Points to focus on
1. Clemson has won 45 of their last 47 at home. Their 2 losses? A 1 point loss to SC at home & an OT loss to FSU last year who went undefeated. They don't lose there often. It's at night too. It's a night game.
2. They are coming off a bye week & we are coming off a brutal stretch of games. We've played GT, ND, SMU, UVA, Miami, and BC all in a row and every one of those games pretty much came down to the last drive. We've had some injuries and Lacy won't be coming down there with us either. They got to rest up and we're going to be beat up.
3. They're a pretty good team. I don't know if they're elite, but they're great. They were up 52-7 on NC State before they called off the dogs. They were up 38-10 in the 4th quarter before UVA got some late garbage points(our only mutual opponents). Outside of their Georgia loss, they've pretty much dominated most all of their opponents. We have played better opponents. Neither team has beaten a good opponent, but Clemson hasn't struggled in their games where they're clearly better. So they seem to handle business.
4. This is probably their biggest home game this season too. They will be loud and they know winning this puts them in the driver's seat for an ACC title berth and moves them up in the rankings to possibly sneak in an at-large berth. They're playing for something at home in primetime.
5. Even in wins, we've played sloppy on the road the last 2 years. Can our team be mistake free facing one of the loudest crowds in football? It's one thing to close out wins against weak crowds at UVA and BC, but Death Valley is tough for everyone.
I personally just think it's the situation rather than the team we have. If we were coming off a bye and playing at home, I'd feel really good. But they are coming off a bye and are at home. We're beat up after a tough stretch of games.
