The Clemson football team will take on the Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC Championship. Here are five Tigers to watch in the matchup.
The Clemson football team capped off the regular season with a 38-3 blowout of in-state rival South Carolina.
The win gave the Tigers a perfect regular season for a second-straight year and pushed their winning streak up to 27 games. Clemson is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and the Tigers are just one win away from getting back to the CFB Playoff and having an opportunity to defend their the National Championship.
For the fifth-straight season, Clemson football will compete for the ACC Championship. The Tigers have won the last four conference titles and, interestingly enough, have played four different opponents in each of the games.
This year will be no different. The Tigers will take on the Virginia Cavaliers, who locked up the ACC Coastal Division with a win over their rival Virginia Tech last weekend. The conference title game will be Virginia’s first-ever in school history.
The Cavaliers are led by a prolific quarterback in Bryce Perkins and will be looking to pull off a major upset Saturday night.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. on ABC and the Tigers are listed as 28.5-point favorites, courtesy of the Action Network.
Here are five Clemson football players to watch in the 2019 ACC Championship.
5. Xavier Thomas
Xavier Thomas was named to the All-ACC third-team this past week, but it certainly hasn’t been the season many expected for the talented defensive end.
Many Clemson football fans were expecting Thomas to be one of the country’s leaders in sacks and tackles for loss. He struggled with injuries and being in the doghouse a bit with the coaching staff earlier in the season and we just haven’t seen a breakout performance from the explosive defensive lineman.
Thomas has a quick-twitch out of his stance and he’s finally going to face a team where the quarterback is the primary weapon.
Because of that, look for him to have a solid day and come away with a couple of sacks and tackles for loss in the process.
4. Jackson Carman
Jackson Carman rolled up that ankle last weekend against South Carolina.
Though he walked off under his own power and Dabo Swinney told the media that he is fine and expected to play this weekend, it will be interesting to see how the left tackle performs.
If there’s any type of swelling or stiffness in that ankle, he very well could be a little slower in his foot movement.
Tiger fans should watch the left part of that line to see what Carman looks like and if he’s able to play at a high level after that slight injury last week against the Gamecocks.
3. Tanner Muse
Clemson is about to face the most competent passing attack of the season.
The Tigers played against a solid quarterback last weekend in Ryan Hilinksi, but the freshman QB was outmatched, injured and without his top target in WR Bryan Edwards.
Virginia, on the other hand, is led by Bryce Perkins. Perkins is a dual-threat QB who has the arm talent to find open receivers down the field.
At times, Tanner Muse and the safeties in general have been out of position and the opposing quarterback hasn’t been able to make the Tigers pay. That won’t be the case this weekend.
With Perkins’ dual-threat ability, Muse will have to be disciplined and not get fooled looking in the backfield. It will be the biggest test of the season for the Clemson football secondary and that all begins with those safeties, who’ll be tasked with helping in run-support, but also in pass-coverage.
2. Isaiah Simmons
We typically don’t put the “stars” on these lists just because of the fact that Clemson football fans will be watching them no matter what, but this is an exception.
Isaiah Simmons is going to be tasked with handling a tough assignment this weekend.
Virginia runs a decent amount of RPOs and relies heavily on Perkins to make plays. The Cavaliers have had a shaky offensive line all season and they’re ranked No. 123 in the nation in rushing offense.
That being said, Simmons is going to be tasked with reading Perkins, getting into the backfield and knowing when to drop back in coverage. Perkins has the athleticism to evade tacklers and it’s going to take Simmons finishing off his scrambles to avoid Virginia continuing drives.
1. Travis Etienne
Travis Etienne had himself quite the game last season in the ACC Championship and Clemson football fans should expect nothing different this time around.
Etienne is chasing a career milestone and very well could go over that mark in this game. That’s exactly why Tiger fans need to carefully watch his rushing yardage total.
Sitting at No. 3, Etienne (3,810 career rushing yards) is just 72 yards away from surpassing James Davis (3,881 yards) on the school all-time career rushing leader board and is 157 yards away from holding the overall record, currently held by Raymond Priester (3,966).
It would take a solid night, but there’s no reason to believe that Etienne couldn’t pass both those totals Saturday night.
He certainly should come away as the No. 2 overall rusher in school history by the end of the night, passing Davis, and has a great chance of catching Priester if he can break off a couple of big-time runs.