No. 1 Clemson is expected to get past struggling Syracuse on Saturday rather handily, according to the betting odds.
The Tigers are favored by 46 points over the Orange, who suffered a 38-21 loss at home to Liberty last week, dropping them to 1-4. Clemson, on the other hand, is rolling at 5-0 and coming off a 73-7 beatdown of Georgia Tech. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents by an average of 36.6 points per game.
The odds on Clemson beating Syracuse straight-up are so ridiculous that most sportsbooks aren’t offering a money-line price on the game. FanDuel, however, is, and has the Tigers listed at -100,000 to win outright, while Syracuse is +4,000 (40-1) to pull off the upset.
That’s right. If you want to bet on Clemson to beat Syracuse, you’d need to put up $1,000 to win $1 at FanDuel, one of the only U.S. sportsbooks to offer a money-line price on the seemingly lopsided matchup.
And someone did.
According to FanDuel, a bettor placed an $8,600 money-line bet on Clemson at -100,000 odds. If the Tigers prevail, the bettor will add $8.60 to his bankroll.
The largest bet on Syracuse was $50 at 40-1. As of Friday afternoon, there had been three times as many money-line bets on the Orange as there were on Clemson, but the Tigers had attracted 92% of the money, thanks primarily to the $8,600 wager.
“Obviously, the probability of Clemson winning the game is huge, but people want to have a bet on what would be one of the greatest upsets in college football,” John Sheeran, FanDuel’s sportsbook director, told ESPN.
The point spread, at Clemson -46, is the largest line on an ACC game since Florida State was a 48-point favorite over Wake Forest in 2000. The money-line price is among the largest ever posted by a U.S. sportsbook as well.
Even the sportsbook at South Point casino and hotel in Las Vegas, which has been known to put up money-line prices on big college football favorites in the past, chose to hold off on the Syracuse-Clemson game.
“This one’s just too big,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said.
FanDuel operates a retail sportsbook at Tioga Downs Casinos Resort in Nichols, New York, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Syracuse. Sheeran said catering to the local fans was part of FanDuel’s thinking when deciding to offer a money-line option on the game.
“I bet we’ll have a steady flow of $5 bets on Syracuse tomorrow,” Sheeran said.
