Best Early 2018 ACC Championship Odds

Clemson’s coach Dabo Swinney just went on ESPN the other day and talked about how he gets motivation from the fact that commentator Stephen A. Smith is such a big Alabama fan in his commentary about college football. It sounds like the sports betting community is also taking an ACC title for granted for Clemson. After all, despite losing to Syracuse last year, they cruised to a conference win and then took a slot in the national semifinal, where they were thrashed by that same Alabama Crimson Tide team. If you look at the odds for each ACC team to win the conference, you might think that everyone forgot about the struggles that Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant had against Alabama — and forgot that every other team in the ACC will be game-planning to stop Bryant in a similar fashion in play this year. After checking out the latest 2018 ACC Championship odds, you’ll find our perspectives about some of the contenders.

Best Early 2018 ACC Championship Odds

4️⃣0️⃣days. pic.twitter.com/5XcseCACTj

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) July 23, 2018

2018 ACC Championship Odds

• Clemson                                              -225
• Miami                                                  +700
• Florida State                                       +900
• Louisville                                             +1600
• Virginia Tech                                       +1600
• North Carolina State                           +2000
• Boston College                                   +2500
• Wake Forest                                       +3300
• Syracuse                                             +5000
• Georgia Tech                                      +5000
• Pitt                                                       +5000
• Virginia                                                            +5000
• Duke                                                   +5000
• North Carolina                                     +10000

Clemson has a defense that is both fast and physical, which we’ve seen is crucial in winning conferences and playoff games over the past decade. They also have a solid offensive system — and if Bryant falters at all, there is true freshman Trevor Lawrence, perhaps the best quarterback recruit in the nation, waiting in the wings. What is interesting about this list of odds is that six of the top eight teams come from the Atlantic Division, with the only two Coastal entrants being Miami and Virginia Tech. The four lowest teams in the odds all come from the Coastal Division. Do the oddsmakers really think it will be this easy (-225) for Clemson to run that table and then win the conference title game? Miami comes in as a terrific value at +700. Remember, they went 10-0 to start the season before the whole thing fell apart down the stretch, but they did make it to the ACC title game nonetheless. Against Clemson, though, their injury list was too stacked with key contributors for them to put together enough of an effort to pull off the massive upset. However, in 2018, with all things equal, Clemson does not have the advantages in speed, talent and size over Miami that they do over some of the other teams in the ACC. Miami has Shaquille Quarterman anchoring one of the best linebacker corps in the nation, and a defense that became so proud of turnovers that it created the turnover chain has built a tradition to grow on. The offense needs to be more consistent for the Hurricane, starting with quarterback play, but that moneyline gives you 700 great reasons to look hard at Miami. Virginia Tech is the other team with a real shot at winning the Coastal Division, and thus earning a one-off shot at taking down the Atlantic Division winner. Josh Jackson had a solid redshirt freshman year in 2017 at quarterback, and now he will have a second season running Justin Fuente’s offense. Ryan Finley of North Carolina State is the only returning quarterback in the conference who posted a higher rating on the season than Jackson did. What about Florida State? They have a new coach in Willie Taggart, who came from Oregon when Jimbo Fisher followed a giant armored car full of cash to Texas A&M. Deondre Francois, heralded as the next great quarterback in Tallahassee, went down for injury in the first game, leaving James Blackman, a true freshman, to run the offense, and the Seminoles had a dreadful first half. However, they won five of six to end the season, including a game at Clemson when they had the ball in the Tigers’ end of the field with less than seven minutes remaining and a chance to take the lead. They did gain bowl eligibility, and they did win that bowl despite Fisher already having left. Can Taggart put together a winning season? There’s a terrific tailback in Cam Akers, and the defense has a lot of talented sophomores, so the ceiling is sky-high. At +900, that’s a lot of value to consider.