Auburn opens as underdog at Clemson, LSU

[aubiefifty 16,701]

Auburn opens as underdog at Clemson, LSU

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney talk at midfield Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, before an NCAA football game against Clemson at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) ORG XMIT: ALBIN(JULIE BENNETT)

Auburn is a road underdog at defending national champion Clemson and SEC West rival LSU.

The South Point casino has Clemson favored by 7 points over Auburn on Sept. 9 and LSU favored by 4.5 points over Auburn in Baton Rouge on Oct. 14, two of 65 college football "games of the year" the Las Vegas sportsbook posted on Monday.

"I think Auburn's going to be really good, but of course Clemson, I think you have to give them a lot of respect for winning the championship last year, being in the championship game two years ago," South Point book director Chris Andrews said on My Guys in the Desert with Brent Musberger on VSiN.com and SiriusXM on Monday. "I'm high on Auburn, but there's still some question marks involved. You have a new quarterback coming in and I think a little pressure on Gus Malzahn. I think Clemson was a deserving seven-point favorite."

Clemson lost several top skill position players from last year's College Football Playoff championship team, including quarterback Deshaun Watson, running back Wayne Gallman, wide receiver Mike Williams, tight end Jordan Leggett, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, linebacker Ben Boulware and cornerback Cordrea Tankersley.

Last year, Auburn opened as a 9.5-point underdog against Clemson in the season opener, which Clemson won 19-13 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

 

Auburn

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

16 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Auburn opens as underdog at Clemson, LSU

73

Posted on May 29, 2017 at 5:50 PM

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney talk at midfield Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, before an NCAA football game against Clemson at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) ORG XMIT: ALBIN(JULIE BENNETT)

 

 

 

 

By James Crepea

jcrepea@al.com

Auburn is a road underdog at defending national champion Clemson and SEC West rival LSU.

The South Point casino has Clemson favored by 7 points over Auburn on Sept. 9 and LSU favored by 4.5 points over Auburn in Baton Rouge on Oct. 14, two of 65 college football "games of the year" the Las Vegas sportsbook posted on Monday.

"I think Auburn's going to be really good, but of course Clemson, I think you have to give them a lot of respect for winning the championship last year, being in the championship game two years ago," South Point book director Chris Andrews said on My Guys in the Desert with Brent Musberger on VSiN.com and SiriusXM on Monday. "I'm high on Auburn, but there's still some question marks involved. You have a new quarterback coming in and I think a little pressure on Gus Malzahn. I think Clemson was a deserving seven-point favorite."

Clemson lost several top skill position players from last year's College Football Playoff championship team, including quarterback Deshaun Watson, running back Wayne Gallman, wide receiver Mike Williams, tight end Jordan Leggett, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, linebacker Ben Boulware and cornerback Cordrea Tankersley.

Last year, Auburn opened as a 9.5-point underdog against Clemson in the season opener, which Clemson won 19-13 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

 

Auburn

No real cause for complaint. My head, anyway, agrees.

WDE

[ArgoEagle 1,767]

I just think we will be a much better offensive team this year and several glaring differences between this year and last year will come out.

1. Clemson lost their 1st round offensive stars in Williams and Watson, and Legget was also an outstanding weapon.

2. We have a new offensive philosophy with a qb running it who can make any throw on the field.

3. We have waved goodbye to the whirly bird (thank gosh).

4. We had not discovered how awesome KP was as a rb in last year's game. He hardly carried the ball, if at all.

I really feel good about us beating Clemson this year. Will analyze LS who later after we see what they have to offer.

[FASTCOMPANY 394]

AU football always plays better as the underdog. Don't know if that's a good thing or bad. It'll take consistent winning for us to become "favorites" in these type games.

[weagl1 1,781]

Got'em right where we want'em!

[AUBwins 10,064]

22 minutes ago, ArgoEagle said:

4. We had not discovered how awesome KP was as a rb in last year's game. He hardly carried the ball, if at all.

KP did not have a single carry in last years game, but went for a buck 40 (did not check for accuracy on the yardage) in the following week for his first actual game.

