Clemson football: 247 Sports predicts Tigers lose to UGA in opener

The 2021 Clemson football season could end up as one we won’t soon forget.

Despite the Tigers losing two historically-great talents in Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne to the NFL, there is plenty of ability behind them. Clemson will be turning to former 5-star D.J. Uiagalelei at quarterback and the feeling is that the Tigers could have a more explosive offense than what we’ve seen in the past few years with the combination of Uiagalelei’s arm talent and the skill position players he’ll have around him.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Tigers return almost every single starter from last season’s team and they’ll also be adding some talented pieces to the group. There’s potential that this group could be the deepest and most talented defensive unit that Brent Venables has had since that 2018 team that won the National Championship.

247 Sports’ Brad Crawford recently posted his Way-too-early Week 1 college football predictions and, of course, the headliner for that season-opening week is Clemson vs. Georgia.

While Clemson football might be the Vegas favorite heading into the game, Crawford has different ideas for which team will come out victorious

Here’s a look at Crawford’s prediction- taking the Georgia Bulldogs to win- and what he had to say about the matchup:

"Georgia 31, Clemson 24The best game of Week 1 in college football pits two potential Playoff teams going at it in Charlotte for early bragging rights. This one features two Heisman contenders at quarterback who will be matched up against veteran-laden defenses that should rank inside the nation’s Top 10 at season’s end. It’s hard to imagine both of these teams reaching the final four given the rest of the road for each, so the winner of this game certainly has a leg up on the other. The winner vaults closer to Alabama at No. 1 in the Week 2 rankings as well."

Crawford gives respect to both teams, but he doesn’t go into detail as to why he thinks Georgia comes out on the winning side.

If you’re talking about a matchup with two even quarterbacks and skilled defenses- as was laid out- wouldn’t you give the advantage to the team with the better and more experienced coaching staff? Wouldn’t you at least give the benefit of the doubt to the program that has made six-straight CFB Playoffs instead of the program that still struggles to win its division each year?

Perhaps Georgia has turned the curve- there’s plenty of talent in Athens- and that’s enough for them to get by the Tigers, but if you’re calling this an even matchup as was described in the prediction, I’m siding with Dabo Swinney over Kirby Smart.