EDITORIAL BY GRAYDON FOX

Overview:

On Saturday, December 1^st, the (7-5) Pittsburgh Panthers will take on the (12-0) Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship Game.

The Crowd:

The Crowd projects a final score of Clemson 41.1 – Pittsburgh 18.8 with an over/under of 59.9.

Lou Holtz and Mark May:

Lou is predicting a final score of Clemson 45 – Pittsburgh 14.

Mark is predicting a final score of Clemson 44 – Pittsburgh 27.

2018-19 Statistics (130 total teams):

Passing offense: Clemson 282.8 YPG (24^th) > Pittsburgh 153.4 YPG (120^th)

Rushing offense: Clemson 256.3 YPG (12^th) > Pittsburgh 232.7 YPG (17^th)

Scoring offense: Clemson 45.7 PPG (5^th) > Pittsburgh 27.8 PPG (77^th)

Scoring defense: Clemson 14.0 PPG (4^th) > Pittsburgh 27.8 PPG (71^st)

Passing defense: Clemson 198.4 YPG (35^th) > Pittsburgh 225.6 YPG (61^st)

Rushing defense: Clemson 84.8 YPG (2^nd) > Pittsburgh 174.3 YPG (80^th)

Turnover Margin Per Game: Pittsburgh +0.5 (35^th) > Clemson -0.1 (73^rd)

Strength of Schedule:

Pittsburgh is (7-5) with victories over Albany, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Duke, #25 Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.  They were defeated by #13 Penn State, North Carolina, #13 UCF, #5 Notre Dame, and Miami (FL).

Clemson is a perfect (12-0) with wins over Furman, Texas A&M, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Wake Forest, #16 NC State, Florida State, Louisville, #17 Boston College, Duke, and South Carolina.

Betting Trends: 

– Pittsburgh is 7-5 against the spread this season while Clemson is 6-6.

– Pittsburgh is 5-7 against the over/under this season whereas Clemson is 6-6.

Bottom Line

This is arguably the most lopsided spread of Conference Championship Week with Clemson as early three touchdown favorites.  Pittsburgh has virtually no passing game so Clemson will load up the box to stop Quadree Ollison.  The Tigers have held their opposition to 12 points per game over their last seven games.  Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne should have big games as Clemson rolls over a Pittsburgh team that is lucky to even be in a Conference Championship game.

Clemson wins 42-14

Contest Rules:

To be eligible to win a prize in any contest at The Crowd’s Line, you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States or Canada. You must also submit your score prediction on our official prediction tool (blog widget), and include a valid email address. Contest winners are determined according to The Crowd’s Line scoring methodology. If more than one entrant has the same winning score, final contest rankings and prize winners are selected by random draw. Only one entry per person is allowed for each contest; multiple entries from a single player will be deemed invalid. There are no prize substitutions or exchanges available from The Crowd’s Line.

All prizes will be sent by e-mail within two weeks after the conclusion of each contest.