Looking at the Clemson Tigers….By the Numbers
By Charles Jay
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In the process of handicapping the national championship game, set for Monday night outside of Phoenix, which is now known officially as the College Football Playoff national championship, we are invariably going to look at the numbers. So how do the numbers stack up for the Clemson Tigers, as they get ready to face off fearsome Alabama Crimson Tide crew in a game scheduled to go off at 8:30 PM ET? Incidentally, this contest is televised live on ESPN, and Vietbet customers can watch it and place wagers on ever-changing football betting odds while the game is in progress, using the facilities provided by Live Betting Extra.
Clemson comes into this game as the only team in Division I football with a perfect undefeated record. They are 14-0 straight-up, and 7-5-2 against the football pointspread. In terms of the totals, they have played eight games under the total, and six games over. It was also 24 years ago that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was a member of the national championship team at his alma mater of Alabama. Clemson has won exactly one national title itself, and that came with another Alabama alumnus, Denny Ford, showing the way.
Clemson is known for its offense, and indeed, they have played ten straight games were they have gained 500 yards or more. On the season, they have averaged 512 yards per game. They have outgained their opponents by an average of 210 yards per contest.
Maybe what we should continue with, if were going to talk about numbers, are those numbers that surround the betting odds themselves. Here they are, with reduced juice attached, according to the folks at Vietbet :
Alabama Crimson Tide -6.5 (-110)
Clemson Tigers +6.5 (+100)
Over 50.5 points -105
Under 50.5 points -105
Clemson has some nice balance on offense, averaging 283 passing yards and 229 on the ground. Quarterback Deshaun Watson had 145 yards against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, bringing his season total to 1028. His backfield mate, Wayne Gallman, had 150 against Oklahoma and is now up to 1469 for the season.
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Watson has been pretty well protected, as his offensive line has yielded only 16 sacks, which is pretty good to know, since Alabama leads the nation with 50 sacks. On the other side of the ball, Clemson’s defense has racked up 43 sacks of its own.
If there is something that might limit this offense, it might be that they could have a hard time getting down the field. The leading receiver, Artavis Scott, has 89 catches, but has averaged slightly less than ten yards per reception. Deon Cain, the freshman who averaged 17.1 yards per catch, is suspended for this game.
Vietbet patrons have to be impressed by Clemson’s pass defense, which has allowed slightly less than 48% completions on the year. And they have also surrendered only 3.6 yards per carry. But as we speak about numbers, if you want to talk about the 150-yard mark on the part of opponents, five of them – Appalachian State, Boston College, Florida State, Syracuse and South Carolina – have exceeded that total on the ground against the Tigers’ defense this season. And on offense, this team failed to reach the 300-yard plateau in total offense against Notre Dame, a game they won only by two points, their closest call of the campaign.
Kicker Greg Huegel has missed five extra points, and that might be the kind of thing that figures prominently, particularly if we are talking about the football pointspread. And it is highly unusual to see a team undefeated and in the national championship game when it has a negative turnover ratio. But that is the case with Clemson, which has given the ball away 27 times and is at minus-1 for the season.
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