Clemson Football goes for their fourth straight ACC Championship against Pittsburgh in the biggest mismatch of championship weekend.
The ACC has been devoid of any real drama this season except for which team was coming in second place. Clemson has wire-to-wire dominated the conference, with the only near miss coming against Syracuse in a game freshman phenom Trevor Lawrence was knocked out of.
Since Dabo Swinney handed the keys to Lawrence, the Tigers have rolled through opponent after opponent, effectively biding time until they faced a real challenge in the College Football Playoff.
The dominance might be by a wider margin than usual, but Clemson’s dominion over the ACC has been going on since Deshaun Watson and company snatched the baton away from Florida State in 2015. The Tigers have won three straight ACC Championships, and are heavy favorites to clinch a fourth straight in Charlotte this weekend.
Standing in their way is a familiar thorn-in-the-side of top five teams: an unranked Pittsburgh. The Panthers are at their most dangerous when no one sees them coming. They’ve won four of their last five games against Top 5 opponents when unranked, including knocking off top-ranked Clemson on the road in 2016, so Dabo is well aware of Pitt’s prowess for major upsets.
Pitt went 1-3 out of conference, but managed a 6-2 mark in the ACC to emerge from a cluster of mediocrity in the ACC’s Coastal Division, giving them the opportunity to play in the title game for the first time.
They won four straight games before falling flat against Miami last week, mostly on the heels of their ground game, led by Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall. They’ll have their hands full opening up running lanes against the stout Clemson front, however.
Will Clemson handle their business and clinch a fourth consecutive trip to the playoff, or will Pitt reach their final form and claim an ACC Championship with five losses?
Here’s how you can watch Saturday night’s ACC Championship:
Date: Saturday, December 1
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Charlotte, NC
Venue: Bank of America Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV
Keys to Victory
Clemson’s defense showed some chinks-in-the-armor last week against South Carolina with Gamecocks QB Jake Bentley throwing for over 500 yards. The Tigers secondary may be vulnerable, but Pitt’s bread-and-butter has been their ground game.
Can sophomore QB Kenny Pickett make enough plays in the air to potentially soften Clemson up and open up lanes for Ollison and Hall? Pickett has only netted 200+ passing yards in a game once this season, netting 316 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win over Wake Forest a couple of weeks ago. It will take the game of his life in Charlotte for the Panthers to even be competitive against the Tigers.
Clemson is the vastly superior side, but turnovers can be the great equalizer in these types of games. Can they take care of the football to avoid giving Pittsburgh short fields and easier scoring opportunities? Lawrence has been remarkably efficient for a QB of his age since grabbing the reins, but a championship game provides a unique pressure that has seen players far his senior crumble. It helps that Lawrence has a back like Travis Etienne to lean on, but he’ll need to take care of the football to avoid giving Pitt any shred of hope that an upset is possible.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com
Point Spread: Clemson -27.5
Over/Under: 52.5
Prediction
Not many are more aware of Pitt’s penchant for upsets than Clemson, having been on the wrong side of one two years ago. Barring some fluky bounces this time around, the Tigers shouldn’t have many problems dispatching their Coastal opponent. Pickett isn’t good enough as a passer to cause Clemson’s secondary too much grief, and as good as Ollison and Hall have been, running lanes will be near non-existent against a star-studded Tigers front.
Look for a big game from Etienne, and for Lawrence’s cool under pressure to once again be evident as Clemson jumps on Pitt early and rolls to another ACC title and playoff bid.
Final Score: Clemson 48, Pittsburgh 14