FSU football: Is Clemson too big of betting favorite over Noles?

Clemson has opened as huge betting favorites over FSU football. Are the Tigers too big of a betting favorite with the ‘Noles improvement?

FSU football has opened as huge +27.5 betting underdogs against the No. 2 Clemson Tigers for Saturday’s game on the road at 3:30 p.m. ET.

That’s a huge number and the largest since being 25.5 point underdogs against Florida in the 2009 season.

Ironically, the historically bad 2018 team was only 18 point underdogs against Clemson at home last year. It should be noted Clemson could have won that game by 100 points if they wanted it seemed like.

Clemson lost a lot from last year’s team and the Noles look like a much better team that last year. It is a road game for the Noles in a historically tough place to play, but should the Noles be this big of an underdog?

The 2017 ‘Noles team was only a 16.5 betting underdog on the road against Clemson. Is this 2019 better than the 2017 version?

I certainly think so. The Noles lost that game 31-14 but it was a one game score in the fourth quarter. However, it should be noted that game could have easily been 28-0 early had it not been for Brian Burns forcing fumbles with Clemson knocking on the doorstep to score.

For comparison sake, Syracuse was a 28 point underdog at home and UNC was a 27.5 point underdog at home against Clemson.

This line implies FSU would be around a 24.5 point underdog if this game were in Tallahassee. So oddsmakers feel the Noles are a slightly better team than both Syracuse and UNC.

The Orange got destroyed 41-6 and UNC lost 21-20 and had a shot to beat Clemson outright at the end of the game.

College football is a crazy game with turnovers and the way momentum swings can happen. Let’s not forget FSU played Clemson to a 0-0 score after one-quarter before getting their doors blown off last year.

There are a lot of soft factors going into this game too. Which FSU football team will show up? Will last year’s beat down be in the back of their mind or will they go into this game looking to make a statement?

Will Clemson look to make a statement after a lackluster effort against a mediocre UNC team in their last outing?

Four touchdowns is a lot of points for a team that’s nearly as talented as Clemson, but it is a road game and FSU is still a team learning to win on the fly.

Let’s just hope they show up to win and appear to be closing the gap between the two programs if they come up short like a leprechaun.