WHAT WE ARE HEARING: PREVIEW & PREDICTION FOR NO.15 CLEMSON vs. STANFORD

Welcome to the Homecoming edition of What We Are Hearing!

The 100^th homecoming for Clemson has been sabotaged by Hurricane Helene, and we’ve been without power for the last two days. As of noon on Saturday, the game is still on at 7:00, and I’m going to write as much as I can with no power, no wi-fi and spotty cell service.

The Tigers’ offense has been rolling over the last two games, putting up historic numbers, and I’m not sure even the hurricane can stop it right now. Clemson is the first FBS school in 20 years to mount 28-point first-quarter leads in consecutive games. The Tigers outscored their last two opponents 98-20 in the first half and cleared their bench in both second halves, which will pay big dividends later this season and beyond.

The Tigers will play ACC newcomer Stanford for just the second time in history, having beaten the Cardinal in the 1986 Gator Bowl. My dad graduated from Stanford Law School, and I lived in Newport Beach until I was 5 years old. John Elway was my favorite player growing up, and I never thought I’d see Stanford play in Death Valley!

On to the matchup…

STANFORD SYNOPSIS

The Cardinal won its first-ever ACC game in dramatic fashion last Friday night with a last-second field goal at Syracuse. The Cardinal lost its opener to TCU 34-27 and blew out Cal Poly 41-7, coming in at 2-1.

Stanford’s offense is led by 6’2, 215-pound junior quarterback Ashton Daniels, who is ironically from Buford, GA, so he will have plenty of friends and family in the stands. He has completed 61.5 percent of his passes this season for 562 yards and 4 touchdowns with 3 interceptions. He does not have a rush TD yet this season but ran for 87 yards on 17 carries against TCU and 45 yards on 13 carries last week, averaging 4.2 yards per rush this season. Last season, he completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 2,247 yards and 11 TD’s with 8 INT’s.

Daniels has one of the best receivers in the country in Elic Ayomanor (#13). The 6’2, 210-pound sophomore has incredible ball skills, making one-handed catches look easy. His only score came at Cuse last week, but he can take over any given game, which is exactly what he did as a freshman last year in the double-overtime win over Colorado. He had 13 catches for 294 yards and 3 scores in that game! He had 7 catches for 87 yards last week, including the big 4^th down conversion that put the Cardinal in field goal position for the game winner. He had 7 catches for 102 yards in the opener against TCU. The Tigers will have to know where he is at all times! 6’0, 180 pound sophomore Ismael Cisse (#84) actually has 2 more catches than Ayomanor to lead the team. He did not score last week but leads the team with 2 TD catches. The Cardinal has 2 other receivers and a tight end with TD catches this season, so Daniels is not keying on Ayomanor by any means.

Daniels leads the team in both carries and rush yards. In fact, he has more carries than the top two backs combined. However, 5’10, 185-poundn freshman RB Chris Davis, Jr., from Mississippi, is off to a hot start to his career. He did not play in the opener but averaged 8.8 yards per rush in each of the last two games. Stanford’s other leading back is also a freshman. 6’0. 210-pound Micah Ford (#20) is averaging 2.9 yards per carry and has yet to score.

The defense has 6 sacks, 3 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries in 3 games. Senior safety Mitch Leigber (#32) had a 71-yard pick-six in the win at Cuse last week. The other safety. Jay Green (#5), has an INT to go along with a forced fumble and recovery. Senior kicker Emmet Kenney is a perfect 8-8 on field goals this season with a long of 51 yards.

CLEMSON STATUS

Cade Klubnik has been even better than Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson over his last two halves of football. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a quarterback who has ever put up the numbers he has in two consecutive halves against FBS opponents! And they were no slouches, either. App State was picked to win its conference and picked by many to make the College Football Playoff from the Group of Five. NC State has always had great defenses under Dave Doeren and was ranked just a couple of weeks ago. I never had any doubt that it was only a matter of time until Cade’s talent and potential started showing up on Saturdays and that the game would slow down for him as he got more and more experience. I also said after the Georgia loss that the offense had plenty of play makers and would be fine this season. But nobody could have predicted the explosion and near perfection we have witnessed in the last two games. The starting offense has scored in 16 of his last 17 possessions with 14 touchdowns and one field goal with no turnovers! The only turnover in the last 2 games was a fumble by Antonio on a punt return against App State. The only other turnover this season was a circus interception late in the Georgia game. The offense has yet to put the ball on the ground, and if they had done that last season, the Tigers would have won the ACC and made the playoff. Let’s hope that they continue to take care of the football. Knock on wood!

The offensive line has been outstanding in both run blocking and pass protection, not allowing a sack yet this season that was their responsibility. At one point last week, the offense had 250 yards passing and 250 yards rushing, so it has been a balanced attack. The defensive backups have left something to be desired—particularly last week—but the starters have been dominant. The Tigers have created 3 turnovers in each of the last 2 games, including a pick-six last week by freshman Ashton Hampton. First-year starting kicker Nolan Hauser hasn’t had many opportunities but has made the most of them, and that bodes well for his confidence because the Tigers will need him at some point this season.

From a health standpoint, the Tigers are in great shape despite a few minor injuries. Adam Randall played last week with a stress fracture in his toe and had a great game with a touchdown catch. He had surgery on Monday, and Dabo hopes that he will be back for the UVA game. WR Tyler Brown rolled his ankle in the App State game 3 weeks ago and did not play last week but should be available on Saturday night. DT Peter Woods also did not play last week due to a dirty cut block by App State, but I think he will be available for this game if needed. Dabo may decide to wait and see if the offense picks up where it left off in the first half. If it does, he might decide to give Woods another week to rest before going to FSU next week. Tre Williams and TJ Parker were outstanding up front last week!

PREDICTION

I don’t know how much longer my cell service will allow me to publish this, so I’m going to keep my prediction short and sweet. Despite the hurricane, which has caused more damage than the one in which the Tigers beat Notre Dame in 2015, the weather should be nice for the game, and I expect the atmosphere to be electric. It’s going to be an eye-opener for the former Pac-12 boys from Stanford! This is a well-coached team and solid defense, but I have no reason to believe that the Tigers will slow down with the confidence and momentum Cade and the rest of the unit is riding. It was difficult to get any offensive tempo going against Georgia with only 52 plays and first downs hard to come by, but they went fast against App State and even faster last week. Expect more of the same on Saturday night! The Tigers should have no problem winning this game. Let’s just hope for no injuries and consistency with high execution and no turnovers. It would be great if Dabo can get some more valuable game experience for the backups! Tigers win big…again.

CLEMSON    48        Stanford    13