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Troy vs. Clemson Preview with Analysis and Pick
9/3/11
The Clemson Tigers open up the 2011 college football season by hosting the Troy Trojans, picked by many to win the Sun Belt. The game opened up Clemson -15 at 5 Dimes with a total of 56 at SBG Global. The betting public has been on Clemson so far, pushing the line to -16 and even -16.5 in some spots. This is a move we agree with. We think Clemson is the right side here.
Troy has a nice little program. Solid team. Last season they hung with Oklahoma State, only losing by a field goal, but they also only got by Bowling Green by 3. They have won the Sun Belt, or a piece of the title, 5 straight years, but you have to put things in perspective. Just about all of their Sun Belt wins were squeakers. Close games, and they were plastered Sun Belt foe Florida International. When they stepped way up in class to play South Carolina last year they were handed a 69-24 spanking. (The Troy defense gave up 30 points per game a year ago)
Now they have to face a Clemson team in off their worst season in close to a decade, 6-7, looking to start things on the right foot. While Clemson only won 6 games last year, all of their losses were close with the exception of South Carolina, and that's against a schedule filled with big times opponents. One of their losses was to eventual National Champ, Auburn, 27-24 in overtime, in a game they should have won.
It looks like a bad spot for Troy. The difference in talent between the two schools is huge. If this game were in the middle of the season and Clemson had a big time opponent they might be looking ahead to, there might be an argument to back Troy. But here, Clemson has lowly Wofford on tap next week which means Troy will get their full attention.
At -17 we are no longer interested. However, anything on up to -16.5 is worth putting out Clemson as a strong opinion here. Count on Clemson taking advantage of the first two weeks of this season because after that they have Auburn, Florida State and Virginia Tech all in a row.
Clemson -16
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