Josh Peelman, Contributor (1-1)
Prediction: Clemson beats Syracuse 42-24.
As much as I’d love to say Syracuse will win this game against Clemson or at least make it close, I’m just not feeling it this time around.
Syracuse was gashed on defense both against the pass and against the run last week at Maryland who was thought to be a cellar dweller squad in the Big 10 this year. The defense showed no signs of their dominance or experience that was thought to be the class of the ACC or close to it.
Now with the Orange taking on the Tigers, the No. 1 team in the nation, the Orange will have to respond and make adjustments or be blown out at home. My gut tells me they will be more prepared but just not match up: hence the point differential in my prediction.
The Orange are capable of winning this game. They have the talent to be successful on both sides of the ball. They will have a sellout of over 50,000 fans in the stands creating the ultimate home-field advantage in The Loud House.
They will also have a team hungry to show last game against the Terrapins was an anomaly and that fans can have faith in the future and direction of this program. However, will those things be enough to stop maybe the best program in college football? Hard to say.
The real X-factor to me is really two-fold.
One: The Orange need to bring heart, passion, and determination into this game. Everything about this game should be hard for the Orange. and they’ll really have to battle to pull off the victory.
Running the offense with a quarterback in his third college start, running against a talented defensive line when you’re own offensive line has its’ issues, and playing against two Heisman candidates in Travis Etienne (RB) and Trevor Lawrence (QB) are all things the Orange may struggle within this game.
How well the Orange get past those will go a long way in telling if the Orange pull off the upset or get blown out.
The second x-factor in this game is the hometown crowd of 50,000+ in attendance.
It may seem silly to suggest it, but a crowd can have a huge impact on a game, especially in The Loud House. If you start playing well, the crowd gets behind you and it really builds your confidence.
In addition, in the Dome which isn’t open to the air, that loud noise from screaming, cheering, yelling, clapping and jiggling keys is that much more amplified making it almost impossible to hear plays coming in.
I’ve been in games at the Dome where 30,000 or so were attendance and it got loud and the opposing quarterback had trouble calling plays and create audibles at the line of scrimmage. I’ve also been a game with over 40,000 a few years back where the defense literally had to call timeouts from time to time because they couldn’t hear the coach on the sideline.
That, in turn, led to a lot of runs being called since the quarterback had trouble communicating with his receivers about the play they were calling. So imagine 50,000 now being there and that will give you an idea of just how hard it may be on Clemson if Syracuse does well to start and gets the crowd behind them.
That can really be the 12th man in the field and the game. All this considered, I still don’t think the Orange bring enough heart and don’t get the crowd behind them early enough in this one to get the win.
I see Clemson feeling right at home early and thus realizing our biggest fears and torching us right from the get-go, both on the ground and in the air. Unfortunately, that leads to a slight blowout in Syracuse’s first home game of the year. DeVito may still have a decent 200-300 yard passing game and be the star for the Orange in this one, but it won’t be enough as the running game never really finds success stalling multiple drives that had the potential to be more.
I hope I’m wrong and I’m rooting heavily for the Orange, but this one seems like a long shot. Then again, we’ve said this before, so who knows?