Clemson vs. UConn Prediction: A perfect fall afternoon in Death Valley

Clemson takes on UConn at noon.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 12 15:18:34 GMT-04:00 2021

A sun-splashed autumn afternoon in Death Valley, purple as far as the eye can see, and a chance to honor our heroes. What could be better than a sunny, 61-degree day watching football on Military Appreciation Day in Death Valley?

Nobody does Military Appreciation Day better than Clemson, and the festivities start bright and early on Bowman Field and hit their peak when the Tigers take on UConn at noon. The opponent isn’t the best, but it’s another day spent in one of college football’s most beautiful spots.

NR/RV CLEMSON (6-3, 5-2 ACC) vs. UCONN (1-8, FBS INDEPENDENT)

WHEN: SATURDAY, NOV. 13, NOON ET
WHERE: MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500), CLEMSON, S.C.
TELEVISION: ACC Network (Wes Durham, Roddy Jones, Taylor Davis)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius 136, XM 194, Internet/App 956

NOTABLE

*Saturday marks the first game between the two schools on the gridiron.

*Clemson enters Saturday's meeting with UConn with an all-time record of 774-465-45. A win on Saturday would be Clemson's 775th all-time and would make Clemson the 14th FBS program ever to reach 775 wins.

*A victory Saturday would also extend the nation's longest home winning streak, as the Tigers enter the game having won 32 consecutive games at Death Valley since 2016. With a 33rd straight home win, Clemson would tie 1900-03 Harvard, 1901-06 Nebraska and 1995-2000 Marshall (33 each) for the 15th-longest home winning streak in FBS history. UConn would become the 22nd different program Clemson has defeated at home during its current streak.

*Clemson is facing an opponent for the first time in school history for the fourth time in the last five years, including series-opening wins against Kent State (2017), Georgia Southern (2018) and Charlotte (2019).

*Clemson is facing its 106th different opponent in program history. Clemson is 63-38-4 all-time in its first meeting with its 105 existing opponents, including a 14-1 mark in first meetings since 2003. Clemson has won 16 of its last 18 games when making its all-time debut against a new opponent.

*Clemson is attempting to win a 24th consecutive non-conference home game. Clemson’s active 23-game non-conference winning streak at home is the longest such winning streak in program history. Clemson's last home loss in non-conference play was in 2012.

*Dabo Swinney is attempting to earn his 147th career win in his 14th season (including an interim stint in 2008) to tie Tom Osborne (147) for the fourth-most wins through the first 15 seasons of a coaching career in FBS history.

*Clemson is attempting to stay undefeated on ACC Network broadcasts since appearing in the channel's first live game broadcast in the 2019 season opener. Clemson went 4-0 on ACCN in 2019, 3-0 on ACCN in 2020 and is 3-0 on the network this season.

*Clemson attempting to improve to 115-13 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney. A win would make Clemson 92-3 against unranked teams since the start of the 2012 season.

MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY

Clemson, formally founded as Clemson Agricultural College in November 1889, was originally a military school, reflecting a belief at the time that a military atmosphere produced the highest academic excellence. Beginning with the first graduating class of 1896, more than 10,000 Clemson men and women have served in the armed forces. Throughout the decades, Clemson's military heritage has remained, even as the university transitioned to a coeducational civilian institution in 1955.

Saturday’s game against UConn will be Clemson's 28th Military Appreciation Day. The history of the special day dates to 1994 when Clemson had a special flyover for the Clemson vs. Georgia Tech game on Nov. 12, just one day after Veterans Day. The flyover of four F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base during pregame was the highlight of the celebration that day. Clemson has celebrated its military history every year since during games held in November or when Clemson plays host to a school with its own military heritage. Clemson has a 23-4 record in the previous 27 Military Appreciation Day games. The Tigers have won 13 such games in a row, with the last loss coming against Virginia Tech in 2007.

