The 10th-ranked Clemson Tigers are on the road for the second straight week this Saturday as they head to Winston-Salem to take on the upset-minded Wake Forest Demon Deacons in ACC play.
Clemson (4-1 overall, 3-0 ACC) enters the game on a four-game winning streak after its 29-13 win over the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee last Saturday. In that game, the Tigers took a 17-0 first-quarter lead but were held to four Nolan Hauser field goals the rest of the night as they struggled to put points on the board in the red zone.
The defense had its most impressive effort of the season, albeit against a struggling Florida State offense with a backup quarterback in Brock Glenn. The Tigers held FSU to less than 200 yards until the Seminoles’ final possession with the game well in hand.
Dabo Swinney spoke this week about the need to focus on the opponent instead of outside noise. Last Saturday, the previously No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide lost 40-35 at Vanderbilt, and the Tennessee Volunteers (then No. 4) lost 19-14 at Arkansas.
Swinney said that “college football did (Clemson) a favor” with those upsets of top-ranked teams.”
“College football did us a favor because this is a week where, if you pay attention to what people say on the outside, they’re saying, ‘Well, this is a game we’re supposed to go win,'” Swinney said at his weekly Tuesday press conference. “This ain’t a game of ‘supposed to.’ This is a game of what you do. It’s a game of performance.
“That’s why I think we’ve been really consistent. We’ve created that windshield mentality for many, many years. I think we’re top four in the country in road wins since 2015 — maybe top three. And we’re the best in the country at home in the last 13 years.”
While experts and USA TODAY Sports’ six-member panel favor Clemson to beat Wake Forest, we’ve seen time and again this season that anything can happen in college football.
With the game fast approaching, here are our own Clemson Wire staff score predictions for Clemson vs. Wake Forest.
Alex Turri’s Prediction – Clemson 42, Wake Forest 10
No trap game here for the Tigers! Clemson is going to further establish their offensive dominance against the Demon Deacons who, even coming off a big win against NC State, are no match for this Clemson team. It’s weird to say after the way the season started, but I do have more worries about the Tigers’ defense in this one than the offense. The defense really needs to put it all together, and this is a great spot to do that.
Steve Holley’s Prediction – Clemson 41, Wake Forest 14
This is another week where Clemson is simply the better team. Can the Tigers capitalize on red-zone opportunities this week? While last week’s game against Florida State was never seriously in jeopardy after the first quarter, Swinney understandably wants the Tigers’ offense to finish drives. My guess is they do just that this week, while the defense has another strong showing.
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