The Oklahoma Sooners and the Clemson Tigers are slated to meet in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Clemson has a 9-3 record coming into this game, while Oklahoma is 8-4. The game starts at 5:30 p.m. ET on Monday and will air on ESPN.
Clemson beat South Carolina 35-17 in its last game. Scott had an outstanding performance in the victory, catching seven passes for 185 yards and two TDs. Watson had a big game as well, totaling 269 yards and two TDs through the air. Oklahoma lost a close one to Oklahoma State 38-35 in its last game. Perine had a huge game running the ball for the Sooners, running it 26 times for 151 yards and two TDs. Ford finished with 91 yards on nine attempts.
The odds between the Tigers and the Sooners are even this week, while the Over/Under (O/U) is sitting at 54 points. Heading into Week 18 of the college football season, the Tigers are 9-3 Straight Up (SU) and 5-7 Against The Spread (ATS). Clemson has one of the best win-loss records over the last five games (4-1), yet they almost never play up to expectations, only managing a record of 1-4 ATS. Chances are Clemson will try to take advantage of an inferior pass defense. The Sooners are 118th in the country against the pass, giving up 272.7 passing yards per game. Recently, the Tigers have really been causing problems for their opponents. During its last five games, Clemson has only given up 14 points, much less than its season average of 17.6 points. Expect the Sooners to have a difficult time throwing the ball against the third-best pass defense in the land. The Tigers give up only 162 yards per game through the air. Keep an eye on Clemson to turn it up a notch during the second quarter, when they average 11.2 points per game.
On the other side, the Sooners have a record of 5-7 ATS and 8-4 SU. The Sooners went 3-2 SU and 2-3 ATS over the last five games. Oklahoma has lit up defenses all around the nation over the past five games, putting up an average of 512.0 total yards during that time. Moving on to the Oklahoma defense, it has some favorable matchups that it may be able to take advantage of as well. The Oklahoma defense has allowed just 109.6 yards per game this season, 10th in the nation.
Predictions: SU Winner – CLEM, ATS Winner – CLEM, O/U – Under
Notes
Clemson is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
Clemson is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Clemson’s last 8 games.
Oklahoma is 7-1 SU when leading at the start of the 4th quarter this season. Clemson is 9-0 SU when leading after three quarters.
The Clemson defense has forced an average of 2.2 turnovers over its last five games, but Oklahoma is a perfect 3-0 SU this season when turning the ball over at least 2 times in a game.
The Clemson rushing attack is ranked only 76th in the country, while the Oklahoma run defense is ranked 10th. The Sooners rushing game is ranked just ninth, compared to the seventh-ranked run defense of the Tigers.
