The Clemson Tigers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will battle it out on Thursday at 7:30 p.m on ESPN, in an early showdown for supremacy in the ACC. Both the Clemson Tigers (3 – 0) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3 – 0) enter the pivotal game undefeated, but one of them will be facing their first loss of the season when the dirt settles at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The early line reads Clemson favored at -9, with an over/under set at 57.
Clemson Tigers:
The Clemson Tigers carry their number 5 ranking into the game, having won three of the last four meetings between the teams. In last year’s meeting in Death Valley, the Tigers came away with a 43 – 24 home win, en route to the NCAA Championship game, which of course was lost to Alabama 45 – 40.
Clemson has gotten off to a 3 – 0 start by defeating Auburn 19 – 13 on opening weekend, followed by a narrow 30 – 24 win over Troy, concluding with a 59 – 0 trouncing of South Carolina State last weekend.
The Tigers currently share a three-way tie at 3 – 0 for first place in the ACC Atlantic Division, alongside Louisville and Wake Forest.
Clemson QB Deshaun Watson has gotten off to a relatively slow start, throwing three interceptions, still without a rushing touchdown on the 2016 campaign. The junior has thrown for 692 yards, with a completion percentage of 56.9 hitting on 58 of 102 attempts. Wayne Gallman has carried the load in the back field, rushing for 46 attempts while gaining just under 200 yards in three games.
Mike Williams (14 / 242), Ray-Ray McCloud (13 / 154) and Artavis Scott (13 / 129) have enjoyed the bulk of the passes thrown this year, although the Tigers have had 20 different receivers catch at least one ball through three games.
Georgia Tech:
Georgia Tech sits alone atop the ACC Coastal Division with a 3 – 0 start, although they have one conference win under their belts from the 17 – 14 opening weekend win over Boston College. The Jackets won their second game of the year over Mercer 35 – 10, which was their home opener at Bobby Dodd Stadium on September 10.
Last weekend, Georgia Tech easily got past Vanderbilt 38 – 7 at home to reach 3 – 0, and the team will finish their four-game home stand with Clemson and Miami.
Tech QB Justin Thomas is leading the team in both passing and rushing, which is to be expected when you run the system the Yellow Jackets have been running for years. Thomas has only completed 19 of his 38 attempts for 335 yards (50%), but has run the ball for 169 yards on 28 dashes. Reasonably, by the end of this game, Georgia Tech could have seven players with over double-digit carries on the young season.
The Jackets racked up 511 overall yards last weekend against Vanderbilt, and were 8 for 15 converting on third down.
Notes:
The home team has won the last six contests, and Georgia Tech has won the last six games in the series at home, although they were listed as the home side in a neutral site game in Tampa back in 2009. Georgia Tech has won seven of the last nine games played in Atlanta.
Last season, Clemson jumped out to a 33 – 10 lead and cruised in the second half to a 43 – 23 win. Tigers’ RB Wayne Gallman scored twice in the first half, and contributed 115 yards on the ground, while eight different receivers combined to gain 336 yards in the air.
Tech QB Justin Thomas was limited to 6 of 14 passing in last year’s game, while only rushing for 14 yards on 3 carries. Ironically, no rushing touchdowns were responsible for any of the 24 points scored in the loss, as two TD passes and one defensive touchdown accounted for the three paths to the end zone.
Although the time of possession battle was equally distributed, GA Tech was only 1 for 12 on third down, while the Tigers amassed a 63% 3rd down efficiency, going 10 / 16.
Clemson is 4 – 10 ATS in their last 14 Conference games.
Clemson Under is 11 – 4 in their last 15 Thursday night games.
Georgia Tech is 14 -6- 1 ATS in their last 21 games in September.
Georgia Tech Under is 5 – 1 – 1 in their last seven games.
Fun Facts:
The first game that was played between the two teams came on November 24, 1898. The Clemson Tigers prevailed 23 – 0 in the only game that was ever played in Augusta, Georgia. The Tigers went on to win the first four meetings in the series, before an 11 – 11 stalemate took place in the 1904 contest.
Game Prediction:
With our play on this big ACC game, we suggest you look towards the home dog and make use of the 9 points being offered from the line setters. GA Tech should be able to keep Clemson’s offense off the field by using their ground game to eat up the clock,and limit the Tiger’s opportunities.
With the home crowd in tow, Georgia Tech +9 is the play.
