Here’s one way to measure Clemson’s dominance: covering the spread
Dabo Swinney stepped to the podium Saturday night after No. 3 Clemson’s 52-3 victory over Wake Forest heaping praise on his team’s performance.
You could basically take any of his quotes and apply them to the last six games and nobody could decipher which one he’s talking about because the Tigers are playing on a level of dominance rarely seen in the Swinney era.
“I haven’t had a team like this that’s played this consistent,” Swinney said. “This team has really played well.”
The numbers back that up. Clemson scored 45 points or more for the sixth consecutive game. It’s the fourth straight time the Tigers have put up over 50 points, and the margin of victory during this current stretch is 42.8 points per game.
“It’s hard to win a game. To do what we’ve done is pretty cool,” Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “It’s pretty special.”
However, it all comes with a caveat that you’ve undoubtedly heard by now.
“People spend a lot of time saying we don’t play anybody,” Swinney said.
There’s some truth to that, though. The Tigers haven’t played a single team ranked in this week’s College Football Playoff Top 25.
Outside of Clemson, which won its school-record and nation-leading 22nd consecutive home game, the ACC isn’t having the best of seasons.
Wake Forest was supposed to come to Memorial Stadium with the Atlantic Division title on the line, but the Demon Deacons coughed up their opportunity last week in a 19-point loss at Virginia Tech, while the Tigers pounded N.C. State by 45 points to win the division.
Wake mustered just 105 total yards without two of its best playmakers at receiver.
That doesn’t mean Clemson’s defense wasn’t dominant, though.
In fact, there’s another way of judging just how good this Tiger team is. Well, at least a way beyond the famous “eye test,” which nobody on the playoff committee can clearly explain.
Where Clemson is doing serious damage to measure of this team’s prowess is against the point spread.
That’s the number that’s partly responsible for all bright lights and fancy hotels in the Nevada desert.
This season, Clemson has been favored by an average of 32 points per game. That’s better than Ohio State (27) and Alabama (28).
It’s far ahead of No. 1 LSU, which has an impressive resume and was an underdog against Alabama.
Clemson is 8-3 versus the number in 2019. The Tigers’ average margin of victory is 35.2, a full field goal more than what they’ve been favored by.
“We want to play well. We want to dominate,” Lawrence said. “That’s something we do care about, but as far as the spread and what people are saying, we don’t really care. We just want to play as best as we can. A product of that is (covering spreads) a lot of times”.
The only time Clemson had no shot at doing that was the 21-20 win at North Carolina, which is what the playoff committee held against Swinney’s squad when they were left out of the initial top 4.
They just missed covering in a 45-point win as a 48.5-point favorite against Wofford — and when Texas A&M scored a garbage touchdown in the final seconds of Week 2 to lose by 14 and get inside the 16.5-point line.
(People) “don’t pay a lot of attention to how we play and who we are,” Swinney said. “We just play whoever shows up. These guys are playing well.”
Sure, the competition isn’t as high for Clemson as it is for some of the other top contenders, but oddsmakers have had a hard time keeping up with this team.
There’s an old saying that good teams win games and great teams cover the spread.
