Wake Forest vs. Clemson Spread Pick
The Clemson Tigers are off to a 5-0 start but it’s been a struggle at times for Dabo Swinney’s program. The Tigers will visit the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET – will they cover as sizable road favorites?
Game Snapshot
317 Clemson Tigers at 318 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, October 6, 2018
BB&T Field, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Tigers are 20.5-point favorites to beat the Demon Deacons. The total, meanwhile, sits at 61 points. As of this writing, 61% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Demon Deacons.
Clemson Tigers
Clemson HC Dabo Swinney “definitely” expects freshman QB Trevor Lawrence (neck/head) to play against Wake Forest this weekend. Lawrence returned to practice as a full participant on Monday. “I definitely expect him to play,” Swinney said. “I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t.” Lawrence wanted to return to Saturday’s game against Syracuse after suffering the injury in the second quarter. But because team doctors couldn’t rule out a concussion at the time, Lawrence was ruled out. But it was determined Sunday that Lawrence was dealing with a neck injury rather than a concussion. “He got the crap knocked out of him,” Swinney said. “It was head and neck. He had some pain, and you get put in concussion protocol with anything that creates a symptom. That’s not something you mess with.”
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Wake Forest freshman QB Sam Hartman completed 15-of-17 passes for 241 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday’s 56-24 win over Rice. Hartman had a bounce back game after struggling against No. 8 Notre Dame last week. The true freshman quarterback connected with Greg Dortch for all four of his touchdowns; Hartman had more touchdowns than incompletions by the way. The best throw of the day was to Dortch deep over the middle for a 55 yard touchdown but he was great all day long. Hartman owns a respectable 10/5 TD/INT ratio and is averaging 237 passing yards per game. Clemson will put a lot of pressure on the freshman quarterback next Saturday.
Betting Trends
Clemson
The Tigers are 1-5 against the spread in their last six games overall.
Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons have failed to cover the number in six of their last seven games overall.
Prediction
The Tigers are 2-6-1 at the betting window in their last nine games in Salem and have failed to cover the spread in all four of their last four meetings with the Demon Deacons. They’re going to figure out at some point but this Clemson team is not firing on all cylinders at the moment, so I’m not going to lay nearly three touchdowns on this team on the road.
College Football Prediction: Wake Forest Demon Deacons +20.5