#5 Clemson at NC State
Carter Finley Stadium, Raleigh NC
7:30 PM ABC
Clemson heads north to Raleigh this weekend for a matchup with NC State in the Textile Bowl. The Tigers have won 7 straight and 14 of the last 15 against the Wolfpack. The combination of the Tigers coming in at #5 in the initial CFP Rankings and NC State not being very good this year could spell disaster for Dave Doeren’s Pack. It is safe to assume we see a laser focused team carrying around a huge chip on their shoulders.
The Wolfpack are young and in the midst of a rebuild, but on top of that they’ve had a multitude of injuries. 20 players have missed at least one game and 14 of those players have missed multiple games. With so many injuries, the Pack have had to use a lot of freshmen. Over 30% of the snaps against Wake Forest last weekend were taken by freshmen.
To compound the issues, the Wolfpack have been terrible at the most important position on the field, quarterback. Last week against the Deacs, they went with redshirt freshman Devin Leary who was the teams 3rd string QB coming out of camp. It was his first career start and the young QB showed everyone watching why he was number three to start the season, going just 17-45 for 149 yards. He also threw 2 picks to go along with his 1 TD pass.
All those things put together would suggest that NC State could be in for a very long night. Looking at the numbers from both teams only seems to back up that sentiment.
North Carolina State
- PPG 24.9
- PPG Allowed 25.4
- Off YPG 393.8
- YPG Allowed 362.1
- Yds Per Play 5.2
- Yds Per Play Allowed 4.9
- Rush YPG 149.2
- Rush YPG Allowed 119
- Rush YPC 4.3
- Rush YPC Allowed 3.4
- Pass YPG 244.5
- Pass YPG Allowed 243.1
- 3rd Down Conv 35%
- 3rd Down Conv Allowed 38%
- Sacks 28
- Sacks Allowed 13
- Red Zone TDs 18-32 (56%)
- Red Zone TDs Allowed 17-30 (57%)
Clemson
- PPG 44.2
- PPG Allowed 11.7
- Off YPG 545.4
- YPG Allowed 247.2
- Yds Per Play 7.6
- Yds Per Play Allowed 3.9
- Rush YPG 272.4
- Rush YPG Allowed 113.2
- Rush YPC 7.0
- Rush YPC Allowed 3.0
- Pass YPG 273.0
- Pass YPG Allowed 134.0
- 3rd Conv 45%
- 3rd Down Conv Allowed 29%
- Sacks 30
- Sacks Allowed 6
- Red Zone TDs 28-40 (70%)
- Red Zone TDs Allowed (8-17) 40%
- Tigers have outscored their opponents 239-36 in the 1st half