WHAT WE NEED TO SEE

*Play to the standard. This Clemson team hasn’t put together a complete game this season, and while the opponent isn’t the best, this is a chance to go out and play well. Let’s face it, UConn lost to Holy Cross and barely beat Yale, and they haven’t played in three weeks. Interim head coach Lou Spanos said earlier this week that this is simply a chance to make some memories for the Huskies, and that gives you some insight into what they’re thinking. But that doesn’t mean the Tigers can come out and overlook UConn and stumble around for a half before putting them away. Swinney always says that Best Is Standard. Saturday is a good chance to play like that still means something.

*Offensive line attitude. We all know that if you want to play well along the offensive line, you have to play technically sound. But it would be great to see this offensive line go out and dominate somebody. I stopped just a little bit ago and shared some BBQ with former Tiger defensive lineman Jamie Cumbie, and we talked about the old offensive lines that had Roman Fry and Dustin Fry and Nathan Bennett and Barry Richardson. Nice guys off the field – heck my wife and TigerNet writer Nikki shared classes with them – but between the white lines they were nasty. Animals. It would be great to see that kind of attitude again. And if you want some great stories, go see Cumbie. He tells some of the best.

*Break 400 yards of total offense. The offense has played better in recent weeks, and while I don’t think that stats tell the entire story, the Tigers have broken 400 yards of total offense just twice this season – 504 against SC State and then 438 against Boston College. Then it was 314 (Syracuse), 315 (Pitt), 377 (Florida St.), and 345 (Louisville). There have been first halves where they were on track to break 400 yards easy, but miserable third quarters have led to fourth quarters that didn’t need to be exciting. Make it easy – get those yards and points early.

*Play the kids. We haven’t seen a lot of some of the younger players like Troy Stellato and Tristan Leigh, but Saturday is that chance. Roll them out there.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

This is a hard one to predict when it comes to the final score. You figure the offense will score points, but with so many starters battling nagging injuries and a big game looming next week against Wake, Swinney might elect to pull some guys after two or three scores. That means a lot of guys who haven’t seen the field this season because the games have been so close will finally get a chance to play. We know what that looks like, even when the opponent is overmatched. My guess? The young guys play well.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 47, UCONN 6

More TigerNet picks

Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 49-6 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 40-3 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 48-10 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 45-6 Clemson
Zachary Wagner - Intern - 42-7 Clemson
Jake Pierce - Recruiting reporter - Clemson 38-3
Pigskin Prophet - 41-0 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - Clemson 49-3

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Wagner	Pierce	Prophet	Kantor
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	-
GT	14-8 CU	41-13 CU	51-10 CU	45-10 CU	45-13 CU	38-7 CU	45-7 CU	38-13 CU	48-10 CU	31-3 CU
NCST	27-21 2OT NCST	23-20 CU	27-13 CU	17-7 CU	24-17 CU	24-9 CU	24-3 CU	28-17 CU	24-16 CU	24-6 CU
BC	19-13 CU	24-20 CU	24-13 CU	24-13 CU	27-17 CU	24-9 CU	24-21 CU	24-20 CU	23-16 CU	23-21 BC
Syracuse	17-14 CU	31-20 CU	31-17 CU	38-14 CU	26-16 CU	27-13 CU	24-13 CU	27-13 CU	30-17 CU	23-13 CU
Pittsburgh	27-17 Pitt	27-23 Pitt	23-21 CU	24-17 Pitt	24-23 Pitt	21-20 Pitt	24-21 CU	31-27 CU	24-23 CU	21-19 Pitt
FSU	30-20 CU	20-13 CU	27-14 CU	28-10 CU	24-17 CU	28-13 CU	27-10 CU	23-14 CU	27-16 CU	24-14 CU
LOU	30-24 CU	27-20 CU	23-16 CU	23-20 CU	21-16 CU	24-17 CU	27-10 CU	23-17 CU	27-16 CU	24-21 CU
Points	-	9	8	11	7	9	6	6	8	9

* 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