No. 5 Clemson heads to Atlanta on Thursday to face its cross-division rival Georgia Tech. ACC writers David Hale and Matt Fortuna break the matchup down.
How to beat Clemson: Contain the ground game. Clemson’s offense hasn’t looked particularly sharp in its first two games vs. FBS competition, and the ground game is perhaps the biggest reason why. In last year’s game, Georgia Tech allowed 115 yards to Wayne Gallman on 13 carries, but Gallman has largely been absent from the Tigers’ offense so far this season. Bottling up Deshaun Watson has added to the troubles for Clemson, and the offensive line has been inconsistent at best. All of that has forced Clemson to throw more than it might like, and the passing game hasn’t always clicked (as evidenced by the Troy game, when receivers dropped one pass after another). Force Clemson’s offense to play fine-tuned football, and Georgia Tech might get lucky. Give the Tigers a chance to ground and pound the ball, and it could be a long night. -- Hale
How to beat Georgia Tech: The formula should be very simple, although even that descriptor trivializes what has been one of college football’s most confounding attacks for nearly the last decade: The Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense. Take away the run, and, in theory, you’re going to force the Jackets to try to beat you through the air, which they are not supposed to be equipped to do. And yet, through this 3-0 start -- which cannot be discounted, given that Tech finished 3-9 a year ago -- the Jackets stole the opening game against Boston College by going 59 yards on 11 plays in less than three minutes, converting on both a fourth-and-19 pass and a third-and-10 toss to set up the winning touchdown in a 17-14 victory. In short, perhaps it’s as simple as having a three-year starter at quarterback in Justin Thomas, who also hit Marcus Marshall 81 yards for a touchdown this past weekend against Vanderbilt. Then again, two-year backup Matthew Jordan hit Clinton Lynch for a 77-yard score late in that game as well, so this offense has shown more than just hints that it can beat you in several different ways this season. -- Fortuna
How Clemson beats you: Enough talk about the Clemson offense. Last season, the Tigers’ D surrendered just 71 yards on the ground to Georgia Tech -- a somewhat astonishing feat given the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense. The names on Clemson’s D have changed this year, particularly up front, but Christian Wilkins, Carlos Watkins and Ben Boulware are still there, with SAM linebacker Dorian O'Daniel poised for another big day. If Clemson has even half as much success stuffing Georgia Tech’s running game this time around, the Jackets don’t have a chance. -- Hale
How Georgia Tech beats you: Yes, there’s that rushing attack. But the Jackets swallowed Clemson in their win two years ago by making big plays defensively, as they picked off the Tigers three times and brought two of those interceptions back for long touchdown returns. The defense has looked sharp so far, giving up just 31 points over three games -- a 10.33 scoring average that is tied for seventh nationally -- and it stood firm last week against Vanderbilt, recovering from a 75-yard touchdown drive on the first drive of the game to then surrender just 200 yards of offense and zero points to an SEC opponent the rest of the way. When Tech’s defense has it going and is forcing takeaways, that makes it extra frustrating for an opposing offense, which has to wait longer than usual before seeing the ball again. -- Fortuna
Clemson's X factor: Ray-Ray McCloud. The sophomore made news when he appeared to return a punt 75 yards for a touchdown, only to prematurely flip the ball before crossing the goal line. Lost in the gaffe was that he did, after all, run through coverage for 75 yards. Against South Carolina State a week later, he had another 30-yard punt return, and he’s caught 11 balls for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the last two weeks. It’s been a slow emergence for the highly-recruited receiver, but he has a big-play skill set in both the passing game, where he’ll fill in for the injured Hunter Renfrow, and on special teams, where he currently ranks second nationally in punt return yards. -- Hale
Georgia Tech’s X factor: Qua Searcy. There’s nothing necessarily deceptive about the redshirt sophomore A-back, but he’s been the team’s most versatile threat out of the backfield through three games: Searcy has rushed for 99 yards on 11 carries and has caught six passes for 97 yards -- including the aforementioned fourth-and-19 pass late in the opener in Dublin, which netted 22 yards. -- Fortuna
Prediction:
Hale: Don’t be surprised if this is a bit closer than most people expect given the short week, Clemson’s struggles for offensive chemistry and the monster matchup looming next week against Louisville. Dabo Swinney doesn’t let his team fall victim to trap games much, but it’s worth remembering that Clemson hasn’t won in Atlanta since 2003. Clemson 31, Georgia Tech 27.
Fortuna: This has all the makings of being a “sleeper” game given the aforementioned circumstances, along with Tech clicking on both sides of the ball. Then again, we said similar things about last year’s game and it wasn’t close. Clemson 35, Georgia Tech 20.