ACC: Clemson vs Syracuse 10/22/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Clemson Tigers and Syracuse Orange do battle Saturday in a week 8 ACC college football matchup from Clemson Memorial Stadium.

The Syracuse Orange will be out to build on their 6-0 record after a 24-9 win over NC State last time out. Garrett Shrader has thrown for 1,434 yards, 12 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 69.7% passing while also rushing for 300 yards and 5 scores. Sean Tucker has a team-high 644 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns while Oronde Gadsden II has a team-high 31 receptions for 507 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns this season. Devaughn Cooper has 207 receiving yards while three other Orange receivers have at least 100 receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Mikel Jones has a team-high 40 total tackles while Garrett Williams has a pair of interceptions and Syracuse’s defense has combined for 17 sacks this season.

The Clemson Tigers will try to remain unbeaten themselves after a 34-28 win over Florida State to improve to 7-0 on the year. DJ Ulagalelei has thrown for 1,665 yards, 17 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions on 64.3% passing along with 337 rushing yards and 4 scores while Will Shipley’s rushed for a team-high 567 yards and 8 touchdowns. Antonio Williams has a team-high 24 catches for 334 yards while Beaux Collins has 290 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. Two other Tigers have at least 200 receiving yards and another three have 100+ receiving yards on the year. On defense, Trenton Simpson leads Clemson with 45 total tackles including 25 solo tackles while Myles Murphy has a team-high 5 sacks as part of Clemson’s 17 sacks as a unit and Clemson has 6 interceptions as a whole this season.

Syracuse is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 conference games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record. Clemson is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 conference games and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 home games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games following a win.

I get the case to be made for Syracuse here, as it’s not often you’re getting an unbeaten team with double-digits. However, Syracuse for the most part has been playing close games all year outside of the win over NC State, while Clemson, simply hasn’t been. They’re unbeaten and beating up on teams left and right and are one of the better teams across the board right now. The Orange have had a history of playing Clemson close, but the Tigers are just on another level right now. I’ll side with Clemson laying the points here.