Clemson at Auburn – Preview and Prediction
CLEMSON 7.5 AUBURN 62.5
Vegas projected score: Clemson 35 Auburn 27.5
Megalocks line: Clemson 9.5
The Game
Whoa. This should be another good one on opening weekend. Clemson begins their mission to return to the College Football Playoff Championship with a tough road game at Auburn Saturday night.
The Match-Up
Clemson offense vs Auburn defense
We are not going to take up too much of your valuable time telling your how great the Clemson offense is going to be this season. They have arguably the best player in all of college football at QB in Deshaun Watson, a devastating WR unit, a 1,500 yard RB, an underrated TE, and a rock solid offensive line. They are going to score some points. The question is – Can Auburn slow them down enough and/or create turnovers to make this a competitive game ?
From an Xs and Os perspective, it is difficult to see how Auburn can match the talent of the Clemson passing attack. The good news is that the strength of their defense is in the DL, and any time we see that, we always dig deeper. A healthy Carl Lawson is great news. It is not unthinkable that they could pressure Watson into some mistakes.
Auburn offense vs Clemson defense
There are not too many people talking about the Auburn offense but it just may be sneaky enough to get some first downs and keep them in the game. This is provided, of course, that the defense can get some stops and turnovers to help them out. Sean White gets the call at QB and we are not smart enough to know if that was the right choice. The RB depth is a huge question mark as is the talent at WR. The offensive line looks pretty good and they brought in a new OL coach. To summarize, NO it does not look good on paper, but Malzahn just may have a few tricks up his sleeve. One of those may be backup QB John Franklin III who by all accounts is like Usain Bolt but a bit faster.
Clemson reloaded on defense last season and all they did was finish 2nd in the ACC in total defense and record 48 sacks. What is going on down there ? It’s a football factory. They only return a small handful of returning starters once again this season and it is not unthinkable that they could need a bit of time to gel.
Tasty Tidbits
These two programs met in 2012 to open the season and Clemson won 26-19 in the Georgia Dome…….Something has to give here….CROWD-WILL-BE-ROCKING GUY (down a career 19,000 units) will be sad to know that Auburn is just 1-10 ATS in their last 11 home games….But we have Clemson at 2-6 L8 ATS away…..#dilemma…..As bad as everyone thinks Auburn was on defense last year they only allowed 26 points per game.
Summary
Ladies and Gentlemen….It’s our first edition of “What does Pinnacle want me to do?” You know we do this in jest – sort of – not really. Pinnacle is the craftiest bunch of them all, and wouldn’t you know it, you can put a zillion dollars on Clemson right now at -7 -116. That is the best price around and many shops are hanging -7.5. That probably means nothing. Unless it means something.
Clemson just needs to win the game. Auburn is under-the-radar and sports a very fine DL. Even though we think Clemson should roll them up, there is too much uncertainty for us to recommend a full play on this game.
Conclusion
No official play.
Lean: Definite lean to Clemson. Can recommend at 7 or better for a small potatoes action play if it gets there at your place of choice. Max line would be -7 -125.