JEFF ALLEN: FIREWORKS IN DEATH VALLEY, LOUISVILLE at CLEMSON
Unquestionably the week’s feature game in college football the 4-0 No.3 Louisville Cardinals visit
Death Valley for an ACC showdown with the Clemson Tigers. The matchup also pits two of the likely
top three Heisman candidates in Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson. A win by Louisville would
virtually guarantee the Cardinals in the ACC championship game and assure that Louisville would
be unbeaten headed into it’s November 17th battle with the Houston. With a win, Clemson would still
have some heavy lifting to do with a game at Florida State in late October.
Money has been flying in on Louisville since the game opened Clemson -3 1/2. For a game of this
magnitude, the number has moved an unprecedented 5.5 points to Louisville -2. The total has
fairly steady at 67 with some shops up a half point to 67 1/2. Weathere will not be an excuse for
either team as the game will be played under sunny skies with the temperature in the high 70s.
The 8:00 PM EST kickoff iwll be the national game on ABC.
Cardinal quarterback Lamar Jackson showed glimpses of elite play last year but nobody could have
imagined the video game numbers this guy has put up in games where he has played basically a
little more than a half. Jackson has racked up 1856 total yards of offense (1330 passing, 526 rushing)
and a staggering 25 touchdowns. Their No.1 offense is averaging 682 yards a game while the No.13
ranked defense gives up just 278 ypg. with much of that coming in garbage ti
Deshaun Watson has had a pedestrian year at best completing just 60% of his passes for just 996
yards and a 9/4 TD/Int ratio. Wayne Gallman is an elite back but has yet to have a breakout game
(256, 4.1, 3 TDs) indication that the new offensive line is still a work in progress. The defense has
stepped up and carried the team allowing just 218 ypg. The team is No.3 against the pass and No.3
overall as it faces the most explosive offense in the country.
In the immortal words of former Jets linebacker Bart Scott, “Can’t wait”. The Louisville juggernaut
averaging 64 ppg. faces it’s greatest challenge yet against the Tiger front seven Deshaun Watson
can reclaim an edge in the Heisman race with a H2H win over Jackson here. These two have met
twice in ACC play with Clemson 2-0 SU but 0-2 ATS including a 20-17 (-5, 54) win at Poppa John
Stadium last year. For Jeff Allen’s final thoughts on this game, visit www.vegasscoresandodds.com
any time after 9:00 AM PST for all of Jeff Allen’s pay to play releases.