Stat Junky: Clemson v GT
Stat Junky: GT v Clemson
After installing the most recent numbers from yahoo’s stats pages into the statjunky spreadsheet I thought that it was about time to break out some serious numbers to see how the upcoming game between the Jackets and the Tigers should pan out. The rankings are (nationally, ACC)
First up: Total Offense. Clemson(1,1) Tech(31,3). #1 offense in the land by 1.2 ppg folks, I have never seen this by a Clemson team before so this is exciting. 43.9 points per game in comparison to Techs 28.7 and the Tigers almost double the competition. Clemson surpasses Tech’s offensive prowess by over 400 yards in the air and 650 on the ground. Given that Tech may not have had as “cupcake” as season as Clemson that fact may be nullified. Clemson averages a 49% 3rd down completion in comparison to Tech’s 40.3% and both teams share the exact same 66.7% 4th down conversion with Clemson attempting twice as many with 4. Tech has 40 additional yards in penalties to Clemson’s 303 and also leads in the amount of penalties distributed with 41 to Clemson’s 34. Both teams have held on to the ball about the same amount of time at around 29 minutes this season.
Passing Offense: Clemson(37,1) Tech(97,9). Both teams have gone to the air to average out at 25 a piece for the year so far. Clemson leads the air attack in completions at 15.9 for a 63.8% when compared to Tech’s 13.3 completions and 52.6%. Clemson has amassed 1459 yards, 208 per game, while Tech has 1025 and 170.8 per game in the air. 59 first downs and 12 TD’s are the result through the air for Clemson while Tech has prospered for 44 forst downs and 10 TD’s. Both teams have been picked off 5 times but Tech leads the sack category with 7 when compared to Clemsons 4. Clemson holding the #1 ACC position is surprising to me as the ground game has been so dominant but hey I’m not one to complain! And the 97 national ranking of Tech is miserable considering they have Calvin Johnson.
Rushing Offense: Clemson(3,1) Tech(32,2). Both teams actually seem balanced when comparing the rush to the pass as Clemson is just 300 yards greater in the rush column than the pass column and Tech just 70 yards difference in favor of the rush. Clemson has attempted to rush 291 times and achieved an average of 6 yards per carry while Tech has tried 222 times for a 5 yard average. Clemson almost doubles Tech’s yards per game and TD’s on the ground with it’s 250 yards and 24 TD’s versus 183 and 10 TD’s from Tech. Clemson has bust out 87 first downs and a long run of 72 yards while Tech has ground out a 32 yarder for the longest of the year and 55 first downs.
Total Defense: Clemson(11,2) Tech(24,5). Clemson has allowed 13.3 points per game and an average of 234 yards while Tech has 16.2 points and 275.7 yards. Both teams stay even with each other with around 1200 pass yards and 450 rush yards against them. Clemson as had 1 int for TD while Tech has had 2.
Pass Defense: Clemson(37,6) Tech(53,9). The pass defense on both teams seem questionable as Clemson has allowed 164 yards per game in comparison to 69.7 yards on the ground. Tech has allowed 204 yards in the air and 71.7 yards on the ground. Clemson and Tech have both held the opponents to an average of around 50% completions. Both teams have allowed 4 TD’s through the air and share the same pick number of 7. Clemson has allowed 62 first downs while Tech has 56 through the air.
Rush Defense: Clemson(8,3) Tech(5,2). Both teams are allowing the opponents about 2 yards per carry on the ground, so really they aren’t allowing anything at all. 4 TD’s and 33 first downs have been achieved through Clemson’s rush D while Tech has allowed 6 TD’s and 27 first downs. Both teams have held the opponents under 100 yards per game this season.
Clemson leads all mentioned categories except the Rush Defense and punt/kick returns (not mentioned), the one category where Clemson will attack the most. Similar to the Wake Forest game Clemson will be sure to knock that stat around as Wake took a tumble from the #6 rush defense the week going into playing the Tigers to #30 this week. GT has not played a huge power rush offense this season so this statistic and ranking may be deceiving. Both teams like to keep it on the ground as seen through the stats so this could be a drawn out game. That is unless the rush D’s actually do stand up to their #8 and #5 rankings and force the QB’s to the air. That would be when both teams would start to become concerned. Clemson has rookies all over the place who, although showing up in previous games, may not take kindly to the pressure placed on this weeks game and commit some errors. Tech on the other hand has the Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde syndrome at QB and although Ball has not self destructed this season, a packed homecoming Death Valley at night on ESPN would be the ideal place for it to go all wrong. By the numbers, it would probably do both teams well to hit the air for some points as the pass D is where both teams seem vulnerable at #37 and #53. I have also heard rumors that GT’s special teams are almost as “special” as Clemson’s with the Jackets giving up a 100 yard return to the Terps in their last game. In the end this game will live up to it’s tradition of keeping everyone on the edge of their seats but in the end I believe that Clemson’s fresh legs (Reggie should play this game) and depth outdo the Jackets and pull it out by more than 10 points.
Oh yeah, about that 10-9 game last year and 6 of the last 9 games that GT is stuck on “owning” the Tigers, all I have to say is this is an entirely new Tiger team. Yeah we may have some old guys in the line-up but they are the offensive line and they are backed up by the deepest RB crew in the land. Also throw in that James Davis, the native Atlantean who was foaming at the mouth to play GT, did not play last year and you have another edge. Charlie’s bumb shoulder, another factor. C.J. Spiller, the emergence of Fullbacks and Tight Ends into the offensive schemes, yet another edge. In the end it comes down to Reggie Ball’s ability to get the ball to Calvin Johnson (who only had 49 yards in the last GT/Clemson showdown). If he can’t do that he must try to elude the rabid Tiger LB’s and Gaines Adams…..another edge.
All I know is that a night game in Death Valley between the two divisional leaders and two top 15 teams is just what the doctor ordered for this season. I can’t wait and look forward to a week of heavy media and attention.
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