The ACC has been Dabo Swinney’s stomping ground for the last decade. Save for the Florida State Seminoles cashing futures odds tickets from 2012-14, the Clemson Tigers have taken home the seven other titles. That includes last season which saw the Tigers streak of securing conference bragging rights extend to a sixth straight year. Online sportsbooks don’t expect the makeup of the conference to change much in 2021-22 with Clemson installed gargantuan one to nine chalk to win it and likely punch a ticket to the College Football Playoffs for the seventh straight year. But with Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne no longer pacing the offense in Death Valley, is there a window of opportunity for another team to sneak through and end the Tigers dominance? If there is, it would more than likely be the North Carolina Tar Heels with Mack Brown having the program on the up-and-up since taking over the reins in Chapel Hill back in 2019. Or maybe it’s a Miami Hurricanes squad with a desperate coach looking to make an impact in what could be his final season patrolling the sideline in Coral Gables. Either way, this is a top heavy conference per usual with upstarts needing nothing less than a miracle to cash lottery tickets for CFB bettors looking to make a huge score.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Clemson -900
North Carolina +800
Miami +900
Virginia Tech +3000
Louisville +3500
Wake Forest +4000
Pittsburgh +4500
NC State +5000
Boston College +5000
Florida State +5500
Virginia +6000
Georgia Tech +10000
Duke +20000
Syracuse +25000
Favorite to Bet: Clemson Tigers -900
When you rattle off six straight conference titles, you have to be taken as serious contenders to do it again; especially when bookmakers have the Tigers installed decided favorites to pull off the feat a seventh straight time. Though Lawrence’s 10,000+ passing yards and 90:17 TD/INT ratio is now under center for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Clemson still looks to be in great shape at the quarterback position with the job of QB1 now handed over to D.J. Uiagalelei. You should remember him for the spot starts he made last season when he threw for 914 yards and 5 TD to zero interceptions while also racking up 4 TD runs. His 439 passing yards and three combined touchdowns against the Irish in South Bend almost helped lead the Tigers to the road win and cover.
Where Clemson does look to be a bit uncertain is in the backfield. Etienne and his dual-threat ability logged over 6,100 combined yards throughout his four-year stay. His production both running and catching the pigskin will be sorely missed. It remains to be seen if Lyn-J Dixon and others can pick up the slack.
My main concern with the Tigers comes on the defensive side of the ball. While the unit was able to navigate its way to the nation’s fifth best total defense and No. 11 ranked scoring defense over the course of the regular season, it got its doors blown off when it mattered most in the College Football Playoffs. Justin Fields – broken ribs and all – was able to gouge the Tigers for 385 passing yards and 6 TD by way of spraying the pigskin to one of the best wide receiver corps in the country. Clemson returns plenty from that side of the ball which should allow it to dominate in ACC play once again, but will it be good enough when running up against the big boys should another CFP ticket be punched?
Underdog to Bet: North Carolina Tar Heels +800
The Heels improved by a single win in its first two campaigns with Brown running the show. They won seven games in 2019 and followed it up with an 8-4 campaign that was capped off with a thrilling 62-26 trouncing of the Miami Hurricanes in the regular season finale. Unfortunately, a 20-17 third quarter lead in the Orange Bowl got away from them against Texas A&M and they went on to lose 41-27 failing to cover the closing 10-point spread.
UNC enters 2021-22 with 9.5-game season win total odds with heavier juice attached to the over. The betting markets are bullish on the Tar Heels being right back in the thick of the ACC title race. Needless to say, most of the hype surrounds Sam Howell who will be running the Tar Heels offense for the third straight year. After combining for 7,227 passing yards and a 68:14 TD/INT ratio his first two seasons in Chapel Hill, it comes with little surprise to see him installed one of the upper tiered favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.
It’s crazy to think, but Clemson just might be North Carolina’s biggest fans. Save for the opener against Georgia, the Tigers schedule is a flat-out joke. Should it get nipped by the Dawgs, Dabo is going to need someone from the Coastal Division to rise up and have a banner year so as to make a potential win in the ACC title game hold a ton more water for the selection committee to take under consideration.
UNC will have an opportunity to be that team. Six of its first seven games will come in the comforts of Kenan Memorial Stadium. It also has a revenge trip scheduled for Notre Dame at the end of October. After that, its toughest opponents come in the form of Wake Forest at home and NC State on the road in the season finale. Though the offense lost a ton from last year’s squad, North Carolina should be vastly improved defensively and has a Heisman hopeful running the offensive attack. Should it put forth a regular season campaign worthy of representing the Coastal in the title game, an 8-1 ticket in the back pocket would go a long way towards guaranteeing a profit utilizing some timely hedging.
Longshot to Bet: Boston College Eagles +5000
While the defense is going to need to continue improving like it did last season, it’s the offense that will allow for this lottery ticket to have any shot of cashing; or at the very least allow for some locked in profit down the road via hedging. Phil Jurkovec improved tremendously throughout 2020-21 after transferring in from Notre Dame. He threw for 2,558 yards and a 17:5 TD/INT ratio. Hardly eye-popping stats but impressive nonetheless. He’s got a bonafide NFL caliber wide receiver to get the rock to in Zay Flowers, and will also have a new big bodied target to get it to this year in tight end transfer Trae Barry. He’s also got an experienced O-Line in front of him.
The Eagles avoid both Miami and North Carolina, and will likely be 4-0 when they travel to Death Valley to battle Clemson to kick off the month of October. Three of its final four games will also be played in Chestnut Hill. I think linemakers got the futures odds wrong right now. Though nobody is likely to unseat the Tigers as division champs, BC should own the second shortest odds of doing so. While it’s likely a pipe dream to believe Jeff Hafley’s kids have what it takes to make the Atlantic Division title race competitive, at the very least hit the Eagles win total over 7 and be a part of what should be an exciting campaign that results in the program heading back to a bowl game off a year hiatus.
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