Clemson Opens the Week As Major Favorites Against Georgia Tech on Saturday

The Clemson Tigers got a hard-fought win against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday afternoon in a game that made them bowl-eligible for the 28th consecutive season. It is a feat that seems silly, but it is proof of consistent winning year over year.

Although this season has been a mixed bag of results for the Tigers, they have a bit of momentum heading into week 11. They have strung together two straight wins, and they are looking to make it a third. 

According to Las Vegas, they are going to have more than a puncher's chance. The book opened up with Clemson being 13.5-point favorites over the lowly Yellow Jackets, who are limping into this game.

The Yellow Jackets are having one of those really tough seasons, especially after they lost most of their key players from last year, including quarterback Haynes King. 

Tech comes into this game with a 2-7 record and a 1-6 record in conference. It has been a horrific season in Atlanta, and Clemson welcomes them on Saturday.

For the Tigers, this is a test to see who they are as a program. If they want to be considered and respected as a good football team, they are going to take care of business in a convincing fashion. 

This is a game that they need to win without any real game stress. There should be none of that with this level of competition.

The end of the year is going to be a couple of tough challenges for the Tigers after this game. Once they wrap up with Georgia Tech, they have back-to-back rivalry games. The first is against the Duke Blue Devils, who, if you haven't been paying attention, are really solid this year.

Then, it all ends with the final game of the year against their true rival, the South Carolina Gamecocks. It is likely that game will mean something significant for the Gamecocks, who might be fighting for a College Football Playoff spot.

It's two really tough games to end the season, so that makes this one even more important. Must-win games must be wins. There isn't a clear path for the three-loss Tigers to sneak into the playoffs, so at this point, they are truly playing for a little bit of pride and the right to play in a bigger bowl game to cap the year.

It's a Saturday afternoon affair that the Tigers just need to take care of business in. We will soon find out if they will.