ACC Thursday Night Showdown

This year’s contest between these two ACC rivals will be at Carter-Finley Stadium. This place can be BRUTAL to opponents (speaking from experience) because this is one of the most hostile crowds in the ACC cheering for the Pack. You can bet that this team (or the Wolfpack faithful) have not forgotten the 62-48 whooping Clemson put on them in Death Valley last year. Factor this in with a nationally televised game and that this is the Wolfpack’s biggest home game on the 2013 schedule you can count on this place to be rocking and painted red.

NC State will try to run a very fast offense against the Tigers and  control the tempo of the game. New head coach Dave Doeren is hoping that fast-fast-fast will have the Tigers on their heels early. He is counting on new quarterback Pete Thomas to pull this off. We will see how this offensive line will be able to stack up against Brent Venables Tiger Defense.

State has yet to see any team with the weapons that Clemson has to throw at them. And this Wolfpack defense is coming along well, but it will be very interesting how they hold up against Clemson.  Last year the State pass defense ranked 83rd in the country, and are still rebuilding after losing corner David Amerson and safety Earl Wolff.

Both teams have had 11 days to prep for this game. Clemson loves to play on ESPN, and you can bet that the tigers are well aware of the Raleigh curse and have no intentions of letting it ruin their #3 ranking.

Expect to see huge passing numbers from Tajh Boyd and big reception yards from Sammy Watkins. Clemson will be out to prove that the win over the Georgia Bulldogs was not a fluke.

NC State will pull out all the stops to try to derail the Tigers but in the end wont be able to stand toe to toe with them.  Overall Clemson has a better quarterback in Tajh Boyd, better receiver in Sammy Watkins and an overall better team. Clemson should quiet this hostile crowd early, and remain one of the top 2 teams in the ACC.