The Clemson Tigers are back in the College Football Playoff for the first time in four years, but they’ll be facing a tough opponent in the first round in the fourth-ranked Texas Longhorns.
Clemson (10-3 overall) reached the playoffs by defeating SMU, 34-31, in an instant classic in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 7, giving Dabo Swinney his seventh CFP appearance as Tigers coach.
Texas (11-2) was already a lock for the playoffs after reaching the SEC title game. The Longhorns fell to the Georgia Bulldogs, 22-19, in overtime.
On Wednesday, Fox Sports college football analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt gave his thoughts on Clemson vs. Texas heading into weekend. Klatt predicted that the Longhorns’ defense would be too much for Cade Klubnik and the Tigers to overcome:
“Klubnik and this Clemson offense is going to go up against one of the better secondaries in the country. This is why I just don’t believe Clemson is going to, all the sudden, turn on this offensive firepower that we haven’t really seen all year, in particular in games against quality defenses.”
While Clemson has shown such firepower in games against NC State and other ACC teams, Klatt pointed to the Tigers’ Week 1 blowout loss to Georgia when they were held to three points in a 34-3 defeat. He also noted that the Tigers had scored 14 points in the loss to rival South Carolina to close the regular season.
Klatt added:
“Texas has the No. 1 pass defense in America. They’ve done that with a Thorpe Award winner, Jahdae Barron. They’ve got an All-American safety in Michael Taaffe. By the way, he was Klubnik’s high school teammate. They’ve got a former teammate from Clemson in the other safety, Andrew Mukuba. He played with Klubnik at Clemson last year and transferred over to Texas so here he is facing his former team.
“This is a defense that probably plays pretty well in this game. They’re at home, they have the benefit of crowd noise, and this is not an offense that I think is going to threaten them. So, low-scoring from Clemson on the offensive side.”
Klatt gave his final score prediction:
“I like Texas to win this game. Texas, I think, is going to get close to 30 points. I think they score 27. Clemson does not score 20 points. I think they score 17… I think I’m going to take the points with Clemson just because of this offense and the lack of production from Texas down the back half of the year. But again, the Texas defense is going to win this game for them.
“27-17, Texas wins this game.”
Kickoff for Clemson vs. Texas is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Saturday. The game will be televised on TNT, with Mark Jones and Roddy Jones calling the action from Austin.
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