#Breaking down early ACC college football betting angles

VSiN’s college football analyst Wes Reynolds looks at some betting angles for the 2021 ACC season.

Favorites: Clemson and North Carolina — Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Amari Rodgers are gone to the NFL, but there is no panic in Death Valley. Clemson is -900 to win the ACC for the seventh consecutive year. The offense looks to be in very capable hands with sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei, and the defense could potentially be the team’s strength early as nine starters return. The Tigers will need to be ready immediately as they face Georgia in the season opener in Charlotte, N.C. The schedule then gets substantially easier as Clemson avoids the top three teams in the Coastal Division (North Carolina, Miami and Virginia Tech).

Sophomore quarterback Sam Howell is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate for North Carolina (17/2), which scored 41.7 ppg last year. Its top two running backs and wide receivers are gone but the entire offensive line and 10 defensive starters return. North Carolina avoids Clemson in the regular season and plays Miami at home. But the Tar Heels visit Virginia Tech in the opener and also have a trip to South Bend in a revenge spot for Notre Dame.

Live ’dog: Miami — The Hurricanes (9/1) are neck-and-neck with North Carolina to win the Coastal Division. Last season, the Tar Heels went to Miami and cruised 62-26. Quarterback D’Eriq King, now a fifth-year senior, tore his ACL in the Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma State. King declared himself 100 percent and good to go for the opener against Alabama in Atlanta. Assuming King is truthful about his health, this offense should show even more improvement with every skill-position player of note and all five starters on the offensive line returning. Head coach Manny Diaz takes over the defensive play-calling duties for a unit that slipped a bit last season but returns nine starters.

Dead money: Syracuse and Duke — Syracuse (250/1) is coming off a 1-10 season, the worst in Dino Babers’ five years as coach. The Orange have plummeted from 10 wins to one in just three years. In fact, Babers (24-36) has only one winning season at Syracuse (10-3 in 2018). The Orange were outgained by almost 200 yards in conference play last season. Syracuse couldn’t score points (17.8 ppg) or move the ball (265 ypg) largely because the offensive line couldn’t block or protect the QB, allowing 88 sacks over the last two seasons.

Duke (250/1) is coming off a 2-9 season, the worst in David Cutcliffe’s 20 seasons as a head coach. The Blue Devils have only 12 returning starters (six offense, six defense), the lowest for any team in the conference. They can only regress to the positive as far as turnovers are concerned because they were -19 in turnover margin in 2020. Duke committed the second-most turnovers of any FBS team in a decade with 39 giveaways. Cutcliffe has turned over the play calling to new co-offensive coordinator Jeff Faris. Former Clemson transfer Chase Brice has left for Appalachian State, so Duke will have a new quarterback. The Blue Devils should start 3-1, thanks to this nonconference slate: at Charlotte, vs. NC A&T, vs. Northwestern and vs. Kansas. They could be underdogs, however, in all eight conference games.