Clemson football: The most important games for Clemson in 2022 (That Clemson doesn’t play in)
By John Chancey
Army at Wake Forest
When: Saturday, October 8, 2022
Where: Truist Field, Winston-Salem, NC
Why: Relying on the Demon Deacons to boost Clemson’s SOS is an uncomfortable situation at best. It’s true that computers don’t care about reputation, but metrics aren’t the only thing that impact SOS. Human voters have more respect for programs like Clemson, Florida State, Miami & Virginia Tech than they do for programs like Wake Forest, but this season most analysts think the guys from Winston-Salem are among the best opponents on Clemson’s schedule.
Army is just one of those teams defenses find hard to prepare to play. What the Black Knights lack in talent, they make up with offensive scheme and clock control.
Wake Forest has a fantastic offense. They are going to score points against Army, but how many opportunities will they get? The Deacons can only score if they have the ball, and they didn’t have the most resilient defense last season. The Knights are going to bleed the clock while they run the ball on the ground, and I am not sure the Deacon defense will be able to stop them.
Quarterback Sam Hartman has no margin for error: when he gets the ball in his hands, he must get Wake into the end zone. It will be bad for Clemson if the defending champion of the ACC Atlantic loses to Army.