I know Virginia Tech is awful tempting as a Thursday night home dog, but Clemson is the better football team and the smart play tonight. This Tiger team is solid on both sides of the football, and for the first time in many years, the Hokies are not. Home cheering and a lot of pregame whooping around can only get you so far. Clemson will come out ready to show why it believes it's one the country's best football teams tonight in this solid road win and cover.
If you watched the Tigers, who have covered nine of their last 11 ACC games dating back to last year, dominate Georgia Tech 31-7 last Saturday night, then you know this team can play defense. They've beaten up some patsies and moved on after some key injuries, too, but this unit has speed and hits hard. Clemson is ranked fourth nationally in allowing only 230 yards per game, and seventh in scoring defense (12.5 ppg). They stuff the run (72 ypg) and Va Tech's pedestrian offense is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry and has allowed 21 sacks on the year. Unlike past seasons, the Hokies can't effectively run the football and are getting less-than stellar play from the quarterback position. Starter Sean Glennon has some decent stats (against mostly weak competition), but his feet are really slow and he'll go down hard several times tonight. His backup, the quicker Ike Whittaker, will get snaps, but he will also make mistakes that will turn into easy Tiger points.
Virginia Tech's defense is down from recent Hokie editions. They did beat up on patsies, but struggled to contain better offensive attacks in Boston College and Georgia Tech. Clemson's offense is better than those two teams. It has a stout running game and is ranked fourth nationally in rushing (259 ypg) after blasting a pretty good Georgia Tech defense for 321 yards last week. I think the ACC's top runner, James Davis (961 yards, 16TDs), will battle through a shoulder injury and play. But even he's not 100 percent, the Tigers have a good one in speedster C.J. Spiller, who went for 116 against the Yellow Jackets. Either way, the Hokies will stack the box with eight men and make Clemson beat them with the pass.
I'm looking for Tiger quarterback Will Procter (62 percent completion rate, 1407 yds, 11 TDs, 6 INTs) to have a sound night throwing the football. The senior has been steady but hasn't been asked to do much the last three contests. He will tonight and he'll get a boost with the return from injury of reciever Chansi Stuckey, the conference's leading pass catcher a year ago. Spiller and Davis can also catch the ball out of the backfield and they'll make plays, as well. There's no way in the world a team would look past Virgian Tech on a Thursday night in Blacksburg. Both teams had the same amount of time to prepare for this one and the bottom line is that Clemson is the far superior football team this season. The Tigers let one get away at Boston College earlier this year, but learned how to win on the road at FSU. Still, they came out very flat later at Wake Forest before rallying big time in the fourth quarter. They know not to come out slow tonight. The Tigers will be ready from the opening kickoff and will punch the Hokies in the chops in this Clemson double digit victory