Saturday Spotlight
(7) Miami Hurricanes at (1) Clemson Tigers
Miami: They’ve been a pleasant surprise to begin the season. It’s almost accurate to say I feels like 2017 all over again. This team has that same style of play. They want to run the football, push you up front with the offensive line and of course, the defense is fast, physical and they all travel to the ball. When they force a turnover, they still breakout the “turnover chain”. Now, there’s two things that are different. One, it’s a different head coach. Manny Diaz was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach last season in 2019. The next thing is they finally have a quarterback! After watching D’Eriq King against the Louisville Cardinals a few weeks back, he gained a new fan in me. I like how he goes about the game. When the Hurricanes are buzzing, the game of football is good. Tonight, they face their toughest test.
Clemson: They’re dominant as expected. But on Saturday night, their defense looked a bit shaky at times. The Virginia Cavaliers were able to score 23 points on this defense, the most anyone has scored on Clemson this year. Trevor Lawrence has done his usual this year. He’s thrown seven touchdowns without a single interception. No matter how many key guys leave this team, they always find a way to replace that talent with more talent The defense is one of the best in the nation and it always will be under Brent Venables. They play team defense which helps the production. On the other hand, the offense is averaging 43 points per game with a balanced attack. Tonight, a motivated and ready Hurricanes team comes to town.
Miami X-Factor: Quincy Roche Sr– He’s the star of the defensive line since Gregory Rousseau opted out. Quincy has the potential to be a top 15 pick in this upcoming NFL Draft. This is a 6’4, 235-pound hybrid pass rusher who prides himself on getting after that quarterback.
Clemson X-Factor: Travis Etienne– This is why he decided to come back. For games of this magnitude. To throw off the Hurricane defense, pound the rock. Feed your running back the football. Clemson is scarier when they can depend on a consistent ground game to control the clock.
Final Thoughts: What a game this should be. Still, there’s a lot of football left. This Miami defense is fast, physical and loves the turnover which is why I’m rushing Trevor early on. Clemson needs to get that running game going because the Hurricanes struggle to stop the run. I can see this being close for a while. The fourth quarter will tell us everything.
Prediction: Clemson 42 Miami 21