A very orange Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Tennessee prediction

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Dec 30 13:02:15 GMT-04:00 2022

Only one thing is for certain when it comes to Friday night’s game – there will be a lot of orange, and I mean a lot of orange, in the Orange Bowl.

Fresh off its 21st all-time ACC championship and its seventh outright conference crown in eight years, Clemson (AP Poll No. 10, Coaches Poll No. 11, CFP No. 7) will attempt to record its seventh 12-win season in team history when it faces consensus No. 6 Tennessee in the 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl on Friday, Dec. 30. Kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida is set for 8 p.m. ET.

Clemson will be making its seventh all-time appearance in the Orange Bowl, a game in which the Tigers hold a 4-2 record. The game was the site of Clemson's first national championship victory on New Year's Day 1982, when the Tigers defeated Nebraska, 22-15. Clemson has won each of its last two Orange Bowl appearances, including a 40-35 win over Ohio State to end the 2013 season and a 37-17 College Football Playoff semifinal win over Oklahoma in 2015.

NO. 10/11/7 CLEMSON (11-2, 8-0 ACC) vs. NO. 6/6/6 TENNESSEE (10-2, 6-2 SEC)

TELEVISION: ESPN (Joe Tessitore, Greg McElroy, Katie George)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
RADIO: ESPN Radio (Mike Couzens, Max Starks, Paul Carcaterra)
SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM 84, Internet/App 84

CLEMSON/TENNESSEE SERIES HISTORY

OVERALL: Clemson trails, 6-11-2
HOME: Series is tied, 2-2-1
ROAD: Clemson trails, 3-9-1
NEUTRAL: Clemson leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Jan. 2, 2004 (27-14, W)
- STREAK: Clemson, Won 1

NOTABLE

*Head Coach Dabo Swinney will be coaching his 200th career game at Clemson, joining Frank Howard (295) as the only coaches in school history to serve as head coach for 200 career contests. With a 161-38 career mark, Swinney will attempt to earn his 162nd victory in his 200th career game as head coach to tie Joe Paterno and Tom Osborne (162 each) for the third-most wins through 200 career games in major college football history, trailing Urban Meyer (170) and Gil Dobie (163). Swinney's 161 wins are already the second-most through the first 15 seasons in a career in FBS history, including his debut season in 2008 in which he was limited to only seven games after ascending to the position in an interim capacity.

*Quarterback Cade Klubnik is expected to make his first career start in the contest after earning ACC Championship Game Most Valuable Player honors for his sterling performance in reserve against North Carolina. Klubnik will become the first Clemson quarterback to make his starting debut in a postseason game since Clemson abandoned the single-wing offense in favor of the T-formation in 1953. Since 2002, Clemson quarterbacks are 9-2 in the first career starts with wins by Charlie Whitehurst, Will Proctor, Cullen Harper, Kyle Parker, Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Kelly Bryant, Trevor Lawrence and DJ Uiagalelei.

*Clemson is attempting to produce its seventh 12-win season in program history, joining the 1981 (12), 2015 (14), 2016 (14), 2017 (12), 2018 (15) and 2019 (14) seasons. Clemson (five) is attempting to join Alabama (six) as the only programs in the nation to post at least six 12-win seasons since 2015.

*Clemson is attempting to improve to 27-22 all-time in bowl contests. A 27th bowl win would move Clemson into ninth in FBS history. (Note: Ohio State can also earn its 27th all-time bowl victory this year.)

*Clemson (four) is attempting to join Oklahoma (12), Nebraska (eight), Miami (Fla.) (six), Alabama (five) and Florida State (five) as the only programs ever to win five Orange Bowls. - Clemson entering the game having won a postseason game (conference championship, bowl game and/or national championship game) for 12 consecutive seasons. Clemson’s current 12-year streak is the longest active streak in the country and passed 1985-95 Florida State (11) for the longest streak on record back to 1980, according to Stats Perform.

WHEN TENNESSEE HAS THE BALL

This game seems more about who the Vols don’t have than who they brought to the game. Tennessee will be without Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman on Friday night in Miami. That’s a lot of talent. But there is still talent out on the field, including quarterback Joe Milton, who is good friends with Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis. Milton has a cannon for an arm but isn’t always accurate. He is a bigger quarterback and can run the ball, so the Tigers will have to keep contain on Milton while still trying to cover the wide receivers running open.

