Clemson favored early spread

[Heisman's Ghost]

Clemson is 13.5 favorite

Seems to be about right. Clemson has plenty of talent, considerably more than we do and they have something we don't have, a bona fide tough defense but my main concern is that we have reached the emotional heights two weeks in a row in defeating UNC and UVA. Do we have any more in the tank?

 

[gville_jacket]

Sorry to say this, but our Offense is going to get punched in the mouth this weekend. We've got an opportunity to show how much we've grown and that we are moving in the right direction or we can fold like a paper tiger. What we do will say a lot about our progress. UNC and UVa defenses aren't from the same area code as Clemson. I am cautiously optimistic Faulkner and crew will figure something out, but it may take several series to do so. I hope our defense can step up and plug some gaps to slow down their running game until our O gets on-track.

Just because we get punched in the mouth doesn’t mean we won’t punch back. Should we expect 500+ yards? Probably not. Does that mean we’ll only get 200 yards and 40% completion rate? Also no. 375 yards and 24 points could win this weekend.

 

[ticotech]

What sections are assigned as visiting GT fans seats? Trying to get 2 tickets close to GT fans.

 

[slugboy]

Having trouble buying the 34-19 score predicted by SP+. For one thing, Clemson’s average opponent score is 21, and we have one of the best offenses they have faced. Not saying we should win this one by any means, but come on.

If we protect the football and do what we can to slow down their run game, I think we have a puncher’s chance. Would not have said that right after the BC game, but we have seen what is possible when we are hitting on all cylinders.

Not that we’ve been all that predictable this year, by anyone

 

[yeti92]

Clemson is an interesting opponent this year. Notre Dame is their only good win, the others were against lower tier teams and the two worst teams in ACC play and were 5 pt and 14 pt wins. They played FSU very close, but lost, arguably on some dumb coaching decisions at the end. BC also played FSU pretty close, and we were beating them through 3 quarters until the wheels came off. Against common opponents Wake and Miami we scored more, while allowing 8 fewer pts to Miami and 4 more pts to Wake. Clemson is scoring 29 pts/gm overall, but only 21 pts/gm in P5 games. They allow 21.2 pts/gm, 22.8 pts/gm in P5 games. The closest D we've played is probably Miami, but Clemson's I think is a bit better. Klubnik hasn't been good at moving their offense, but he is 14/6 TD-Int. He's been sacked 17 times and averages basically 1 yard per rush.

We are scoring 33.2pts/gm and allowing 30.1pts/gm. We have been held to a season low of 23 points 3 times (OM, BC, and Miami), but I think all three of those teams have a better offense than Clemson too that helped keep their defenses off the field.

Like most all of our games this season, this game will likely come down to turnovers and winning that battle. Keeping the ball out of their defense's hands will be key. I expect this game ends up something like 28-27, and hey, why not for the good guys?

 

[forensicbuzz]

Just because we get punched in the mouth doesn’t mean we won’t punch back. Should we expect 500+ yards? Probably not. Does that mean we’ll only get 200 yards and 40% completion rate? Also no. 375 yards and 24 points could win this weekend.

You did read my whole post, right? You did see that I said we had 2 ways to react, right? We're not going to gash Clemson like we did UNC and UVa, but that doesn't mean we won't be able to move the ball. It all depends on how we react. This will be the best DL we've seen.

 

[MWBATL]

Having trouble buying the 34-19 score predicted by SP+. For one thing, Clemson’s average opponent score is 21, and we have one of the best offenses they have faced. Not saying we should win this one by any means, but come on.

If we protect the football and do what we can to slow down their run game, I think we have a puncher’s chance. Would not have said that right after the BC game, but we have seen what is possible when we are hitting on all cylinders.

Actually, 19 points says to me 4 FG’s and 1 TD, or 5 scores. That sounds about right to me for our offense. I just think their defense is elite and we’ll have trouble in the red zone. They’ll also have 5 scores, but much more success with their power run game in our red zone.
I’ll be most curious to see if our O line can block these guys. We know what will happen when they have the ball. Handoff right, handoff left, run up the middle…

 

[g0lftime]

Dabo said they had 10 starters out against ND. That RB that replaced Shipley will be tough to stop. ND QB helped them by throwing interceptions. We will need to win the TO margin and field position to win.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Actually, 19 points says to me 4 FG’s and 1 TD, or 5 scores. That sounds about right to me for our offense. I just think their defense is elite and we’ll have trouble in the red zone. They’ll also have 5 scores, but much more success with their power run game in our red zone.
I’ll be most curious to see if our O line can block these guys. We know what will happen when they have the ball. Handoff right, handoff left, run up the middle…

I actually think our D will stiffen in the Redzone. If they don't score TDs from outside the red zone, I think we can hold them to FGs.

 

[gville_jacket]

You did read my whole post, right? You did see that I said we had 2 ways to react, right? We're not going to gash Clemson like we did UNC and UVa, but that doesn't mean we won't be able to move the ball. It all depends on how we react. This will be the best DL we've seen.

I did, sorry if it came out like I was arguing or something. Just noticed a general tone across posts that we’d just crumble or something and your comment happened to be the one I replied to. You’re absolutely right though, we gotta act like we deserve to be on that field and step up to the challenge.

