SportsLine has released the projected win totals for the Power-5 college football programs for the upcoming 2020 season. No other team in the country is projected to have more wins than the Clemson Tigers.
SportsLine Projected Win Totals 2020
- Clemson Tigers 10.9
- Ohio State Buckeyes 10.5
- Alabama Crimson Tide 10.4
- Georgia Bulldogs 9.7
- UL Lafayette Ragin Cajuns 9.6
The Tigers have the best shot at going unbeaten throughout the regular season according to the SportsLIne metric. Clemson is expected to be double digit favorites in every game on their schedule this season except one, the road contest against Notre Dame. Even in that one, the Tigers are still an early touchdown favorite in South Bend.
Clemson hasn’t lost a regular season game since the road loss at Syracuse in 2017 when starting quarterback Kelly Bryant was injured a week earlier, tried playing, and wasn’t effective. Zerrick Cooper tried to lead the team to a win, but just hadn’t developed to the point to where he was ready to do so.
While most would say that Notre Dame is the biggest game on the Tigers schedule, ESPN’s David Hale had a different take. All things considered, he thinks the week two matchup at home against Louisville is the biggest game on the Clemson schedule.
“Like last season, Clemson’s path to an ACC title isn’t particularly difficult,” Hale said. “But the biggest challenge should come early with a home date against Louisville. The Cardinals revived the program in coach Scott Satterfield’s first season in 2019, and while the final score wasn’t all that close, they did give Clemson one of its tougher games. With a tumultuous offseason around the country, September could certainly come with a few upsets, so it might be to Louisville’s advantage to get the Tigers in Week 2, before Dabo Swinney & Co. really get rolling.”
Notre Dame has a projected win total of 9.4 according to SportsLine, while Louisville’s win total is projected at 6.9. Maybe the bigger game is Louisville. A loss on the road to a nine or ten win Notre Dame team would be much easier to overcome than a loss to a six or seven win Cardinal team in Death Valley.
