The Clemson Tigers will try and do something on Thursday night that they have not done since 2003 and that is get a win in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Tigers come into this Week 4 matchup unbeaten and ranked in the top 5 in the country while the Yellow Jackets are also unbeaten but unranked. The Tigers opened up as 9.5-point favorites in this contest that can be seen on ESPN.
This contest in Week 4 of the regular season will go down Thursday, September 22, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Clemson -9.5
Georgia Tech +9.5
Odds Analysis
The Tigers opened up as 9.5 point favorites in this contest. The wiseguys might manipulate this number a little bit to see if they can get a possible middle on the number of 10. The Tigers have the higher profile as they are ranked No. 5 in the country so public bettors should be backing Clemson but the wiseguys will probably immediately take back any +10 numbers that they see.
The total on this game is likely to see movement in only one direction and that is to the over. Bettors almost always bet high profile TV games over the total especially when one of the teams has an explosive offense like Clemson does.
Player to Watch
If the Yellow Jackets are to be competitive on Thursday night then it will be due to the play of senior quarterback Justin Thomas. He leads Georgia Tech in rushing this season with 169 yards. Thomas runs the triple option for head coach Paul Johnson and when it works it is extremely difficult to stop but when it struggles it gets ugly as it did last year in a 43-24 loss to Clemson. The Yellow Jackets had just 71 yards on 42 carries last year, the lowest total ever under Johnson. Georgia Tech scored all of their points last year because of Clemson mistakes.
Thomas threw for 136 yards and ran for 84 yards last week in the win over Vanderbilt. Thomas has 17 rushing touchdowns and 33 passing touchdowns in his career at Georgia Tech.
When the Yellow Jackets are rolling they have Thomas running and throwing it all over the field and so far this season that has been happening as the Yellow Jackets are 3-0 after going 3-9 last year.
Key Stat
The Tigers have won three of the last four in the series but all of those wins came at home. Clemson won 43-24 at home last season. The last time the teams met in Atlanta it was the Yellow Jackets winning 28-6 in 2014. The home team is 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings in this series. Georgia Tech is 5-4 against Clemson under head coach Paul Johnson, 1-4 at Clemson but 4-0 in Atlanta or the ACC title game.
Clemson has not been a good team to bet lately in conference games as they are just 4-10 ATS in their last fourteen ACC games. Clemson has also been a poor road team of late going 2-7 ATS in their last nine games.
Free ATS Pick
Clemson rolled over South Carolina State last week but they get no credit for that win against an overmatched squad. The Tigers didn’t look good in their opening win over Auburn and they didn’t look any better against Troy. The Tigers could be overrated this season but the odds don’t yet reflect that fact as Clemson is once again a big favorite.
Georgia Tech is definitely better than they were a year ago and if Thomas plays well they can hang with Clemson. And there is also no doubting the trends in this series as the Yellow Jackets have owned the Tigers in Atlanta.
I will take the big points and go with Georgia Tech in this contest.
College Football Odds: Tigers 31 Yellow Jackets 30
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