Clemson vs. Georgia Tech Prediction: Tigers try to keep Bees out of the endzone

Clemson hosts GT Saturday at 3:30 pm.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Sep 17 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2021

Another day in the Valley and the start of ACC play.

No. 6 Clemson opens up league play Saturday afternoon in Death Valley, hosting Georgia Tech in a 3:30 pm tilt. The Tigers destroyed the Yellow Jackets 73-7 last season in Atlanta and won 52-14 in Geoff Collins’ first year as head coach in 2019. That means in Collins’ two seasons, Clemson has outscored Georgia Tech 125-21.

NO. 6/6 CLEMSON (1-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. GEORGIA TECH (1-1, 0-0 ACC)

WHEN: SATURDAY, SEPT. 18, 3:30 P.M. ET
WHERE: MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500), CLEMSON, S.C
TELEVISION: ABC (Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky, Kris Budden)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius 85, XM 85, Internet 85

CLEMSON/GEORGIA TECH SERIES HISTORY

OVERALL: Clemson trails series, 33-51-2
HOME: Clemson leads series, 16-6
ROAD: Clemson trails series, 15-44-2
NEUTRAL: Clemson leads, 2-1
LAST MEETING: Oct. 17, 2020 (73-7, W)
STREAK: Clemson, Won 6

NOTABLE

*Georgia Tech holds a 51-33-2 lead in the series against Clemson, but Clemson has a 22-17 lead since Georgia Tech joined the ACC prior to the 1983 football season. Clemson has won a program-record six in a row against Georgia Tech.

Prior to the current six-game winning streak, Clemson had won four in a row over the Yellow Jackets just three times, including the first four games of the series from 1898-1903 as well as a four-game stretch from 1993-96. Dabo Swinney was already the first Clemson coach to beat Georgia Tech four consecutive times and will attempt to push that streak to seven with a win this year. Clemson had multiple coaches in the two Clemson four-game winning streaks in the series predating the current streak.

*Clemson is attempting to win a 30th consecutive home game to extend its school record for both the longest home winning streak and longest home unbeaten streak in school history (as well as extend the nation’s longest active home winning streak). Of the 135 players on Clemson’s 2021 roster, 130 have never experienced a home loss in their Clemson careers. Five sixth-year “super seniors” on Clemson’s 2021 roster were on the 2016 team that recovered from a home loss to Pitt by winning the national championship that season.

Clemson is attempting to win its seventh consecutive game against Georgia Tech, dating to a 43-24 home win in 2015. It would extend Clemson’s longest winning streak in the all-time series, as the current six-game streak already surpassed four-game winning streaks across the 1898-1903 seasons and the 1993-96 campaigns. - Clemson attempting to win a seventh straight home contest against Georgia Tech, dating back to 2010. The current six-game home winning streak against the Yellow Jackets is already Clemson’s longest such streak in the series history.

*Clemson has held both Georgia and SC State without an offensive touchdown this season. If the Tigers hold GT out of the endzone (offensively) Saturday? Clemson can hold three consecutive offenses out of the end zone for the first time since 1990 (Appalachian State, Duke and Georgia). Clemson is also attempting to not allow an offensive touchdown in all of the first three games of a season for the first time since 1950, when Clemson shut out Presbyterian, Missouri and NC State in the season's first three contests.

*Clemson is attempting to win a 36th consecutive game against teams unranked in the AP Poll. Clemson's last defeat at the hands of an unranked squad came in 2017 at Syracuse. Clemson is 109-12 against AP unranked teams under Dabo Swinney.

FIVE THINGS WE WANT TO SEE

*Explosive pass plays. The Georgia Tech secondary is supposed to be the strength of this team, and they’ve recruited well at the position. But even the receivers for Northern Illinois were running wide open up and down the field. Add in the fact that the Yellow Jacket front four doesn’t get much of a push and it sets up for a good day through the air. Clemson didn’t take many shots down the field against Georgia (no time), and then didn’t take many last week (no need to, Bulldogs played deep coverages), so it would be nice to see the downfield passing game get in synch.

*Time to get the tight ends involved. One former tight end told me this week that, “the tight end is always open.” That’s mostly true because tight ends can be a matchup nightmare, and teams like Notre Dame and Boston College use that position with great effectiveness. Clemson tight ends have combined for seven catches for 45 yards. Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer has 16 all by himself. Now that Tony Elliott is coaching this group, I had hoped to see more production. Maybe that gets going this week.

*A little more of this Will Taylor guy. Will Taylor was nicknamed “Maverick” by Tony Elliott, and he’s been impressive in limited duty over the first few weeks. He had a 51-yard punt return against SC State and it looked like he had a long touchdown run, but it was called back because of a penalty. I hope we see a few more plays out of him in the kicking game, at quarterback, and maybe even a few at wide receiver.

*Time for the defensive line to tee off. We have no idea who is going to play quarterback for the Yellow Jackets. It could be Jordan Yates. Incumbent starter Jeff Sims had his arm in a sling after the loss to Northern Illinois, so Yates became the first Georgia Tech quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in his first start. The redshirt freshman appeared poised as he completed 17 of 22 passes for 254 yards. Sims dressed out last week and was available, but no one knows who will take the field first this week. My guess is we will see both at some point. But this isn’t your conventional passing attack, and both Georgia and SC State used the quick game to slow down the pass rush. It would be good to see this defensive line finally break free for three or four sacks.

*Nothing against the veteran linebackers, who are fantastic and fun to watch, but I like watching the youngsters, too. LaVonta Bentley comes at you with bad intentions, and players like Kane Patterson and Keith Maguire have been solid. Jeremiah Trotter and Barrett Carter have been impressive in limited action, and you have to like what you see out of Sergio Allen. This group is deep and talented. More please.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

If I was Georgia Tech, I would stack the box and make Clemson beat me through the air. The lack of a pass rush and spotty secondary play might lead one to think otherwise, but that’s why you do it – stop the running game and make quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and the receivers make quick decisions. I just don’t know if this Tech staff are great game managers, however, and they will come out and do the “we do what we do” thing. Expect Uiagalelei and the receivers to get a little more comfortable, the running game to be effective, and someone will break a big play here or there. It might take a little while to get going, especially if it’s raining, but it will get going.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 41, GEORGIA TECH 13

More TigerNet picks

Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 51-10 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 45-10 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 45-13 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 38-7 Clemson
Zachary Wagner - Intern - 45-7 Clemson
Jake Pierce - Recruiting reporter - Clemson 38-13
Pigskin Prophet - 48-10 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - Clemson 31-3

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Mickey Plyler	Nikki Hood	Brandon Rink	Tony Crumpton	Zachary Wagner	Jake Pierce	Pigskin Prophet
Georgia	10-3 UGA	27-20 CU	27-23 CU	24-17 CU	27-23 CU	28-24 CU	28-17 CU	31-20 CU	23-17 CU
SC State	49-3 CU	55-3 CU	54-0 CU	56-7 CU	61-7 CU	49-7 CU	55-10 CU	45-0 CU	45-0 CU
Points	-	1	1	1	1	3	1	1	1

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner