Tag: Clemson vs. NC State

Clemson football’s Offensive X-Factor vs. NC State Wolfpack

Clemson needs another strong performance from their guy under center.

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program have a rivalry matchup Saturday against the NC State Wolfpack, with the Tigers looking to prove that they have taken the next step and are a team to be feared in college football. 

This may feel like a copout pick, especially considering he was our pick last week. Regardless, our Offensive X-Factor for Week 4’s matchup against NC State is starting quarterback Cade Klubnik.

Cade Klubnik put on a show in the first half against Appalachian State, scoring seven touchdowns to give Clemson a huge early lead. He threw for five touchdowns and added two more on the ground, leading the Tigers’ offense with precision.

The scoring barrage started with a 76-yard pass to freshman Bryant Wesco, followed by a rushing TD. Klubnik continued to shine with touchdown passes to Jake Briningstool and Antonio Williams while adding another rushing score.

Klubnik’s final touchdown of the half came on a 17-yard pass to Briningstool, capping off a dominant performance that gave Clemson full control by halftime. It was an awesome performance from the young quarterback. 

The thing is, it was just one performance. We cannot overreact to performance. Klubnik needs to show us on Saturday that his App Stater performance was no fluke.

Clemson-NC State football game gets one of ESPN’s top broadcast crews

Here’s who will be on the call for ESPN Saturday when the Clemson Tigers host NC State in Death Valley.

One of the most widely known college football broadcast teams will be on the call for this weekend’s ACC matchup between No. 19 Clemson and the NC State Wolfpack in Death Valley.

ESPN’s No. 2 broadcast team of Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst) and Molly McGrath (sideline) will have the call of Clemson-NC State, which is set for a noon ET kickoff on ESPN. ESPN announced its Week 4 broadcast assignments on Monday.

It’s the second time the McDonough-McElroy booth will call the Tigers (1-1) this season; they also called Clemson’s season-opening 34-3 loss to the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

RELATED: Dabo Swinney shares an injury update on Peter Woods ahead of NC State

Clemson moved up one spot in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 rankings, reaching No. 19 in the Coaches Poll. The Tigers had a bye following their 66-20 victory over App State on Sept. 14.

NC State (2-1) is coming off a 30-20 win at home against Louisiana Tech over the weekend. The Wolfpack will be without starting quarterback Grayson McCall this week, coach Dave Doeren announced Monday.

Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions. 

What college football analysts, pundits are saying about Clemson after Week 3 bye

Here’s a look at what college football analysts are saying about Clemson after Week 3 of the college football season with the Tigers set to host NC State Saturday in Death Valley.

The Clemson Tigers had a bye over the weekend, but there was still plenty of excitement in Week 3 of the college football season.

Georgia went on the road and played a hard-fought contest at Kentucky. The Bulldogs narrowly won, marking a third straight time they’ve survived a tough road test in Lexington. Georgia’s ugly win caused them to slip to No. 2 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll; the Bulldogs remained No. 1 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.

Clemson rose one spot in the Coaches Poll to No. 19 (and one spot to No. 21 in the AP poll). The Tigers have a big game this Saturday when NC State heads to Death Valley. Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET. The game will be televised on ABC.

As we like to do every Monday, here’s a look at what college football’s national gunslingers are saying about Dabo Swinney’s team.

Over at ESPN, David Hale and company moved the Tigers up two spots to No. 17 in their weekly power rankings. Within the ACC, Miami stayed at No. 6 after a third straight week of dominance on the gridiron. Louisville checked in at No. 19.

Hale said of Clemson:

“Clemson was off in Week 3, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an eventful few days for the Tigers. For one, folks around Clemson are still riding high off the Tigers’ Week 2 drubbing of Appalachian State. The 66-20 win was a long-awaited glimpse of the offensive heft Dabo Swinney has promised — but not delivered — for the past few years.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s next game on the slate comes against NC State, a contest that just a few weeks ago seemed like a harbinger of who would win the ACC. Now though? The Wolfpack have struggled badly in all three games and starting QB Grayson McCall could be out with a true freshman getting the nod instead. Given NC State’s struggles on the O-line, the combination of a freshman QB and Clemson’s dynamic defensive front could translate to another emphatic Tigers win and another chance to put the opener against Georgia in the rearview mirror.”

Separately, Clemson was ranked No. 21 in ESPN’s updated Week 3 SP+ rankings for all 134 FBS teams.

RELATED: Dabo Swinney believes in the ‘rare guy’ Ronan Hanafin after move to defense

Over at CBS Sports, Clemson stayed at No. 18 in Brandon Marcello’s weekly power rankings, one spot below No. 17 Oklahoma State and one ahead of No. 19 Michigan.

Marcello echoed the same sentiment as ESPN’s Hale regarding Clemson’s schedule:

“Clemson’s schedule suddenly seems much easier after what transpired in the first three weeks. NC State doesn’t seem formidable with an inconsistent Grayson McCall at quarterback and Florida State is historically bad, starting the year 0-3 for only the third time in program history. The toughest game remaining on the schedule is Louisville, which travels to Death Valley on Nov. 2. The Tigers won’t see Miami until the ACC Championship Game.”

Over at The Athletic (subscription required), Clemson stayed at No. 18 in their weekly ranking of all 134 FBS teams. Miami was the highest ranked ACC team at No. 6 while another conference foe made the top 25 rankings: Bill O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles, who placed one spot behind the Tigers at No. 19.

The highest ranking Clemson got in various college football rankings came from Fox Sports, where analyst RJ Young has the Tigers at No. 14 after Week 3, one spot behind Big 12 contender Utah.

Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions. 

NC State football starting quarterback Grayson McCall out against Clemson

NC State catches a bad break for Week 4 against Clemson.

NC State football head coach Dave Doeren shared that quarterback Grayson McCall is “day-to-day” and won’t be available for the game against Clemson football this Saturday. Freshman CJ Bailey will step in as the starter.

McCall got injured in the second quarter of NC State’s 30-20 victory over Louisiana Tech and didn’t return. Before leaving the game, he completed 9 of 13 passes for 54 yards and ran for 22 yards on four attempts. Bailey took over and went 13 for 20 in passing, accumulating 156 yards, though he did throw an interception. He also added a rushing touchdown, gaining 27 yards on four carries.

Doeren mentioned that redshirt freshman Lex Thomas will be the backup quarterback in McCall’s absence. McCall, who transferred to NC State from Coastal Carolina earlier this year, was a highly sought-after player in the transfer market.

Clemson and NC State will face off at Death Valley this Saturday at noon, and the game will air on ABC.

Clemson has best chance of still making the playoff with another loss, Stewart Mandel says

The veteran sportswriter says Clemson has a better shot of reaching the College Football Playoff than three one-loss teams ranked in the Top 25.

There was a lot to unpack after a chaotic Week 2 of college football that saw No. 5 Notre Dame fall to Northern Illinois in South Bend.

Coupled with Notre Dame’s stunning loss last Saturday, defending national champion Michigan was blown out at home by No. 3 Texas, and NC State got taken to the woodshed by Tennessee in a neutral-site meeting at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Those results came six days after USC sent LSU to the Tigers’ fifth consecutive season-opening loss.

Clemson, meanwhile? The Tigers more than bounced back and took care of business in their home opener, delivering a 66-20 beatdown of Appalachian State.

Because of all those results in Week 2, The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel was asked in his weekly “mailbag” column ($) who he thought was more likely to earn a bid to the College Football Playoff between Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan and LSU.

Mandel chose Clemson and wrote:

“I would not have guessed I’d say that a week ago, but Dabo Swinney’s offense went from scoring three points against Georgia to scoring 56 in the first half against App State. Cade Klubnik was a mere 24-of-26 for 378 yards and five touchdowns. Granted, App State is not a national championship contender, but it’s a respected mid-major program that played in last year’s Sun Belt title game.

“The Georgia game still served as a reaffirmation that Clemson can no longer hang with the sport’s elite tier, but it’s entirely plausible the Tigers could turn around and win the ACC — not exactly the world’s most daunting conference. Clemson’s next game is against an NC State team that lost 51-10 to Tennessee. And — here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write — the Tigers don’t have to face surprise teams Boston College, Syracuse or Cal.”

Mandel added that he wasn’t writing off Notre Dame as a playoff contender, even after the Fighting Irish’s 16-14 loss to a Group of Five team it had been a 28-point favorite against. But as Mandel pointed out: “Clemson can lose another game and still earn an automatic berth. The Irish cannot.”

Clemson is off this week before hosting NC State the following Saturday, Sept. 21. The game was announced earlier this week as a noon ET kickoff on ABC.

Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions. 

Kickoff time announced for Clemson vs. NC State

Kickoff time for Clemson vs. NC State on Sept. 21 was announced Monday.

The ACC on Monday announced kickoff times for Week 4 games, including No. 20 Clemson’s showdown with NC State in Death Valley.

The Tigers (1-1) and Wolfpack (1-1) will play at noon ET on Sept. 21. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.

Clemson has a bye this week after defeating Appalachian State, 66-20, on Saturday night in the Tigers’ home opener. NC State suffered a 51-10 blowout loss to No. 9 Tennessee at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The Wolfpack subsequently fell out of the US LBM Coaches Poll Sunday after having been ranked No. 23.

Clemson-NC State has been circled for months as one of the biggest games on the Tigers’ schedule this season. The Tigers fell to the Wolfpack, 24-17, a year ago in Raleigh and have lost two of the last three meetings against Dave Doeren’s program.

Here’s the full list of ACC kickoff times for Sept. 20-21, per the ACC’s press release Monday.

Friday, September 20

  • Stanford at Syracuse, 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

Saturday, September 21

  • NC State at Clemson, noon ET on ABC
  • James Madison at North Carolina, noon ET on ACC Network
  • Virginia at Coastal Carolina, 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Rutgers at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network
  • Youngstown State at Pitt, 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network
  • Duke at Middle Tennessee, 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU
  • TCU at SMU, 5 p.m. ET on The CW
  • Michigan State at Boston College, 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network

Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions. 

ESPN lists Clemson’s biggest early season game — and it’s not Georgia or FSU

ESPN’s staff of college football writers listed Clemson vs. NC State on Sept. 21 at the Tigers’ biggest early season showdown.

After the release of the preseason AP Top 25 college football rankings on Monday, ESPN published a follow-up piece listing the biggest early season games for every ranked team.

For Clemson, it wasn’t the Tigers’ season opener against preseason No. 1 Georgia that made ESPN’s list for the team’s biggest early season showdown. That went to the Tigers’ Sept. 21 game against NC State at Clemson Memorial Stadium.

The Wolfpack are ranked No. 24 in the AP poll (No. 22 in the coaches poll) and are coming off a 9-win season that included a 24-17 win over the Tigers in Raleigh last season that dropped Clemson to 4-4. Dave Doeren’s team is looking to take a big step forward in 2024 and to finally compete for a long-elusive ACC title.

ESPN’s David Hale weighed in on Clemson vs. NC State:

“We’re tempted to say the Georgia game will be the telltale matchup of the season for Clemson, but that’s like judging Clemson’s chances to win a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos against an actual hippopotamus. It’ll be interesting, but it probably isn’t relevant to what the rest of the season will look like. The Week 3 matchup with the Wolfpack — a team that has beaten Clemson two of the past three years and is far more talented in 2024 than in either of those previous seasons — will be a far better indication of the Tigers’ ACC title hopes and something of a preview of how well Dabo Swinney’s crew will hold up two weeks later against Florida State.”

RELATED: Stewart Mandel makes his 2024 ACC football preseason predictions

NC State opens its season against No. 15 Tennessee at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte in Week 1.

Follow us at @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and commentary.

These ACC teams are on list of ‘sneaky’ contenders for 2024 College Football Playoff

Miami and NC State made this list of ACC dark horses that could compete for the conference championship this season.

With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams for the first time this year, doors will be open for teams that would have previously been considered an afterthought.

The latest iteration of the Playoff will award automatic bids to the four champions of Power Four conferences, as well as the top Group of Five team, plus first-round byes, on-campus games and more opportunities for teams to make the sport’s new postseason format.

Enter Miami and NC State. A recent analysis titled the “six sneaky contenders and sleepers” that could play their way into the 12-team Playoff has the Hurricanes and Wolfpack as two programs that could still be standing in postseason play when the regular season and conference championship games conclude in December.

While Clemson and Florida State have consistently been given the best odds of reaching the Playoff as the ACC champion, Rotoballer’s Jackson Sparks lists Miami as the strongest dark horse among possible conference contenders.

Per Sparks:

“It’s time to turn the page on (Miami’s) disastrous 2023 campaign and look forward to the Cameron Ward-led offense in 2024. Ward heads to Miami from Washington State, where he threw for just under 7,000 yards and 48 touchdowns. He added 13 scores as a rusher.

If you add in his two seasons at Incarnate Word, the Texas native has compiled 13,874 passing yards, 119 passing touchdowns, 30 interceptions, and 16 rushing touchdowns over the last four years. The Hurricanes have been missing a game-breaking quarterback for a long time, so Ward’s arrival is a significant development.”

Miami doesn’t have Clemson on its regular-season schedule for 2024, and they get a break by playing Florida State at home on October 26. The ‘Canes open the season against Florida in Gainesville on August 31 in a nationally televised contest on ABC (3:30 p.m. EDT).

Elsewhere in the ACC, North Carolina State made Rotoballer’s list of dark horses following a nine-win season in 2023, during which Dave Doeren’s team won six straight games — beginning with a 24-17 upset over Clemson in Raleigh.

With that momentum and some key transfer portal editions, the Wolfpack could be poised for bigger things in 2024.

Writes Sparks:

“NC State is another program that landed an impact quarterback transfer this offseason. After five years at Coastal Carolina, Grayson McCall decided to make the move up to the ACC.

