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1. The Seminole Defense: Florida State ranks 12th in the nation allowing an astonishing 428.9 yards per game. To be clear – that is 12th worst defense in the nation. On average, Florida State allows 184 yards rushing and almost 30 points per game.
2. Christian Ponder has injured ribs. I know he is the same guy who had the same injury last week, and still managed to place 45 points on the board. However, that was versus North Carolina State and not a Clemson defense that has only allowed 16.5 points per game on average. With his ribs injured and the lack of quarterback depth at Florida State, Ponder will be staying in the pocket more often to avoid possible big hits when he scrambles. He will have to get rid of the ball quickly to avoid a Clemson defense that ranks 22nd in the nation with 22 sacks. This will push Ponder into making more mistakes and allowing the Clemson secondary, who is third in the nation with 15 interceptions, to pick him off.
3. Florida State will be without their third leading rushing – Christian Ponder. Read above.
4. Special Teams: Florida State ranks 97th and 52nd in average yards on kickoff and punt returns respectively. Clemson, on the other hand, is 8th and 15th in the same categories.
What Will Happen: The Tigers have averaged 43 points in their last three games. Look for this trend to continue versus a very weak Florida State defense. Clemson will take an early lead and never look back. The Seminoles will be forced to throw the ball more often, where Clemson will continually place pressure on Christian Ponder and force him into mistakes.
Prediction: Clemson 38 – Florida State 24
It was a nice clean win for the Tigers, as they used this game versus an over-matched Coastal Carolina football team. Clemson used this game as a tune-up for next week's showdown with ACC rival Florida State.
Although Clemson did what they were supposed to do, blow out Coastal Carolina in a 49-3 win, it was still somewhat alarming to see Kyle Parker throw two first half interceptions. In order for Clemson to win next week, he can not continue to make these mistakes.
An in-depth look at the Clemson - Florida St. game will be coming this week.
Although this doesn’t erase the embarrassing loss to Maryland, Saturday’s win against top ten Miami changes Clemson’s season in a heart-beat. Not only does this win give the Tigers some instant credibility, but it gives Clemson the inside track to win the Atlantic division in the ACC.
Three Key Factors in Clemson’s Win:
1. CJ Spiller: What an amazing performance by Spiller. The Hurricanes learned first hand why Wake Forest refused to kick his way. Spiller set a school record with 310 all-purpose yards.
2. Clemson Pass Defense: Jacory Harris was picked off three times by a Clemson defense that is now tied for third in the nation with 13 interceptions on the season. Junior safety DeAndre leads the nation in interceptions with seven, had two on Saturday.
3. Michael Palmer: He has become a steady and reliable weapon for Kyle Parker. Before being helped off the field due to a concussion, he caught five passes for 78 yards, and a touchdown.
Three Things to Improve:
1. Mistakes: There were far too many player and coaching mistakes in Saturday’s win against the Hurricanes. Clemson should have won the game without needing overtime.
2. Picking up Blitzes: Kyle Parker is a different quarterback when he has time in the pocket. When he is rushed, he is prone to making severe mistakes that are detrimental to the Tigers such as running backwards to avoid a sack, throwing an interception in the redzone, and fumbling the ball, which was returned for a touchdown. In order to be an effective quarterback, he needs a lot of help from his offensive line and running backs.
3. Consistency: Clemson must not take Coastal Carolina next week lightly. In order to win the remaining ACC games, Clemson should continue to improve offensively.
Clemson is currently favored against ACC Atlantic leading Wake Forest, even though the Tigers are 2-3 and are ranked 113th in the nation in total offensive yards (out of 120 FBS teams
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Raise your hands if you thought coming into the seventh week of the season Duke would have more wins then Clemson. At 2-3, the Tigers must win at least four of their next seven games to become bowl eligible. Even at only six wins (minimum to become eligible for the post season), Clemson would be a good bet to go to a bowl, as last year ten ACC teams headed to bowls and the Tigers have great marketability
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The obvious choice would be CJ Spiller, who appears to be Clemson’s only scoring threat at the moment. However, there is another game-changer on the Clemson roster that has had a huge impact specifically in the past two games – Richard Jackson. Many articles/news feeds have discussed the punter turned kicker’s three crucial misses in the past two games, and their impact on the games outcome. Some Clemson fans have been quick to place him on their “hate” side of the Clemson “Love-Hate See-Saw.”
The truth is Richard Jackson has been one of the best college football kickers in the first five games of the 2009 season. Here are some current statistics to prove my point
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4th and Blog - Clemson Tigers Football