So which version of Clemson shows up? There's the one that put up 36 at Florida State, and there's the one that couldn't finish drives in Syracuse. The defense has carried them lately. Over the last 2 weeks it has given up 24 and 13, and it shut out Charleston Southern 37-0 before that. The bad days have been really bad, though: a 41-13 home loss to Miami and a 20-16 home loss to Virginia Tech.
Charleston Southern37-0
For Georgia Tech, the problem is the defense, not the offense. The Jackets have scored in the 20s in most of these games, but they've allowed 34, 49, 34 and 44 during the losing streak. Boston College hung 49 on them in Atlanta. A team that can't stop the run is now going on the road to play a Clemson team that just went a full game without an offensive touchdown. If Clemson's ground game can't get going against this defense, that should worry people in the upstate.
The setting matters too. It's an 11:30 AM CT kickoff at Memorial Stadium, with a forecast of 54 degrees, clear skies and wind around 14 mph. That's enough breeze to bother kickers, and Clemson relied on its kicker plenty at Syracuse. Tech is trying to avoid what the AJC called its first 10-loss season in decades. Clemson is trying to show that its offense from the Florida State win wasn't a one-off.
Nothing big is on the line, apart from Tech's pride and Clemson's bowl seeding. The real question is whether Clemson's offense can score touchdowns against a defense that has given up 34 or more 4 weeks running. If it can't, this stays closer than it should.
