Clemson football: 3 realistic expectations vs. NC State Wolfpack

The Clemson football team will have its first true road test of the season against the NC State Wolfpack this Saturday in Raleigh.

Both the Tigers and Wolfpack come into this game with a 2-1 record and the winner of this game will have an inside track on the ACC Atlantic Division here early on in the season.

N.C. State fans are hopeful– even confident– and the overall feeling that we’ve gotten from Clemson fans is a sense of nervousness. The Tigers are a double-digit favorite coming into this one, but that line means very little in terms of how the game will actually play out.

Here’s a look at three realistic expectations for Clemson football fans to have heading into the N.C. State game.

Three realistic expectations for Clemson football against N.C. State

1. The offense will have more opportunities to score

We’re going to start this post off with a bit of a ‘positive note,’ if that can be believed.

Georgia Tech’s game plan last week was to bleed the clock and limit possessions. Clemson only had nine possessions in the game and only had three real possessions in the second half– one was a punt, one was a drive that ended with a fumble, and the other was a touchdown– but that won’t be the case this weekend.

Unless N.C. State breaks tendencies in a major way– which we have seen opponents do– you can expect the offense to have several more possessions to potentially put up points.

N.C. State has been playing a lot of tempo in its first three games of the season and there’s reason to believe they won’t try much of the same here. The result will give the Tigers more opportunities to do something offensively. The real question, however, is if they’ll take advantage.