1) Bama's O is not as good as last years O. Much more one dimensional and less experience at QB. I'm sure Hurst is good, but he's a Frosh and Venables will pressure the hell out of him. Their O line gives up a lot of TFL too. Our D is better than last year, plus last year we were missing #90, and #2 got hurt. - ADVANTAGE CLEMSON
2) Bama's D is better than last year. One of the best I've seen. Those boys can fly, and there will be very small windows for Watson to complete passes. But #4 is the best QB in all of college football and can make those throws when he's on. He's one of the best at checking out of bad plays presnap too, and putting us in a higher percentage play if the D is showing something he doesn't like. Clemson's O is better than last years, considering we didn't have #7 or #8 last year vs. Bama - EVEN
3) Our special teams are much more consistent this year. We just need to hope Saban doesn't find a weakness we have not self scouted yet. - EVEN
Side note: Bama will be run first, but they are going to take plenty of deep shots. The film doesn't lie, and our DB's have trouble turning around to see the ball, which usually results in a penalty. Knowing Venables he will attack the hell out of Hurst with blitzes hoping to rush any deep throws, but if they counter with screens, etc, they can hurt us. Our corners will be on islands more often than not. Gonna have to make some open field one on one plays. Bet we have someone on their TE this year too. Can't let that guy hurt us twice in a row.
If we play a clean game and our D brings it like they did in Arizona, we can win by 10+. We turn it over a bunch and give Bama's D points and this all goes out the window.