Clemson vs. Syracuse Prediction: Tigers look to take control of Atlantic

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Oct 21 12:04:03 GMT-04:00 2022

Rise and shine early Saturday, get those ankles taped, grab a biscuit and get to Death Valley.

Head coach Dabo Swinney implored Tiger fans to do just that as Clemson hosts Syracuse in a big matchup at high noon Saturday. The winner controls its own destiny in the race for the ACC Atlantic Division title and a berth in the ACC Championship Game.

What’s your biscuit of choice?

NO. 5/5 CLEMSON (7-0, 5-0 ACC) vs. NO. 14/14 SYRACUSE (6-0, 3-0 ACC)

WHEN: SATURDAY, OCT. 22, NOON ET
WHERE: MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500), CLEMSON, S.C.
TELEVISION: ABC (Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge, Molly McGrath)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM 133 or 193, Internet/App 955

CLEMSON/SYRACUSE SERIES HISTORY

OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 8-2
HOME: Clemson leads series, 4-0
ROAD: Clemson leads series, 4-1
NEUTRAL: Clemson trails series, 0-1
LAST MEETING: Oct. 15, 2021 (17-14, W)
STREAK: Clemson, Won 4

NOTABLE

*For the first time in the 81-season history of Memorial Stadium, Clemson will host a matchup of two undefeated teams with records of 6-0 or better when the No. 5 Tigers (7-0) host the No. 14 Syracuse Orange (6-0) on Saturday, Oct. 22.

*Clemson is in search of its fifth victory this season against teams that enter games with no losses, including wins against 0-0 Georgia Tech, 1-0 Furman, 3-0 Wake Forest and 4-0 NC State. The 2022 squad would join national championship squads from 2016 and 2018 as the only teams in school history to earn at least five wins against teams with no losses and no ties. Clemson was 5-0 against undefeated teams in 2016 (0-0 Auburn, 1-0 Troy, 3-0 Georgia Tech, 4-0 Louisville and 14-0 Alabama) and 7-0 against undefeated teams in 2018 (0-0 Furman, 1-0 Texas A&M, 2-0 Georgia Southern, 4-0 Syracuse, 5-0 NC State, 12-0 Notre Dame and 14-0 Alabama).

*Clemson enters the game on a 37-game home winning streak and will attempt to take sole possession of the longest home winning streak in ACC history, as a win would allow the Tigers to surpass the Florida State Seminoles' 37-game streak from 1992-2001. Clemson would tie the 1919-27 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (38) for the 10th-longest home winning streak in FBS history. Those Irish teams under the guidance of College Football Hall of Famer Knute Rockne were a combined 78-7-3 at all venues in the seasons comprising that streak.

* A win would make Clemson 8-0 for the ninth time in program history. Five of Clemson's last seven teams to start 8-0 went on to play for the national championship.

*Saturday will be Clemson’s Homecoming, an event that has historically included a Clemson victory 78 percent of the time since the first celebration in 1922. Clemson has an overall record of 74-20-3 in its previous 97 Homecoming games. That includes a 44-4-2 record (.900) in Homecoming games since the 1971 season. The first Homecoming game at Clemson was in 1922, a 21-0 loss to Centre that kicked off an 0-4-1 stretch through Clemson’s first five Homecoming games. Clemson defeated Auburn in 1927 by a 3-0 score for its first Homecoming victory.

WHEN SYRACUSE HAS THE BALL

Quarterback Garrett Shrader has improved drastically from a year ago, going from completing 53 percent of his pass attempts in 2021 to just a tick under 70 percent this fall. His average yards per attempt has jumped 3.3 yards, and he has a 12:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His go-to target has been Oronde Gadsden II - the redshirt freshman leads the team with 31 catches for 507 yards and five TDs.

The main player to watch, however, is running back Sean Tucker, who has 124 carries for 644 yards (5.19 yards per carry) and six touchdowns. Last season, Tucker torched the Tigers for 157 yards on 22 carries.

