Despite being the top dog in the ACC, the Clemson Tigers open the 2023-2024 college football season at longer odds to win the College Football National Championship than the rival Florida State Seminoles.
Early odds for Clemson to win the National Championship stand at +2200 at DraftKings and +2000 at FanDuel while the Seminoles open at +1800 at both sportsbooks. And that even comes with Clemson on a seven-game winning streak against the Seminoles dating back to 2015.
For the ACC itself, the story remains the same. FanDuel has Clemson at +190 to win the ACC while odds for Florida State are at +165. BetRivers echoes that sentiment at +190 for the Tigers and +120 for the ‘Noles. Caesars is the only sportsbook that has Clemson at shorter odds to win the ACC than Florida State, or +145 for the Tigers versus +135 for the Seminoles.
That may come as a surprise given the recent successes that Clemson has enjoyed. The Tigers have been near-perennial winners of the ACC, winning the conference in seven of the last eight seasons. And head coach Dabo Swinney is aiming to repeat that success this year.
A Look at Clemson Ahead of the 2023-2024 Season
Clemson will test the theories of those sportsbooks early in the 2023-2024 season, playing Florida State at home on September 23. Now, let's look at the Tigers ahead of that matchup:
The Tigers’ offense could be new-look with the offseason addition of Garrett Riley as offensive coordinator. The former TCU offensive coordinator was responsible for the Horned Frogs boasting the 9th-highest scoring offense in the 2022-2023 season with 38.8 points per game. He was also awarded the 2022 Broyles Award, which recognizes the top Assistant Coach in College Football. The addition of Riley could be pivotal in boosting Clemson’s offense this coming year.
Cade Klubnik returns as quarterback after taking over late last season as a freshman and leading the Tigers to an ACC Championship. However, in the Orange Bowl against Tennessee, he looked every bit of a freshman after throwing two interceptions and averaging just 5.9 yards per attempt on the way to a 31-14 loss. Should Klubnik live up to the expectations placed upon him, Clemson should be in College Football Playoff contention.
On the defensive side, Clemson returns 75% of the squad that ranked 11th in points per drive allowed, 10th in expected points added per play and fifth in Pro Football Focus’ tackling grades. The major losses for the Tigers’ defense come in the form of linemen Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee, who were both picked up by professional teams in the 2023 NFL draft. Despite those losses, Clemson’s defense is still expected to be very strong.
