Clemson/Florida Atlantic Prediction

And so dawns a new year for college football.

Actually Steve Spurrier and the Gamechickens sprung open the gates Thursday evening, but with decidedly little offensive fireworks. A rarity for his teams. So as Anna Kate would say, the real thing begins Saturday. And we have the Fighting Tigers of Clemson University preparing to take on the Owls of Florida Atlantic.

Normally, I would go into mucho detail about offense/defense breakdowns, players/formations to expect, and other GameDay things like that. But I'm not doing that this time. Two reasons. 1) I already did an insanely long blog entry on the Tigers last time, and 2) It's Florida Atlantic. Yes, at the risk of sounding like an elitist, this is a game that Clemson needs to, and by all rights should, win handily.

The thing to keep in mind is that a lot of new guys (i.e., redshirt and true freshmen) will play in this game. So it's not going to be the picture-perfect blowout that Clemson fans probably want to see. If our starters played for all 60 minutes, then yes, it's a blowout. But Tommy has already stated his wish to play as much youth as possible in the opener. There's bound to be the usual rookie mistakes: dropped passes, missed blocks, blown assignments, etc. - it's just human nature. But that's fine. Clemson just outclasses Florida Atlantic in every aspect of the game. Their depth, superior athleticism, home field advantage (expect the WestZone to rocket Death Valley's noise level to sonic boom levels), and an unwavering ability to run the ball and wear out their defense, will guide them to an easy victory. I'm putting it on the line here, folks. The Tigers are not going to let us down. Not this time.

My prediction?

Rustiness and rookie mistakes will make the final score much closer than it should be. But the stats won't reflect it. Look for the Tigers to dominate early, rotate some new guys in, and give us reason to be very excited about the future. Clemson 31, Florida Atlantic 14

GO TIGERS!!! BEAT THE OWLS!