[gr82be 14,401]

2 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Got'em right where we want'em!

Sounds about right. Besides, I always liked Underdog. 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

So we open as 7 pt dog to Clemson; 4.5 to Corndogs but only a 3.5 to Turdtown?  So are people really trying to say that we are going to play tougher against the turds or are they saying that this will be a "down" year for them.

[gr82be 14,401]

2 minutes ago, lkeel75 said:

So we open as 7 pt dog to Clemson; 4.5 to Corndogs but only a 3.5 to Turdtown?  So are people really trying to say that we are going to play tougher against the turds or are they saying that this will be a "down" year for them.

It has a lot to do with Clemson and LSU being road games and UA being at JHS. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,876]

I think that's fair. Vegas is much more a "show me first" institution as opposed to the hype train of the media.  It shows people put their money in proven commodities, not in the candy and nuts of ifs and buts.  And also home field is a big deal. 

[The Freak 2,526]

Go make some money, bro.

[AU-24 3,063]

Can we hold Clemson to 19 points or less? They have the home field but without their Superman (that was kicked out of a bar in West Vance).

Time will tell.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Clemson is the defending champ with a top notch defense combined with great coaching.

We have not won at LSU in what... 17 years? They too have a top notch defense.

We will have to play like a champion to win at either of those venues. 

I am looking forward to it. 

 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

That's good. I like it much better when we're the underdog in any game.

[Rednilla 5,383]

I wonder what the Vegas odds were for the 1993 team, the 2004 team, the 2010 team, and the 2013 team. Personally, I like being the hunter more than I do the hunted, but then I'd also like to win enough games year in and year out to become the hunted...perhaps this year will be the start of such a string of success?

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

12 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

I wonder what the Vegas odds were for the 1993 team, the 2004 team, the 2010 team, and the 2013 team. Personally, I like being the hunter more than I do the hunted, but then I'd also like to win enough games year in and year out to become the hunted...perhaps this year will be the start of such a string of success?

'twould seem a perennial quandary for me, as well.

"Hope springs eternal..."

WDE

P.S. I kind'a miss our old color palette.

[WFE12 9,191]

I'm quite tired of the underdog mentality. Tired of being treated like the little brother as well. Time for us to be one of the Big Dawgs consistently... Been time! The players should be able to handle being the hunted and all the pressure that comes with it. The players have been pretty confident on Twitter, KJ, himself, saying that if the fans could have seen what they did one particular day in practice they would know that this team is special. I believe it.

[Win4AU 4,052]

I'd flip Bama and Clemson line.  Bama is gonna Bam regardless who they lost.  I feel like Clemson is going to struggle with offense out of the gate.  

[WarTiger 3,896]

Interesting how many people put so much stock in this stuff.  It means basically nothing.

[augolf1716 21,096]

Actually for gamblers its means quite a bit $$$$

[AUsince72 11,084]

Hell, even bammer would be an underdog if they had to open against both Clemson & LSU at the same time.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Take Auburn and the 7 now. At game It will be down to around 4. Then you can take Clemson minus the 4. 

[CCslim 56]

LSU will be the tougher match up between the 2 choices only because we play in Baton Rouge  

 

im confident as of now we can beat both

[AUEngineer2016 407]

I think the lines are accurate right now, for a couple reasons:

1. While they did lose a lot, Clemson will still field an elite defense and has weapons on offense. If one of their QB's can step up and lead that offense, they can be dangerous. 

2. Stidham has a limited portfolio at this point, and the only action we've seen him in working with our OC was against 2nd string players. At this point, I consider him an unknown. We have yet to see our backup QB perform in this offense, though the 3rd string QB performed well in the spring game.

3. Our defense lost our two most effective players from our front 7 and our most decorated defensive back. On top of that, attrition has left us with a very thin secondary, which could become an issue if Clemson stretches the field vertically and we get into a shootout.

I think it will be a close game either way, but at this point their prediction is accurate given their success last year and home field advantage.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

15 hours ago, AUsince72 said:

Hell, even bammer would be an underdog if they had to open against both Clemson & LSU at the same time.

Especially if it was both on the road(s) at the same time.