In the race to the ACC Championship game, Clemson did not do itself many favors by losing to Louisville last week at home. That loss was its second of the year and dropped the Tigers from first to third in the ACC standings. Things look bleak for Dabo Swinney’s team, but all hope is not lost. There is still a path for Clemson to the ACC Championship and College Football Playoff. It is a much tougher road, though.
The hardest part of the path is how much of it is not up to the Tigers. Much of it relies on Miami and/or SMU imploding to finish the season. That won’t matter if Clemson does not win the rest of its games. Getting back on track for a shot at a championship run for the Tigers starts with a road test against a good Virginia Tech team on Saturday afternoon.
Tigers in Blacksburg
This will be the 37th meeting between Virginia Tech and Clemson. Currently, the Tigers hold the series lead 23-12-1. They also hold a six-game win streak against the Hokies. This weekend’s game will take place at Virginia Tech. It will be the third straight time these teams will meet in Blacksburg in the regular season. Clemson won the last three games these two programs have played in Blacksburg.
The last time these two teams played was in the 2020 season. The Tigers won that game 45-10. This year’s Hokies team is much better than the one from 2020. Head coach Brent Pry is in his third year leading the program. In that short time, he has brought Virginia Tech back into the conversation as one of the best in the ACC. This season has not exactly gone as expected for Pry’s team, but they are not a group to be slept on.
Who Will Take the Field for the Hokies?
Entering the 2024 season, many people covering the sport had Virginia Tech as their dark horse to win the ACC. Now at 5-4 overall, and 3-2 in the ACC an invite to Charlotte is unlikely, but this team has shown they can compete with high-level competition. The Hokies gave Miami a run for its money losing just 34-38. They also took Vanderbilt to overtime in week one of the season. Pry has his team ready to fight against any opponent and will have his team ready no matter who is available.
That being said though, one of the Hokies’ biggest struggles at the moment is health. Two of their best offensive players sat out against Syracuse last week due to injury. They were Quarterback Kyron Drones and Running back Bhayshul Tuten. Drones warmed up for the game but ended up sitting out with what appeared to be a foot injury. The junior quarterback is one of the scariest players for ACC defenses to see. He is a true dual-threat quarterback with 1447 passing yards, 10 passing touchdowns, and is the second-leading rusher on the Hokies’ roster.
Virginia Tech’s leading rusher is Tuten who was also out against the Orange even though he was dressed in full pads on the sideline. Tuten is second in the ACC in both total rushing yards with 951 yards and average rushing yards per game with 118.9 yards per game. He is also top 10 in the FBS in both categories. The Hokies tried to go by committee to make up for Tuten’s absence mostly using backups Jeremiah Coney and Malachi Thomas.
Coney ran for 96 yards against Syracuse while Thomas had 73 yards rushing and a touchdown. Both guys showed the Hokies can still be productive in the run game without Tuten if needed. Drone’s replacement was transfer quarterback Collin Schlee who also performed well last week. He completed 16 of his 24 pass attempts for 206 yards and one passing touchdown. To add to that, Schlee showed off his dual-threat ability by rushing for a touchdown as well.
As of now both Drones and Tuten are questionable to play against the Tigers according to Pry. It may not matter much as both players have athletes behind them who can step in and play up to standard.
Keys for a Clemson Win
Last week we said the most important key for Clemson against Louisville was stopping the run. The Tigers did not do a good job defending the run giving up 210 yards on the ground at home and it cost them. Well, Wes Goodwin and his defense get a second chance to do it right. Once again, the biggest key for Clemson is going to be stopping the run.
Virginia Tech averages 201.4 rushing yards per game. The Hokies have two quarterbacks and three running backs who can all run the ball well. The passing game for Virginia Tech is not bad either, but it gets set up off of the success of the run. Slowing down the Hokies run game is going to be important for the Clemson defense.
Offensively, Cade Klubnik has to get back to form. Against Louisville, Klubnik started to revert to how he was in week one. He was slow making decisions and lacking the confidence he showed in the six-game win streak. Klubnik cannot afford to revert to those old habits. He has to get back to being the consistent quarterback leading with the high energy we saw in games two through seven. If the Tigers can get that Klubnik back, they can win this game and stay near the path for a championship run.