 

[78pike]

My impression is that Clemson is strong where we are weak. Best defense in ACC, strong line on both sides of the ball, power running game, etc.

In theory they could limit our offense and slowly grind us down. As has been pointed out, they are loaded with talent. If we beat Clemson it will mean Coach Key has accomplished one of the most dramatic turnarounds in a coach’s first year in the history of college football.

So, two things. One. Beating Clemson is not at all likely. Two. If Tech miraculously wins, there are those who will immediately reassess Clemson, LOL.

Despite all that talent they have still lost 4 games just like us but all of them in the ACC. Until this past Saturday they hadn't beaten anyone of note. That said, yes they have a lot of talent. And yes they have talented offensive and defensive lines. But we have faced lines just as talented in UNC and Miami and have beaten both. I think the point spread for this game is more reflective of their win this past Saturday than how they have performed YTD. The game is in Clemson but playing on the road is kind of our thing. So we will see if we can overcome their talent with heart and "consistency". I'm looking forward to seeing how we measure up.

 

[AUFC]

What sections are assigned as visiting GT fans seats? Trying to get 2 tickets close to GT fans.

TDT - tickets came in this evening.

 

[FightWinDrink]

Having trouble buying the 34-19 score predicted by SP+. For one thing, Clemson’s average opponent score is 21, and we have one of the best offenses they have faced. Not saying we should win this one by any means, but come on.

If we protect the football and do what we can to slow down their run game, I think we have a puncher’s chance. Would not have said that right after the BC game, but we have seen what is possible when we are hitting on all cylinders.

We’ve pretty much confused all the advance metrics since we have a weird mix of solid wins and awful losses

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Despite all that talent they have still lost 4 games just like us but all of them in the ACC. Until this past Saturday they hadn't beaten anyone of note. That said, yes they have a lot of talent. And yes they have talented offensive and defensive lines. But we have faced lines just as talented in UNC and Miami and have beaten both. I think the point spread for this game is more reflective of their win this past Saturday than how they have performed YTD. The game is in Clemson but playing on the road is kind of our thing. So we will see if we can overcome their talent with heart and "consistency". I'm looking forward to seeing how we measure up.

Agree that the point spread was startlingly high.

 

[GT33]

Dabo is not a coach that exploits game strategy, he's more of a rah rah front man. When they've done well it was more on his assitstant coaches than him. Tyler from East Bumfudge did us no favors getting Dabo fired up and Dabo did what Dabo did best, he fired up his team and pulled off a huge upset against ND. Don't think they're not gonna come out fired up against us. Better in this case to have let sleeping dogs lie.

This is going to be a good test of who we really are. We sleepwalked thru BG and got plastered, had 2 flat tires against BC, got just what the doctor ordered in a unc team we can always whip with a decent game plan and we did despite being vastly overmatched on paper, and we went to hooville where we typically lay an egg and knocked off a crippled team in businesslike fashion.

Clemson is no joke. They have Top 10 talent. Sometime that talent is able to overcome poor coaching. We better be ready.

 

[stech81]

Clemson is no joke. They have Top 10 talent. Sometime that talent is able to overcome poor coaching. We better be ready.

I agree I think Clemson is better than most on here think. We would have been better playing them early in the year.
Not saying we can't win but I don't like our odds. I just think their offense is better than our defense.

 

[stinger78]

I think the BC game was a wakeup call for this GT team. They whipped WFU and then slept for BGSU, then played Miami straight up and won due to coaching malpractice, and then came out flat against BC. I think letting two games get away from them really focused them and the last two weeks have been good, hard-nosed football. This team can win when they play like that. They may not beat CU and UGAg, but they darn sure ought to beat SU at home. That game will be for the bowl game and an above .500 mark in the ACC for the second year IAR. Progress. We should finish the regular season at 6-6 but having had a great shot at 8-4, maybe even 9-3 counting the L'ville loss to start off with. That should be good motivation for next season.

 

[UgaBlows]

I don’t know if we will beat clem&son but I know for sure Coach Key will have our boys fired up and ready to play this rivalry game with everything they’ve got. If we can slow down their run game and get a few turnovers then we’ll give them orange bastards all they want.

 

[Root4GT]

Despite all that talent they have still lost 4 games just like us but all of them in the ACC. Until this past Saturday they hadn't beaten anyone of note. That said, yes they have a lot of talent. And yes they have talented offensive and defensive lines. But we have faced lines just as talented in UNC and Miami and have beaten both. I think the point spread for this game is more reflective of their win this past Saturday than how they have performed YTD. The game is in Clemson but playing on the road is kind of our thing. So we will see if we can overcome their talent with heart and "consistency". I'm looking forward to seeing how we measure up.

Neither UNC nor Miami have the defense talent Clemson has. This is up to our defense to actually contain Clemson's offense. If Clemson is smart, they aren't always smart. they should run run and run. We are one of the worst run defenses in Division 1. Then take a couple of deep shots when our safeties come up to help with run support.

On offense this will be a real test for the OL. The OL struggled against Miami's DL and Clemson has a more talented DL.

This will be a tough game for our guys!

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Anyone buying Clemson stock?

$11.5 million.