less than a half if Clemson can stake itself a big early lead. Clemson giving its second or third-stringers reps should open up opportunities to score for the Syracuse offense.
Taj Harris in particular is a playmaker to watch for the Orange. The junior wide receiver has been by far Syracuse's most productive offensive skill player with 26 catches for 434 yards and four touchdowns. Harris has NFL aspirations and can do a lot to help his draft stock by producing against a Clemson defense loaded with future NFL talent.
How to make Clemson vs. Syracuse picks
Sallee is leaning over on the total, and he's also found a critical x-factor he believes makes one side of the spread a must-back. Head to SportsLine to see the pick.
So who wins Clemson vs. Syracuse? And which critical x-factor has Sallee jumping all over one side of the spread? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Syracuse vs. Clemson spread to jump on Saturday, all from the expert who's on an 8-1 spread run picking games involving the Tigers, and find out.
