An idle week may have been exactly what Clemson needed, or it may have been time spent dwelling on the fact that the Tigers’ CFP dreams have already been squandered. Frankly, Clemson may be lucky to have only two losses, a fact certainly also pondered during the week off.
Syracuse will hope the Tigers are in their own heads, giving the Orange a chance to use the home-field advantage of the Carrier Dome to upset Clemson.
Here are our free college football picks and predictions for Clemson at Syracuse on October 15, with kickoff set for 7:00 ET.
Clemson vs Syracuse odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
This line struggled in a flirtation with two touchdowns, opening with Clemson favored by 13.5 points and then spending the first half of the week at 14.0 points before falling back down to 13.5 by Wednesday afternoon. The total saw little such movement, opening at 45.5 and quickly dropping to 45.0, where it has remained. Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Clemson vs Syracuse picks
Picks made on 10/14/2021 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Clemson vs Syracuse game info
• Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
• Date: Friday, October 15, 2021
• Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN
Clemson vs Syracuse betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Clemson: E.J. Williams WR (Questionable), Frank Ladson WR (Questionable), Justyn Ross WR (Probable), Will Shipley RB (Out), Braden Galloway TE (Probable), Fred Davis CB (Questionable), Bryan Bresee DL (Out), Tyler Davis DT (Out).
Syracuse: Taj Harris WR (Questionable), Oronde Gadsen WR (Questionable), Abdul Adams RB (Questionable), Darius Tisdale OL (Questionable).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Clemson has gone 0-5 ATS this season, while Syracuse is a robust 5-1 ATS, including beating the spread in each of its last four games. In their last seven meetings with the Orange, the Tigers have gone 2-5 ATS. The Under has cashed in four of the last five meetings between these two. Find more NCAA betting trends for Clemson vs. Syracuse.
Clemson vs Syracuse predictions
Syracuse +13.5 (-110)
If one is prone to overthinking, the fact that bookmakers have kept this from a full two touchdowns screams of their Orange expectations this week. Frankly, those worries may not be enough.
Clemson’s offense has given no indication it can score as many as 14 points against a solid defense, needing overtime to break 14 at North Carolina State and four field goals, three of which came courtesy of short fields, to even top seven points against Boston College.
And Syracuse has a solid defense. It gives up explosive plays on only 7.8 percent of snaps, No. 7 in the country, per ESPN’s David Hale. That type of suffocation will work excellently against a Tigers offense that has not found any rhythm this season. A single off week will not be enough to fix Clemson’s offense. It will need an offseason to do that.
Under 45.0 (-110)
Picking Syracuse to cover because of Clemson’s lackluster offense is a suggestion that the Tigers — the ones favored by 13.5 points — will struggle to score more than something in the teens, so clearly, the Under is the move.
Clemson’s defense has not been a problem this year. It has, in fact, been about as good as ever, giving up 9.6 points per game in regulation.
Neither of these offenses will sniff 30, and either one reaching 27 or 28 would be a surprise. Very little of this logic ties to Syracuse. Instead, it hinges on the worthwhile Orange defense being too much for a woeful Clemson offense and on the Tigers defense remaining one of the country’s best, no matter the opponent.
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