Virginia at Clemson Line

Written by Kyle Hunter

The Virginia Cavaliers enter their game with Clemson with a record of just 3-7. Their coach, Al Groh, is rumored to be on the way out at the end of the season unless someone changes their mind. On the other side the Clemson Tigers started a little bit slowly, but they have found their stride and they are now 7-3 and back in the top 20. C.J. Spiller has put his name into the Heisman race and the Clemson Tigers are back in the race for the ACC title as well.

The Clemson Tigers have won five straight and they are starting to live up to the hype that has surrounded them some of the recent years. Those making college football picks on the Tigers have definitely been pleased, as they have gone 8-2 against the spread this year. C.J. Spiller is definitely the main weapon for the offense, with his big play ability and his agility in the backfield causing opposing defenses fits. As the year has gone along quarterback Kyle Parker has developed into a nice player. In their last two games he has thrown 6 touchdowns to just 1 interception. Earlier on this year Parker was turning it over too often, but lately he has done a much better job with taking care of the football. Andre Ellington is also a very talented back who is averaging 7 yards per carry in his 52 carries this year. The Clemson defense has been pretty solid all year long. The defense is giving up just 17.9 points per game and is allowing just 299 total yards per game.

The Virginia Cavaliers have had a rocky season this year. They started slowly, then had three nice wins in a row, but have now lost four in a row again. Jameel Sewell is the signal caller for the Cavs, who really lack a downfield passing game. Sewell is a good scrambler and can throw the ball short, but the lack of depth at wide receiver and his accuracy concerns have kept them from having deep threats this season. Fullback Rashawn Jackson is a tough runner and does a lot of the dirty work for the Cavaliers. The offense as a whole is averaging less than 20 points per game, so they clearly aren’t doing enough to win football games. The defense has been fairly good most of the time, allowing just 24 points per game and just 180 yards per game through the air.

The college football odds for this weekend show Clemson as a 21 point home favorite over the Cavaliers. The posted total is set at 43.5 points. A couple of trends to remember when making football predictions on this game are: Clemson is 5-0 against the spread in their last 5 games, and the under is 4-1-1 in the last 6 games between these two teams.

Virginia’s defense isn’t bad, but they aren’t great against the run and Spiller should exploit that weakness. Expect Spiller to bust some big runs in this one and the Clemson Tigers to win with ease over a team that lacks the firepower to compete with the top teams in the country.

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