In four seasons as a starter, McCall racked up over 11,000 (all-purpose) yards of offense and 108 total touchdowns while throwing just 14 interceptions. He arrives in Raleigh with a 33-7 career record. To help McCall’s chances to succeed, NC State secured the No. 3 ranked tight end (Justin Joly, UConn) and the No. 10 ranked wide receiver (Noah Rogers, Ohio State) in the transfer portal.

NC State visits Clemson on September 21 but avoids Florida State in regular-season play. The Wolfpack face a tough test in non-conference play in Week 2 when they face Tennessee in a primetime contest at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. It will be a nationally televised game on ABC.

Tennessee topped Rotoballer’s list as the biggest sleeper team entering the 2024 season. Utah, Kansas and Boise State also made the list.

Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and commentary.  

Everything Brad Brownell said after Clemson’s loss to NC State

Clemson squandered a 12-point lead in the second half of Saturday night’s game against NC State and fell 78-77 to end a three-game winning streak in ACC play. 

Clemson squandered a 12-point lead in the second half of Saturday night’s game against NC State and lost another heartbreaker at home, 78-77, in ACC play at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tigers’ last three losses have all been by one point. This one ended a three-game Clemson winning streak.

DJ Horne scored a game-high 27 points and hit the game-winner for NC State with 9.8 seconds left.

The Tigers (17-8 overall, 7-7 ACC) had a chance on their last possession, but Chase Hunter missed a layup on the other end of the floor. When the buzzer sounded, the Wolfpack (16-9, 8-6) had earned their first win at Littlejohn Coliseum since 2015.

Joe Girard had another strong shooting night for Clemson, finishing with a team-best 23 points in the loss. PJ Hall added 18, and Hunter and RJ Godfrey had 10 to give the Tigers four players in double figures.

Clemson will travel to Atlanta for a rematch with Georgia Tech (11-15, 4-11) Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST at McCamish Pavilion. The Tigers fell to the Yellow Jackets in double overtime back on January 16 at Littlejohn. Wednesday’s game will be televised by ACC Network.

Here’s everything Clemson coach Brad Brownell said after Saturday’s loss to NC State.

Clemson Tigers vs. NC State Wolfpack: Where to Watch/Stream/Listen

Here’s a look at how and where Clemson fans can watch, listen, and stream Saturday’s game against NC State.

Clemson is hoping to continue its winning ways when it welcomes NC State to Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday night in primetime.

The Tigers (17-7 overall, 7-6 ACC) are feeling a lot better about themselves after a three-game win streak over North Carolina, Syracuse and most recently Miami.

In the Tigers’ 77-60 victory over the Hurricanes, they closed the game with a spectacular 24-3 run over the final eight-plus minutes of action. Chase Hunter scored a season-high 20 points and made five 3-pointers, and Joe Girard added 18 points.

PJ Hall, who was named to the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Midseason Team this week, had 13 points. The senior forward leads the Tigers in scoring with an average of 19 points per game.

Both Clemson and NC State (15-9, 7-6) will see a couple of familiar faces on the other side of this rivalry Saturday. For NC State, former Tigers forward/wing Ben Middlebrooks transferred to Raleigh after spending two seasons in Brad Brownell’s program. Middlebrooks has averaged 14 minutes a game this year.

Conversely, former NC State forward Jack Clark is now in a Tigers uniform. Clark has gradually earned more playing time as the season has progressed. He totaled a season-high 33 minutes in the Tigers’ 80-76 upset over North Carolina in Chapel Hill and logged 27 minutes in the win over Miami.

DJ Horne leads NC State this season with an average 17 points per game. The 6’1″ senior is coming off a season-high 31 points in the Wolfpack’s last contest, an 83-79 loss at Wake Forest on February 10.

Horne is averaging 32 minutes per contest, as is guard Casey Morsell (12 points per game).

Series Notes and Recent History

NC State leads the all-time head to head series, 83-56, but Clemson has won the last six meetings between the schools and seven of the past eight since 2020. The two programs met three times last season between the regular season and ACC Tournament. The Tigers are 33-24 all-time against the Wolfpack at Littlejohn Coliseum. NC State hasn’t won in Clemson since March 3, 2015.

Where to Watch/Stream/Listen

Here’s a look at how and where Clemson fans can watch, listen, and stream Saturday’s game against NC State.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 17

Time: 7:45 p.m. EST

Where: Littlejohn Coliseum

TV Channel: CW Network

Live Stream: ESPN+

Radio: Clemson Athletic Network | TuneIn App | SiriusXM (Channel 193)

Broadcast Teams

CW Network: Tom Werme

Clemson Radio: Don Munson, Tim Bourret