Last week, Clemson’s rush defense was shredded by Florida St., but 24 missed tackles were the main culprit. If Syracuse wants to pull off the upset, it needs to remain balanced. That will be hard to do against a Clemson defense that is getting back to full health.

But here is what we know about this defense – it plays great in stretches, and not so great in stretches. And Syracuse will be able to move the football and they’ll score some points.

ADVANTAGE: CLEMSON

WHEN CLEMSON HAS THE BALL

The Syracuse defense is ranked 8th nationally, but that’s come against some of the worst competition in the Power 5. Louisville (42nd nationally in total offense) and Purdue (36th) are decent, but they’ve also faced Wagner (a Northeastern Conference team that scores only seven points against even weak competition), Virginia (96th), UConn (123rd), and NC State (99th). And they’ve faced all of that at home, except for UConn. Not exactly a Murderers' Row.

It's a different beast this week. Clemson has scored at least 30 points in each of their seven games. DJ Uiagalelei has thrown for over 1600 yards and has 17 touchdowns against two interceptions. Sophomore running back Will Shipley was the main cog in the offense last week and is averaging almost six yards per carry.

True freshman Antonio Williams leads the team in catches and receiving yardage and Clemson has seven players with double-digit receptions. Tight ends Davis Allen and Jake Briningstool have combined for 32 catches and seven touchdowns.

Yes, Syracuse is good. They don’t let opposing teams make big plays and they appear to be fundamentally sound. But the best offense they’ve faced – Purdue – put up 485 yards.

ADVANTAGE: CLEMSON

SPECIAL TEAMS

Two of the best kickers in the country are in this game. Syracuse kicker Andre Szmyt is 11-of-12 on field goals this season, and he booms about 65 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks. Both teams have guys that can take it the distance in the return game. Both teams have punters who are around average. BT Potter, Clemson’s kicker is really good and is putting up some career numbers that will be hard to break.

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

The Orange believe they can win this game, and they’ve done a lot of talking. But as we’ve said, all of their success has been at home against weaker competition, while Clemson has already won four road games. Sean Tucker is really good, and Shrader is good. Their defense is good but undersized. They will have some new wrinkles and move the ball, and their defense will do some good things. But this Clemson team simply finds a way, and they will find another way to win Saturday.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 35, SYRACUSE 21

More TigerNet picks

Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 37-16 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 38-14 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 37-23 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 34-17 Clemson
Pigskin Prophet - 34-20 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - 31-21 Clemson
Ariana Pensy - TigerNet Intern - 37-20 Clemson

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Prophet	Kantor	Pensy
GT	41-10 CU	38-13 CU	33-9 CU	41-7 CU	33-10 CU	35-13 CU	34-7 CU	39-6 CU	-
Furman	35-12 CU	50-10 CU	51-10 CU	59-7 CU	45-3 CU	45-3 CU	49-6 CU	48-7 CU	-
La Tech	48-20 CU	37-14 CU	51-10 CU	59-10 CU	44-13 CU	45-13 CU	45-10 CU	45-10 CU	38-10 CU
Wake	51-45 CU 2OT	37-27 CU	38-27 CU	34-20 CU	38-24 CU	31-24 CU	37-23 CU	31-24 CU	56-28 CU
NC State	30-20 CU	30-21 CU	31-21 CU	30-17 CU	27-20 CU	28-20 CU	34-17 CU	31-24 CU	37-34 CU
BC	31-3 CU	37-13 CU	37-17 CU	31-14 CU	41-17 CU	35-13 CU	41-16 CU	42-14 CU	42-10 CU
FSU	34-28 CU	27-17 CU	31-17 CU	30-14 CU	31-21 CU	31-20 CU	35-20 CU	31-21 CU	34-13 CU
Syracuse	27-21 CU	35-21 CU	37-16 CU	38-14 CU	37-23 CU	34-17 CU	34-20 CU	31-21 CU	37-20 CU
Points	-	12	8	12	8	10	10	10	8

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner