ACC Championship Clemson-North Carolina Preview and Prediction

The staff of All Clemson give you their predictions for the ACC Championship.

Zach Lentz | Dec 2, 2022

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Clemson Tigers

Clemson and North Carolina last met in an ACC Championship Game in 2015. On Saturday, Clemson will be making its sixth ACC Championship Game appearance since that meeting while North Carolina will be making its first.

Fifty-five members of Clemson’s 133-man roster have been with Clemson’s program for at least one ACC Championship. Of those 55 members, 36 of them have appeared in game action and combined for 51 career ACC Championship Game appearances.

Predictions:

Zach Lentz: Let's take a second to talk about the Heisman-esque year that Drake Maye has put together. Maye is currently the highest-graded quarterback in the Power 5 according to Pro Football Focus (PFF) with a 91.6 mark. According to PFF, his 40 big-time throws are 11 more than any other Power 5 quarterback, while his 498 rushing yards after contact are the second-most among Power 5 QBs. Maye is currently averaging 320.6 passing yards per game and leads UNC in rushing with 629 yards (52.4 ypg). The last two QBs who averaged over 300 passing yards per game, while leading their team in rushing was Patrick Mahomes in 2016 and Johnny Manziel in 2013. Maye leads the nation in total offense (373.0), ranks fourth in passing yards per game (320.6), fourth in passing TDs (35) and 10th in passing efficiency (165.2).

Let's compare that to Clemson's offense...

Yeah, that is what I thought. UNC wins this one with outstanding QB play and a Clemson offense that can't get out of its own way--and doesn't help its defense out at all.

North Carolina 38, Clemson 17

Will Vandervort: If you listened to my podcast a few weeks back, when North Carolina locked up a spot in the ACC Championship Game, I said this was a concerning matchup for the Clemson defense. Granted, I did not see UNC struggling to move the football against Georgia Tech and NC State. Even with that said, I still don't like the matchup of Drake Maye and his wide receivers against Clemson's secondary. Since the Tigers were exposed by South Carolina enhanced that fact. Don't get me wrong, Clemson will get a few stops. However, will the offense provide any help? Remember, South Carolina had one of the worst defenses in the SEC and it held the Clemson offense to 86 total yards in the second half. Couple that with the 15 turnovers in five games, I just can't see how Clemson is favored in this game, much less win it. There is no way UNC's offense is going to struggle for a third straight week and Clemson does not have enough offense to keep up. The Tar Heels win their first ACC Championship since 1980 and Clemson's 11-year streak of not losing back-to-back games in the same season comes to an end.

North Carolina 34, Clemson 20

Jason Priester: Both of these teams are limping into this matchup. It's fair to wonder where this Clemson team is from a mental standpoint after the devastating loss to the Gamecocks, and this doesn't necessarily feel like a great matchup for the Tigers. This will be the best offense this defense has seen all season, led by Drake Maye, who will be the best quarterback this team has faced all season. It is going to take a disciplined effort from the Tigers up front to slow down that North Carolina offense, and even that might not be enough considering how the secondary has fared at times this season. A secondary that will be missing R.J. Mickes for the first half and one that is a little banged up at the moment. Can Clemson's struggling offense put up enough points to come away with a win? I'm not sure they can.

North Carolina 33 Clemson 24

Brad Senkiw: With 12 games of data, it's not hard to figure out at this point what these two teams are. The Tar Heels are bad on defense and very reliant on their offense. The Tigers struggle in that category and need their defense to carry the load. The problem is, you just don't know what you're going to get with these two teams. The prevailing thought is that Clemson needs to run the ball a lot to have success. UNC needs to throw it with Maye and challenge the Tigers' secondary. But it doesn't feel it's going to be easy. The Tigers don't seem to want to be a power-run team offensively, and UNC will give them looks that might force them to throw since the Heels will stack the box. This might be the hardest game of the season to predict based on how bad Clemson looked last week and how poor UNC, which hasn’t faced a ranked opponent at the time they played, was against Georgia Tech and NC State. Motivation is also a question mark. There just aren't enough answers, but if the Tigers can handle UNC's run game, they'll force too many down-and-distance issues and Will Shipley will get it done.

Clemson 31, North Carolina 24

The Boss: Not sure why, but trying to be positive.

Clemson 24, North Carolina 21

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