And I would agree that we might hold an edge there.... for the first three quarters or so.

The problem is that depth is a MAJOR concern on the DL. Right now we have 4 guys who can play DE. We have three that can play DT effectively. One of our starting DEs (Mihota) can slide to play a few snaps at DT as needed. A couple weeks ago, I would have classified the situation there as dire. But it's still a major issue and one I think Clemson will be able to take advantage of as the game goes by.

I see the matchups as....

VT QB and Offensive Skill players vs Clemson Back 7: I give Clemson a slight advantage here. I think we're decent at QB and Cam is very good. Clemson's back 7 has a lot of talent too. I think we'd be capable of making this a push, but.....

VT's offensive front vs Clemson's defensive front: MAJOR Clemson advantage. We have adequate play on the OL. Clemson probably has college football's best defensive line right now. This is going to make Jackson's life a living nightmare trying to make things happen in the passing game. I don't see us doing squat in the running game other than trying to keep you guys honest.

Clemson QB and offensive skill players vs VT Back 7: Advantage Virginia Tech by a slight margin. Bryant hasn't been particularly impressive to me. He has talent, but he's beatable. Clemson has some very good receivers and skill players. The running game will help keep us honest. But we do have some very good DBs. If AA does not play, I think this is more of a push if not a slight Clemson advantage.

Clemson offensive front vs VT defensive front: I'm going to give this an overall push. Our LBs are very solid. Our DL is good, but VERY thin. I think we'll have the advantage early. Late, I think the advantage will flip to Clemson as fatigue wears in as I just don't think we can afford to play our twos as much as we would want because of the significant dropoff, especially at DT.

Special Teams: I'll give this a slight VT advantage. Our kicker has been dicey all season. You guys just lost your kicker. Bradburn has done a good job at punter. When we kickoff, you might as well skip the play and line up at the 25.

Gameday Coaching: A case could be made for Foster and Venables being the best and second best DCs nationally (with a good case to be made for both as #1). But I think Fuente has a bit of a gameday edge over Dabo (Dabo excels in a lot of other areas and I don't think he's a bad gameday coach... more that I think gameday coaching is one of Fu's biggest strengths). I'll go slight advantage Virginia Tech.

Intangibles: Virginia Tech holds the clear advantage here. It's the first home game in Lane with true national implications in over a decade. Our program is on its way back up. Meanwhile, Clemson is defending a national title... but a loss for Clemson doesn't eliminate the Tigers. A loss (especially one by a wide margin) could set the program back.

How I see it going: I think the game will be pretty even for the majority of the contest. However, with Clemson's advantage on the defensive front against our offensive front, I see us having a very hard time doing anything to take advantage of matchups we may have with our skill players vs your back 7. That said, I think we have kind of a defensive stalemate for about a half and we actually go into halftime with a 10-7 or so halftime lead. Towards the end of the third quarter though, I see the tide turning as we begin to get worn down with our lack of depth. The game goes into the 4th quarter very close. But Clemson gets a TD early in the 4th to open up some daylight and then a TD in the last few minutes closes the door.

Prediction: Clemson 27 Virginia Tech 13