September is when the scent of football becomes truly real for me, and this week included some over/under data by SportsBettingDime.com on the 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference season.
The consensus virtually everywhere, including yours truly, is Notre Dame and Clemson will meet twice this year: the regular season at Notre Dame on Nov. 7, and then in the ACC Championship in Charlotte, N.C., to be played either Dec. 12 or Dec. 19 (likely depending on not having to use Dec. 12 for postponements earlier in the year because of COVID-19).
Preseason AP No. 1 Clemson has been installed as the overwhelming favorite to win the 15-team league a sixth straight season at 3/7 odds. Notre Dame is a distant second at 10/1, while North Carolina, where the Irish play Nov. 27, is third at 22/1.
What struck me most is in an 11-game regular season (which does not include the league title outing), Notre Dame’s over/under for wins was 8.0. Clemson was at 10.5 and North Carolina 7.5 despite not having the Tigers on the slate.
An 8-3 regular-season result for Notre Dame would be “pushing” it for the second- or third-most disappointing outcome in what would be head coach Brian Kelly’s 11th season.
