Clemson vs. App State Prediction: The Tigers look to avoid upset vs. Mountaineers

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A night home game in Death Valley might be just what everybody needs.

Clemson’s opener last week in Atlanta was a dud, leaving fans wanting more, especially from the offense. Will we see more this week? The good news is that the weather is supposed to be close to perfect, the Death Valley lights will be in full effect, and the fans will fill the stadium for a real game for the first time since last November.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

NO. 25/22 CLEMSON (0-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. RV/RV APP STATE (1-0, 0-0 SUN BELT)

WHEN: SATURDAY, SEPT. 7, 8 P.M. ET
WHERE: MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500), CLEMSON, S.C.
TELEVISION: ACC Network (Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill, Dana Boyle)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM 161 or 193

CLEMSON/APP STATE SERIES HISTORY

- OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 5-0
- HOME: Clemson leads series, 5-0
- ROAD: N/A
- NEUTRAL: N/A
- LAST MEETING: Sept. 12, 2015 (41-10, W)
- STREAK: Clemson, Won 5

NOTABLE

HOME OPENERS: Even though 2024 represents the 129th season of Clemson Football, Clemson has had just 123 home openers in its history as a function of the five seasons in which Clemson did not play a game at home. Clemson has a 98-17-8 record in 123 home openers. Clemson is 35-2 in home openers since 1987, with its only losses in Death Valley debuts in that span coming in 1999 and 2003. Clemson has won 20 straight home openers, with the last loss coming in Dabo Swinney’s first year as an assistant coach in 2003.

*Clemson has been right at home in non-conference contests at Memorial Stadium in recent years, going 29-1 in its last 30 non-conference home games. Clemson had won 26 straight until a one-point loss to South Carolina in November 2022. Previously, Clemson’s longest unbeaten streak (including ties) in non-conference home games was a 20-game unbeaten streak from 1978-84 that saw ties against Boston College and Georgia interrupt winning streaks of 12 games, four games and two games. Since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953, Clemson is 131-33-4 at home against opponents from other conferences. That includes a 39-4 mark in nonconference games at Death Valley under Head Coach Dabo Swinney.

*Clemson’s 8 p.m. ET kickoff against Appalachian State will be Clemson’s first night game of the 2024 season and its 61st night game since the start of the 2015 season. In that time, Clemson is 49-11 in night games, including a 28-8 mark since the start of the 2018 season. Clemson has won its last 20 night games in Death Valley, a streak that dates to the middle of the 2013 season. Overall, Clemson is 23-3 under the Death Valley lights in Dabo Swinney’s tenure.

*App State defensive coordinator Scot Sloan is a Clemson alum who played defensive back for the Tigers from 1989-91. Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, meanwhile, was App State’s running backs coach during the Mountaineers’ 13-1 season in 2019.

*Head coach Shawn Clark was App State’s starting left tackle at Clemson in the 1997 opener, which the Tigers won 23-12. App State QB Bake Baker threw for 292 yards and was sacked only once.

*App State backup QB Billy Wiles started his career at Clemson before transferring to Southern Miss. App State’s starting QB in 2021 and 2022, Chase Brice, began his career at Clemson and was a key figure in the 2018 national title run. He came off the bench to help erase a fourth-quarter deficit of 10 points vs. Syracuse in the first start by Trevor Lawrence, who left with an injury.

ABOUT APP STATE

After beginning his second straight season with a touchdown throw on his first pass attempt of the year, QB Joey Aguilar finished with 326 yards passing, two touchdown throws and two rushing TDs in the 38-10 win against ETSU in the 2024 opener. He is the nation’s only returning FBS QB who had 33-plus touchdown passes and 3,700-plus passing yards in 2023.

In addition to his 33 TD passes in 2023, a total that ranked fifth nationally, Aguilar also set school records of 3,757 passing yards and 4,002 yards of total offense in 2023. His 15 touchdown passes to either tie a game or give his team a lead led the country.

WR Kaedin Robinson opened 2024 with eight catches for 103 yards after tying for the Sun Belt lead last year with 10 touchdown receptions while catching 67 passes for 905 yards — the most single-season receiving yards by an App State player in the FBS era. Moving to the slot, he had eight catches for a career-high 118 yards in the 13-9 victory in the Cure Bowl, and he was back in the slot to start the 2024 season. TE Eli Wilson, a Wren High product, had a critical 34-yard TD catch in the 2024 opener. He ranked in the top three among Sun Belt tight ends in catches (34), yards (350) and touchdown catches (five) in 2023.

In the 2024 opener, App State recorded three sacks over the final 18 minutes. OLB Thomas Davis accounted for 1.5 of them on back-to-back plays late in the third quarter, with help from DE Kevin Abrams-Verwayne on one, and ILB Derrell Farrar also had a sack. ILB Kyle Arnholt posted a team-high 10 tackles as the Mountaineers limited ETSU to 305 total yards, with 80 coming on their only touchdown of the day.

ILB Brendan Harrington had six tackles, including one tackle for loss, in his inspiring return to the lineup against ETSU. He has shown incredible toughness and perseverance after suffering season-ending injuries early in the 2022 season (shoulder injury in the opener vs. North Carolina) and the 2023 season (knee injury in Week 2 against UNC).

ABOUT CLEMSON

Clemson’s offense mustered just three points in the loss to the Bulldogs last week. Clemson won the toss and elected to receive. Cade Klubnik’s first pass – to a wide open Phil Mafah – bounced off the turf. Things didn’t get any better as penalties, missed opportunities and drops plagued the offense all day.

The Tigers finally moved across midfield on the first drive of the second half and had a 1st-and-goal at the seven, but a third-down pass into the endzone was lost in the lights (would've been called back for a penalty though) and Clemson settled for a field goal, its lone points of the day.

Defensively, the Tigers held Georgia to just six points in the first half. Defensive lineman Peter Woods, defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart, and defensive end T.J. Parker pushed the pocket and limited the Georgia run game. The Bulldogs adjusted and scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions in the second half.

This week? Clemson has to find some offensive efficiency – and an identity. After last season and the first game of this season, I don’t know what that identity is. Getting Mafah more touches would be great, and I’d start by getting Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore on the field. Both freshmen played sparingly in the loss, and if I was given the key to the offense, I would play those two, Antonio Williams, and Tyler Brown, and Troy Stellato and let the chips fall.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

There is always a hope that somehow, some way, this offense finds its groove. But mistakes doomed any progress last season, and more mistakes popped up in game one. App State is no pushover and they’re coming to win. Aguilar is not an elite quarterback, but he gets the ball to his playmakers and manages the offense. This one might be tight into the third quarter, but the Tigers find a way to pull away.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 34, APP ST. 14

TigerNet picks

David Hood - TigerNet senior writer - 34-14 Clemson
Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 30-16 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 38-17 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 34-17 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 31-17 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - 35-10 Clemson
Ariana Pensy - Intern - 30-10 Clemson
Merrell Mann - Photographer - 31-10 Clemson
Brooks Thomason - Intern - 31-13 Clemson
Grayson Mann - Staff writer - 28-10 Clemson

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