Clemson Tigers vs Pittsburgh Panthers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/16/24

The Clemson Tigers (7-2) recovered nicely from their home loss to Louisville with a road win at Virginia Tech in a hostile environment last week. The Clemson defense shut down the Virginia Tech offense, holding the Hokies to just 228 yards and 1.9 yards per carry. Clemson also dominated third downs and time of possession, as it converted 9 of 19 3rd down attempts compared to Virginia Tech’s 2 of 14 while possessing the ball more than 13 minutes longer than the Hokies. This weeks’ road game at Pittsburgh marks their 2nd consecutive game away from home and will be the 2nd time this season the Tigers are in this position. Last time they played back-to-back road games, the Tigers ran away with a 49-14 victory over Wake Forest. 

The Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2) enter this matchup following 2 consecutive losses in which their offense failed to take care of the ball or take advantage of scoring opportunities. In fact, Pitt’s offense has been somewhat of a no-show since its Week 7 game against Cal. Remember, Pitt benefitted from 3 defensive touchdowns against Syracuse, so the Panther offense has not tallied more than 25 points since its win at North Carolina about 6 weeks ago. Even the 25-point performance in the loss to SMU was a bit suspect, as Pitt had just 11 points going into the 4th quarter before scoring the final 14 points of the game late in the final period when the game was already decided. 

The Panthers have struggled to maintain possession of the ball in recent weeks. They have been dominated in the time-of-possession battle in 3 of their last 4 games, mostly due to poor third down conversion rates. In fact, Pitt has converted just 12 of 50 third downs in the last 4 games, and it is unlikely to get much better against a Clemson defense that is 10th nationally in opposing third down conversion percentage. For reference, the Tigers allow their FBS opponents to move the chains on less than 30% of third downs. Without much confidence in Pitt’s ability to maintain possession, much less score, I lean to Clemson in this matchup despite laying double-digits on the road. Expect a motivated effort from the Tigers in this one, as this is their final conference game before in-state, non-conference matchups with the Citadel and South Carolina. They need a win and some help to make it to the ACC Championship Game.

Clemson vs Pittsburgh prediction: Clemson Tigers -10 (-110) at the time of publishing. Playable at that number or better. 

Bet like a Caesar with this awesome new customer offer from Caesars, where you can get a welcome boost worth up to $1,000 on Caesars. Become a Caesars member 👥 using the Caesars promo code PICKSWISE1000, where you can bet on our Clemson vs Pittsburgh picks.