Clemson football: Future of the ACC will be on full display in Tallahassee

Clemson football will meet FSU for the 34th time Saturday afternoon.

This will be a blowout win for Clemson football, you won’t find anyone on either side of this game who thinks otherwise. While Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney may publicly say this game could be close, even he knows that it will not be.

That said, this game is very interesting for one very specific reason – this is a game of the ACC’s future.

Clemson and FSU football are two of the younger teams in the country and that young talent will be on full display this Saturday in Tallahassee.

Just how young are these two teams? Let’s take a look at the recently published depth charts.

Clemson football

On their recently released depth chart, Clemson football had a total of 63 players listed on offense and defense. No, we did not include special teams in this discussion – apologies to our hardcore special teamers out there.

On offense, Clemson football has a total of 29 players listed for 11 positions. Of those 29 players, 17 of them are underclassmen – sophomores and freshmen. Of those 17 underclassmen, 11 of them are redshirt or true freshman.

That means that of the 29 players that the coaching staff trusts the most on offense, 37.9 percent of them are freshmen. That is a crazy number to think about.

The Clemson football defense is much of the same.

Of the 32 players listed on the defensive side of the ball for the Tigers, 21 of them are underclassmen of which 11 of them are redshirt or true freshman. That works out to 34.3 percent of the defense.

In total, of the 63 players listed on the offense or defense for Clemson football, 34.9 percent of them are redshirt or true freshman. Given this team is battling injuries to key upperclassmen, it is insane that this team is 7-1 and went to double overtime against Notre Dame on the road.

FSU football

There is no denying that FSU football is a shell of what it once was. Can they become the FSU of old again? They sure hope so, but it won’t be this weekend.

Like Clemson football, FSU is very very young on both sides of the ball.

FSU listed 29 players on their offensive depth chart this week. Of those 29, 21 of them are underclassmen and of those 21, 14 of them are redshirt or true freshman. That means a staggering 48.2 percent of the players that will take the field for FSU Saturday when they have the ball will be redshirt or true freshmen.

Defensively, the Seminoles are very young as well as 18 of their listed 26 players are underclassmen, but they play just 7 redshirt or true freshman on that side of the ball. That works out to just 26.9 percent. Overall, of the 55 players listed on the offense or defense for FSU, 38.1 percent of them are redshirt or true freshmen.

When you have this many young players taking the field, there are going to be learning curves along the way and while those suiting up in the orange helmets have the advantage of being better coached and better developed, you can expect them to make a few mistakes as well.

The future of the ACC will be on full display this weekend in Tallahassee and regardless of the blowout that is going to happen, both fan bases should be excited about their future.