How and what to watch for No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 2 Notre Dame in the ACC Championship

The colossal rematch between the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the No. 3 Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game has been mulled over and analyzed since, well, the moment their previous matchup ended with a 47-40 Irish victory over a Trevor Lawrence-less Tiger squad in overtime.

Since that early-November win, the Irish have cruised in three straight victories over Boston College, North Carolina and Syracuse, solidifying a 10-0 regular season in their only year of actual ACC league play. Quarterback Ian Book has taken full control of the ND offense this season, throwing for just under 2,400 passing yards on 8.3 yards per attempt while also adding 23 combined passing and rushing touchdowns. It helps when you also have an 1,000 yard rusher in the form of Kyren Williams, who is averaging 5.6 yards per carry.

Not to be trifled with is the Irish defense, ranked ninth in SP+. One of their most impressive performance came two weeks ago when they held an explosive North Carolina offense to just 298 yard on 5.2 yards per play and 17 points.

Meanwhile, Clemson has only seen the field twice since the Notre Dame loss but they looked like the usual Clemson with beatdowns of both Pittsburgh (52-17) and Virginia Tech (45-10). The Tigers, entering the title game ranked No. 2 in SP+, let the Hokies hang around until the third quarter where a Lawrence touchdown pass was followed up on defense with a punt, fumble return for touchdown, turnover on downs, fumble and a punt before a 50-yard Darien Rencher touchdown put the exclamation point on the contest.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Clemson vs. Notre Dame on Saturday, December 19th at 4:00 p.m. ET on ABC, or you can stream it via the ESPN app or here with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Clemson (-10) vs. Notre Dame
Point Total: 60.5
Money line: Clemson (-360), Notre Dame (+275)

• Notre Dame has covered the spread in every game this season. Clemson is 9-1.
• Clemson is 17-6 against the spread in neutral site games under Dabo Swinney. Notre Dame is 12-9-1 against the spread in neutral site games under Brian Kelly.
• Notre Dame covered the spread as five-point underdogs in their previous matchup with Clemson on Nov. 7. The OVER of 51 hit in a 47-40 Notre Dame overtime victory.

Betting splits

Clemson: (37% of handle, 33% percent of bets)
Notre Dame: (63% of handle, 67% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

Notre Dame was able to cover as five-point underdogs in the regular season matchup and even with a healthy Trevor Lawrence this time around, 10 points may be a bit too steep.

However, the safe play is the Over with both offenses rested heading into Charlotte.

Pick: Over 60.5

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