Florida State at Clemson Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the No. 21 Clemson Tigers will host the No. 11 Florida State Seminoles in a huge ACC matchup that could end up deciding who wins the Atlantic Division. The Tigers bounced back from an early 14-point deficit to beat the Auburn Tigers 38-14. The Seminoles hung in there with No. 1 Oklahoma, but ended up falling 13-23 at home. While the Seminoles were the clear favorites to win the Atlantic this season, the Tigers definitely have the talent to bring home the title. Florida State only managed a 16-13 win over Clemson at home last season, and were dominated 24-40 in their last trip to Clemson in 2009.

Looking at the week 4 college football odds, oddsmakers currently have the Seminoles favored by 3-points over the Tigers on the road.

Florida State:

The Seminoles really played well against the Sooners, but just didn’t have enough offense to bring home the win. They must now find a way to forget that game and move all their attention to Clemson. The big concern for Florida State is the health of junior starting quarterback E.J. Manuel, who had to sit out the final 20 minutes against Oklahoma with an arm injury. Manuel was 13 of 19 with just 85 yards and two interceptions, but did lead the team with 49 yards rushing. Backup quarterback Clint Trickett stepped in and went 7 of 15 for 134 yards, including a huge 56-yard touchdown pass to Rashad Greene to tie the game at 13-13 with just 9:32 left in the fourth quarter. Manuel is listed as day-to-day and it’s hard telling if he will be able to go this Saturday.

Outside of Manuel’s 49 yards on the ground, the Sooners completely shutdown the Seminoles rushing attack. They are going to have to get the ground game going against Clemson, especially if Manuel can’t go. Florida State averaged 225 yards in their first two games and are going up against a Tigers defense that allowed 237 rushing yards to Auburn.

The only reason the Seminoles were able to keep it close against Oklahoma was the outstanding play of their defense. They forced the Sooners into two turnovers and made a couple of great goal-line stands that forced Oklahoma into kicking field goals instead of touchdowns. What really impressed me was how well they played against Oklahoma’s passing attack. They limited Landry Jones to just 199 yards and a touchdown.

Clemson:

The Tigers looked dead in the water after Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, but defense tightened up and the offense got rolling. The Tigers racked up 625 yards of total offense on their way to five offensive touchdowns.

Sophomore quarterback Tajh Boyd completed 30 of 42 attempts for 386 yards and four touchdowns, while the Tigers rushing attack piled on 238 yards. Redshirt freshman D.J. Howard led the way with 86 yards on just nine carries, while junior Andre Ellington added 46 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts. Ellington is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, which means Howard and true freshman Mike Bellamy are going to really have to play well for Clemson to pull off the upset.

The Tigers had three different players finish with at least seven catches in the win over Auburn. True freshman Sammy Watkins had his best game of his short career, catching 10 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing seven times for 44 yards. DeAndre Hopkins and Dwayne Allen each finished with seven catches and a touchdown.

The Tigers will definitely catch a break defensively if Manuel can’t go, but they have not looked all that great defensively this season. They allowed 27 points to Wofford at home and Auburn finished with 435 yards of total offense last week.

Betting Trends:

Florida State is 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 games after scoring less than 20 points in their previous game.

Clemson is 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.

Home team is 11-2 ATS in their last 13 meetings between these two teams.

Be sure to stop back and check out what Steve Janus has to offer in week 4 of college football.

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