Who could have seen this coming? In what should have been the easiest game on Clemson's ACC schedule is no more. The 1-1 Tigers will host the 2-0 North Carolina Tar Heels at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon to kick off Week 3. With Clemson making a change at starting quarterback to Tait Reynolds, the game's point spread has been reflected as such. This one may go down to the wire.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Clemson will only be laying 3.5 points at home to visiting North Carolina. Reynolds may be incredibly talented, but this will be his first career start, and he is going up against a Bill Belchick-led defense. What could possibly go wrong? That is why Reynolds needs to lean on a handful of his teammates for the Tigers to come out of Death Valley alive versus the Heels.
Reynolds will reward Dabo Swinney for trusting him soon, but his supporting cast will need to step up.
Vic Burley has to make some kind of positive impact in the trenches
Let's not put the cart in front of the horse here. Vic Burley may be the most talented member of the Clemson defensive line, but he has routinely underwhelmed before, and just came off an indefinite suspension. Swinney reinstating him feels like a beneficial decision at this point. The Clemson head coach needs the junior defensive tackle as much Burley needs Swinney. He will play at least some.
Because Belchick teams are predicated on a ball-control offensive philosophy, Clemson cannot come up lame in stuffing the run. While the Tigers did a much better job of holding Georgia Southern to 22 yards on the ground last week, Clemson surrendered over 300 to the Bayou Bengals of Baton Rouge. In short, Burley has been a net positive whenever he is out on the field for the Tigers defense.
It might not show up on the stats sheet, but Burley's return has to improve Clemson's weakest unit.
Nolan Hauser must continue to be money in the field-goal kicking game
To beat Belichick's Tar Heels, you have to play like Belichick teams typically do. That would require Clemson being sound on defense and special teams, as well as getting just enough from the offense. Since this is Reynolds' first start at Clemson, Tom Allen's defense and Rich Bisaccia's secret weapon will need to carry the torch for this team. This will obviously include Nolan Hauser making all his kicks.
Hauser scored the first points in Week 1's debacle over at Tiger Stadium. He was able to carry that personal momentum into Week 2's relatively close call against Georgia Southern last week. Outside of Christopher Vizzina's lone touchdown pass on the young season, Hauser accounted for the rest of Clemson's 16 points in that game. He was money by nailing all five of his field goal attempts as well.
The good news for Clemson is North Carolina is not quite where it needs to be over on special teams.
TJ Moore has to become Tait Reynolds' go-to wide receiver from the jump
While Bryant Wesco Jr. may be slightly more talented than him, TJ Moore has been the far more productive receiver in Clemson's meager passing game. Through the first two games of the year, he has 11 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown. Keep in mind that he only had 45 and 52 receptions in each of his firs two seasons at Clemson. Last week gave him his first 100-yard game on the year.
Assuming he continues to work on his rapport with Reynolds, that could be triply beneficial for the entire Clemson aerial attack. Reynolds will gain confidence. Moore will get his stats. Above all else, it will take some unwanted attention away from this emerging passing tandem to hopefully, open up more opportunities for everyone else. Simply put, Clemson needs to be more versatile on offense.
For that to even be possible, Moore has to remain the driving force for the Clemson passing game.
Corey Myrick must show his teammates how to best handle adversity
There will come a point in this game where Clemson will either be up against it, or it could be heading that way. One emerging star on this team is best equipped to handle that, especially on defense. That would be safety Corey Myrick. The former Southern Miss transfer let it be know that he lost all of his games during his senior year in high school. Now, he is arguably Clemson's most important pickup.
Swinney took a relatively big gamble by adding three starting-level players to his secondary by way of the transfer portal. Myrick, fellow safety Jerome Carter III, and Elliot Washington II have all answered the bell for the Tigers. They have helped transform a glaring weakness on last year's team into an underrated strength for this year's defense. Look for Myrick to help keep Billy Edwards Jr. in check.
Because Norh Carolina is still a work in progress on offense, look for Clemson to take advantage.
Harris Sewell needs to be the fulcrum the entire offensive line leans on
Of the handful of areas where Clemson has been disappointing through two games, the play of the offensive line might be chief among them. This was thought to be an area of strength for the team. Instead, the Tigers have struggled to run the football, or even hold up in pass protection at times. Since left tackle Brayden Jacobs cannot be trusted right now, let's put our faith into Harris Sewell.
Clemson's starting center will need to take on some of the mental load pre-snap for the true freshman Reynolds ahead of his first career start. If Sewell can get everyone lined up right and play cohesively as one, then Clemson has a chance of starting conference play out 1-0. Should the rest of the offensive line fail to get its collective stuff together, that could be quite problematic for this team.
Sewell will have to be the straw that stirs the drink for Clemson offensively at the line of scrimmage.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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