The key, at least in my eyes, is stopping Milton inside the pocket and forcing him to make throws while under duress. In the last few games, defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin has turned his players loose on the quarterback and teams have used the quick game to get the ball out before the rush can get there. Stop the run, tackle early, get lined up fast, and keep Milton in the pocket.

ADVANTAGE: SLIGHT TO CLEMSON

WHEN CLEMSON HAS THE BALL

Under Klubnik, the Clemson offense looked like, well, the Clemson offense. The ball was out fast, there were shots down the field, and he ran the RPO offense about as well as it can be run. Tennessee isn’t a good defense, but finished 19th against the run and 84th overall. But the Vols are 126th against the pass out of 131 teams (it’s interesting to note that the SEC has three of the worst six pass defenses in the country, with Vandy at 127 and Arkansas at 131). Will the Vols try to shut down Will Shipley and Phil Mafah and force the freshman to win through the air?

That is where Klubnik’s running ability comes into play. You can sell out to stop the run, but if he’s making the right reads in the read-option, some big gains can be made, and that opens up the passing game. I still look for Shipley and Mafah to get their yards, especially after the Vol defense tries to plug the holes. It would be nice to see Joseph Ngata have a good game.

ADVANTAGE: CLEMSON

SPECIAL TEAMS

Chase McGrath is a solid kicker for the Vols at 15-for-19 on field goals, but he doesn’t handle kickoffs and the Tigers should be able to return some kicks. Cornerback Dee Williams returns kicks and punts and is electric and averages over 19 yards per punt return. Punter Paxton Brooks averages just a little over 38 yards per punt.

ADVANATGE: CLEMSON

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Bowl games are tough to call. Anything can, and usually does happen. Add in two quarterbacks who haven’t started a ton of games and new players at key spots for both teams and you can expect mistakes and penalties and adjustments. Which team settles in and makes the least amount of mistakes, like every other game, comes out on top. The difference is that Clemson’s defense is better, and these Tigers have been in this situation before -- and Tennessee hasn’t.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 37, TENNESSEE 28

More TigerNet picks

Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 34-23 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 40-21 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 34-27 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 34-24 Clemson
Pigskin Prophet - 45-24 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - 35-24 Clemson
Ariana Pensy - TigerNet Intern - 44-41 Clemson

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Prophet	Kantor	Pensy
GT	41-10 CU	38-13 CU	33-9 CU	41-7 CU	33-10 CU	35-13 CU	34-7 CU	39-6 CU	-
Furman	35-12 CU	50-10 CU	51-10 CU	59-7 CU	45-3 CU	45-3 CU	49-6 CU	48-7 CU	-
La Tech	48-20 CU	37-14 CU	51-10 CU	59-10 CU	44-13 CU	45-13 CU	45-10 CU	45-10 CU	38-10 CU
Wake	51-45 CU 2OT	37-27 CU	38-27 CU	34-20 CU	38-24 CU	31-24 CU	37-23 CU	31-24 CU	56-28 CU
NC State	30-20 CU	30-21 CU	31-21 CU	30-17 CU	27-20 CU	28-20 CU	34-17 CU	31-24 CU	37-34 CU
BC	31-3 CU	37-13 CU	37-17 CU	31-14 CU	41-17 CU	35-13 CU	41-16 CU	42-14 CU	42-10 CU
FSU	34-28 CU	27-17 CU	31-17 CU	30-14 CU	31-21 CU	31-20 CU	35-20 CU	31-21 CU	34-13 CU
Syracuse	27-21 CU	35-21 CU	37-16 CU	38-14 CU	37-23 CU	34-17 CU	34-20 CU	31-21 CU	37-20 CU
Notre Dame	35-14 ND	34-20 CU	28-13 CU	24-10 CU	28-20 CU	27-17 CU	27-16 CU	30-17 CU	37-20 CU
Louisville	31-16 CU	23-17 CU	27-20 CU	17-10 CU	27-21 CU	28-24 CU	27-24 CU	27-24 CU	30-17 CU
Miami	40-10 CU	41-14 CU	38-13 CU	31-10 CU	38-17 CU	31-17 CU	33-16 CU	38-10 CU	35-14 CU
SC	31-30 SC	40-17 CU	38-17 CU	41-10 CU	34-19 CU	31-17 CU	34-16 CU	30-17 CU	37-24 CU
UNC	39-10 CU	31-30 CU	30-24 CU	31-27 UNC	30-27 CU	34-28 CU	27-24 UNC	35-31 UNC	28-27 CU
Points	-	15	13	14	11	15	12	14	13

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner