Clemson has had many close games this year. All of them have something in common. They struggled to run the ball with less than 4 yards per carry in all 5 close games decided by a TD or less. Pittsburgh, Florida State, NC State, Troy, and Auburn. Virginia Tech has a solid defense overall they are very balanced and have the opportunity to stop an average rushing offense.
Thatâs not the only reason Iâm leaning towards the Hokies today. Clemson has given up a ton of points to teams who can pass the ball. Virginia Tech ranks 13th in QB rating and 36th in passing yards behind the excellent play of an experience QB in Jerrod Evans. Three other games vs. a team that can pass the ball like Virginia Tech and this Clemson defense gave up 43, 34, and 36 points. So I think this should be a relatively high scoring game that will be in doubt in the third quarter. I think Virginia Tech could pull a shocker as Clemson has a ton of pressure in this game. If you remember last year they struggled with North Carolina. I think Virginia Tech is a big wild card in this game because they do everything well including special teams. As long as they are not turning the ball over they could win this game. In their loss against Tennessee earlier in the year they were -4 TO margin and I thought they should have won that game. They were -3 against Georgia Tech and -1 vs. Syracuse. Thatâs the one thing Clemson has also struggled with is the turnovers as they have had 23 turnovers on the year 1 more than Virginia Tech whose struggles have mostly been on fumbles and bad luck recovering them.
